As medication levels among the general population increase, the risk for children to be accidentally poisoned also rises. Tim Bollans, Marketing & Sales Executive, Burgopak Healthcare & Technology, explores the growing need for child resistant packs.
Accidental poisoning is common among young children. As a natural part of their early development children explore their environment using their senses to ‘play’ with items that are new to them. They cannot differentiate between items that are safe and items that may be harmful. The responsibility lies with the child’s parent or carer to ensure that proper precautions are in place to avoid a child gaining access to harmful substances.
Most cases of child poisoning happen within the home when items are left ready to be used, in sight or unattended by adults. Other cases occur when a child has climbed up somewhere high or got into a cupboard and inadvertently accessed harmful substances. In this case a certain level of responsibility lies with manufacturers to ensure their hazardous products are as difficult as possible for young children to open.
Children accessing medication is one of the major causes of accidental poisoning. The rise in adults taking medication, such as antidepressants or sleeping aids, has contributed to the increased incidences of accidental poisoning in children. The number of drug poisonings among children rose by 22% between 2001 and 2008. Researchers believe that this dramatic rise is purely because there are more drugs in the home that can be accessed by curious children.
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