Parents, be warned: laundry detergent pods can be a safety issue if you have little kids at home. The squishy laundry packets can be mistaken by young children for a toy or a candy and have so far caused the hospitalization of over 700 children in the U.S. in just two years.
In a new study published in Pediatrics on Nov. 10, Gary Smith, from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, and colleagues sought to investigate children's exposure to laundry detergent pods, a relatively new product in the market.
By looking at data from National Poison Data System, the researchers found that between 2012 and 2013, the U.S. poison control centers have received 17,230 calls, which is about one per hour, of children who were exposed in chemicals found in laundry pods.
The calls involved kids who were below six years old, a third of whom between one to two years old, and while most of the children were not seriously harmed, 102 of the children had to be placed on breathing machines. A 16-month old boy also suffered from cardiac arrest after biting on a detergent packet and died.
Some manufacturers have already taken action to make the products safer for children, which included revising the packaging and labels. The researchers have in fact noted that the cases of laundry pod poisoning have dipped after these changes were made. The effort of pediatricians and manufacturers to educate about the risks of the products is also believed to have contributed to the decline.
Still, Smith said that the danger still persists with children between 1 and 2 years old being the most at risk. He explained that because the laundry pods are colorful, young children can mistake them as candy or juice with the children often biting or poking through the thin and dissolvable membrane of the pods.
Exposure results in vomiting, chocking, coughing, eye irritation and pain but serious side effects include seizures, stomach burns and comas.
"The good news is that half of these exposures were trivial," Smith said. "If they swallow it and they swallow enough of it, that's when we get these serious symptoms."
The researchers recommended that parents who have young children at home should consider using traditional detergents.
"Laundry detergent pods pose a serious poisoning risk to young children," Smith and colleagues wrote. "This nationwide study underscores the need for increased efforts to prevent exposure of young children to these products, which may include improvements in product packaging and labeling, development of a voluntary product safety standard, and public education."
