The 5 Latest Poison Control Threats Kids Face

Looking out for kids in a grown-up world

Many poison control threats have long posed a danger to young children. Krista Osterthaler, director of national outreach at the American Association of Poison Control Centers, says perennial threats include everything from alcohol to tiki torch fuel and some personal care products like soft contact lens disinfectant (which differs from regular saline used to moisturize contacts that's not considered a danger). Other hazards are relatively new -- or growing. For parents and other grown-ups, here are a few more items to keep up, away and out of sight of kids, and -- whenever possible -- in child-resistant packaging:

Liquid nicotine for e-cigarettes

Bright packaging and flavors like cookie crunch, chocolate and cotton candy make cartridges with concentrated liquid nicotine irresistible to kids -- with e-cigarette device and liquid nicotine exposures for people of all ages leading to thousands of calls to poison control centers nationwide in 2014 and 2015. Moderate doses may cause children to vomit and make their heart rate go up, says Dr. Michael Beuhler, medical director of Carolinas Poison Center, the designated poison control agency for North Carolina. "As the dose gets even higher, they can have seizures, they can become paralyzed -- and they can die from it."

Laundry pods

A child can easily break the seal of a laundry detergent pod -- a relatively new type of product designed for ease of use that concentrates detergent -- by putting it in his or her mouth, says Dr. Maryann Amirshahi, an attending physician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Children's National Medical Center in the District of Columbia, and a medical toxicologist. Exposures range from benign to life-threatening. Patients most commonly experience skin and eye irritation, coughing and choking, she says, adding that in more severe cases it can cause respiratory failure, injury to the esophagus and abnormal heart rate.

Button batteries

Consumer protection law now requires that, in toys powered by button batteries, battery compartments are designed so they can be secured with a screw. But children are finding other ways to access the potential poison hazard -- by getting into remote controls for TVs, electronics and on key fobs, and even ripping open singing cards to access the batteries. "They look like candy -- they're little, they're shiny, they're flat," Osterthaler says. If the battery gets stuck in a child's esophagus, it can cause very severe burns, she says, and a handful of fatalities have occurred in instances where a button battery burned a hole in a child's esophagus.

Prescription painkillers

In addition to staggering levels of addiction and overdose deaths, the prevalence of powerful prescription opioids has resulted in many accidental poisonings among young children, experts say -- to go along with older kids seeking them for recreational use. In particular, as demographic data shows more grandparents are taking care of children -- and otherwise living in the same household with kids -- Osterthaler says it's important that these and other medications more commonly taken by seniors are safely secured out of sight and reach of kids.

Edible marijuana

Among the unintended consequences of decriminalizing marijuana in certain states and areas is that it's not just adults who are ingesting half-baked brownies and gummy bears. "We're seeing more and more pediatric poisoning," says Amirshahi, resulting from young kids ingesting marijuana made in edible forms. "We have this kind of crossroads where we have much more potent marijuana in a very child-friendly form," she says. Young kids react even more severely to the drug, which is sedating and has resulted in some deaths in Colorado, Amirshahi notes.

Assessing poison control threats

To be prepared in case of an emergency, add this number to your contact list: 1-800-222-1222 -- the AAPCC's national Poison Help line, which will connect you with the nearest poison control center. In addition, experts advise going room by room to assess potential hazards if you have children in your home -- or expect kids will be in the home. Read product directions and warning labels, and know that "there's no such thing as child-proof," Osterthaler emphasizes. Don't rely on packaging to keep kids out. "Child-resistant packaging ... really just buys you a little extra time if the kid wants to get into that substance," she says.

Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com.