24 May 2012

Now in the Convenient PoisonPack (tm)

This is horrible!  Children are placed on ventilators because they pop laundry pellets into their mouths, thinking they are candies.  I just bought a whole tubful of these and my husband hates them.  There is no childproof lid.  For that matter, the dish detergent pellets have no childproof lids.  What gives, people?

Article here.

"Paul Fox, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, the parent company of Tide, says all cleaning products need to be handled carefully. He said Tide was working with poison control centers and advocacy groups to make sure parents know more about the risks." 

And Purex?  Its poisonous UltraPacks now have warning labels so that I know that their detergent is not yummy candy.  Yippee!

How about these companies stop worrying so much about "awareness" and flipping well go work with their product development people on a good childproof lock?  I think parents can figure out "swallowing detergent is a bad thing" without an "advocacy group."  I mean... really?  That's like manufacturing cars without seatbelts, reasoning that an "accidents are bad for you and may result in death" label near the steering wheel is an adequate precaution.  Gimme a break!!

And don't give me this "proverbial" turned my back for a minute thing.  IT TAKES LESS THAN TEN SECONDS to swallow something.  Ok?

5 comments:

  1. Common sense would tell me as a parent that it's a cleaning supply and should be out of reach of children to begin with. But yes, a snap locking lid would be good, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm with Blondee... I know it's been a while since I had a toddler, but I thought people kept all questionable items out of the reach of kids, with those annoying cabinet locks and such. I know I did. Eating these are not that much harder than drinking Windex...mmmm... blue Koolaid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Windex, though, in small doses will just give you a bad taste and won't kill you. Pop one of these in and you have trouble breathing right away, they are saying these are more concentrated and producing a new kind of poisoning.

      I guess I look at it as a parent of a 5 1/2 year old who does NOT understand and further, for whom very few things are really "out of reach." To my mind, a childproof lock is just one more safeguard, maybe even buy a few seconds for some children and it can make all the difference. Won't prevent everything, but childproofing isn't hugely expensive and is just common sense for these companies to employ. Bad publicity when consumers' kids die and all.

      One poisoning happened after a child climbed a dresser. Looks like this parent DID think she put it out of reach. :(

      Delete
  3. True Happy, I had an adult sister with mental disabilities who very well could have put one of these in her mouth. No child lock could stop her. As a matter of fact, when we couldn't open a bottle we handed it to her. The locks on this packaging only slows the kids down in the end. I know my mom had to resort to padlocks and keys.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. It prevents small children and at least slows the bigger ones for a few seconds. I recognize most people won't have a disabled kiddo so the childproofing WILL work for MOST kids. Seems criminal not to spend a few extra pennies on the package. Not just these people.

      I mean RUBBING ALCOHOL. No childproof cap. What gives?

      Delete

Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...