• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that 40% of household cleaning injuries that send young children to the emergency room are caused by products in nozzled, spray bottles. The main reasons are because these bottles do not have a child resistant mechanism on them and the triggers are easy to use by children.
The study focused on injuries to children 5-years-old and younger caused by household cleaning products that resulted in emergency rooms visits from 1990-2006. Here is a summary of some of the results:
1. The overall number of injuries decreased 46% from 22,141 in 1990 to 11,964 in 2006.
2. The number of spray bottle injuries remained relatively flat over the long term.
3. 72% of injuries occurred in children 1-3 years of age. – This is mainly because these children cannot read and, therefore, cannot tell the difference between toxic cleaning products and food or beverages.
4. Bleach was the number one problem. – Bleached caused 37% of injuries that required emergency rooms visits.
These injuries can be very serious and sometimes permanent, such as loss of sight or burns to the throat. Dangerous chemicals need to be kept out of reach of children, lock them in a closet or cabinet or place them on higher shelves out of a child’s reach. This is especially true to the more toxic cleaners such as drain and tile cleaners. If you would like to read more on this topic see Spray bottles cause many injuries to children resulting in emergency rooms visits.