Poison Proofing Your Home
- Poison Proofing Your Home Introduction
- Reasons for Poison Proofing Your Home
- Protect Yourself from Household Chemicals
- Protect Yourself from Poisonings Due to Medications
- Protect Yourself from Poisoning Due to Plants
- Special Tips for Homes With Very Young Children
- What to Do When a Poisoning Occurs
- Treatment in the Emergency Department
- What Is the Poison Control Center?
- For More Information
- Synonyms and Keywords
- References
- Authors and Editors
Poison Proofing Your Home Introduction
Each year, millions of people are accidentally poisoned. The cause of poisonings often varies according to the age of the victim. Children younger than 6 years of age, for example, are at a greater risk of swallowing household cleaners and other products because they are curious and like to put substances in their mouths. Older adults taking several medications may become forgetful and mistakenly take too much of a medication or the wrong kind of medication.
A poison is any substance that is injurious to health or life. Many ordinary substances found in the home can cause an unintentional poisoning. People can help to protect themselves and their family members by following simple steps to make the home safe from poisons.
Next: Reasons for Poison Proofing Your Home »
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Poison Proofing Your Home
Battery Ingestion Overview
In recent years, our electronic toys and gadgets have become increasingly miniaturized. Their power requirements are being met by a new generation of compact, high-performance batteries. These disk batteries are small, pill- or coin-shaped devices that contain heavy metals such as zinc, mercury, silver, nickel, cadmium, and lithium. They also contain concentrated solutions of caustic electrolytes, usually potassium or sodium hydroxide. Their compact size and harmless appearance hide their true danger.
The danger comes when children (and sometimes adults) knowingly or mistakenly put these tiny batteries in their mouths and swallow them.
Most swallowed batteries cause no problem (89.9% of the time).
- Batteries lodged in the esophagus (the food pipe between mouth and stomach) must be removed immediately. They cause damage by their pressure against the wall of the esophagus, from leakage of caustic alkali, and the electrica...
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