National Poison Prevention Week begins Sunday and it’s designed to remind people that too much of anything can be poisonous.
Dr. Kelly Johnson Arbor, executive director at the National Capital Poison Center in D.C., said there aren’t many treatments for a lot of poisons, making prevention critical.
“If we can just do simple things, for example, to keep medicines out of reach of young children, to not transfer things to containers they don’t belong in, that can go a long way,” Arbor said.
For example, be sure to keep cleaning supplies in their proper bottles and make sure items that can be dangerous for children have childproof caps.
In fact, one of the most important national steps taken to prevent accidental poisoning came with the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970.
A majority of people who are poisoned survive, and about 85% of the more than 220,000 cases the center handles every year can be managed at home.
Nationally, concerns about poison account for about 80,000 emergency room visits, something worth noting during the current stress on the nation’s health care system during the coronavirus outbreak.
“For pediatric patients, that number’s even higher, it’s in the 90s,” Arbor said, but she stressed the importance of prevention.
For people who are exposed to a potentially poisonous substance, the poison center is a free service, available online or by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the public, as well as doctors and law enforcement.
The website, Poison.org, has plain-spoken information about what to do if you suspect someone has been poisoned, and that includes ingested poison, a skin irritant or something that gets in an eye.
For information or questions, contact the center at 1-800-222-1222.
