• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Fires/Accidents/Disasters / Common cleaners one of the biggest dangers for poisoning

Common cleaners one of the biggest dangers for poisoning

March 19, 2014 By Matt Kelley

Poison1With the arrival of spring on Thursday, many Iowans will leap into a house cleaning frenzy. Tammy Noble, a registered nurse and the education coordinator for the Iowa Poison Control Center, says you’ll need to use caution with all of those powerful cleansers, especially if there are kids in the house. “What we see as a lot of exposures is the household cleaning chemicals, the things that are under the kitchen sink,” Noble says. “Usually, it’s when the product is in use, when we find exposures happening to both the kids and the adults.”

While the kitchen can be a danger zone for poisonings, she says bathrooms can be just as problematic with all of those personal hygiene products.

“The toothpaste, the shampoo, the lotion, the deodorant,” Noble says. “We always get lots of calls about that and those are things that we use every day so it’s hard to lock them up or put them up high so they’re out of reach.”

Poison2She says about half of the 50,000 calls a year that come into the Sioux City-based hotline involve children and accidental poisonings. “It’s always surprising because you would think something might taste bad so they’re not going to eat it but kids don’t always have that same sense of taste that adults do,” Noble says. “Just because something tastes bad doesn’t mean they won’t eat it. Kids will still swallow it. You wouldn’t believe the calls that we get.”

She suggests Iowans program the Iowa Poison Control Center hotline into their cell phones and have the number handy by landlines. The center is staffed 24-7 and the call is free to 800-222-1222.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Health / Medicine, News

Featured Stories

ISU research finds health benefits for chickens watching virtual reality

Fish kill at Storm Lake linked to virus that impacts only carp

Final employee who was there at the launch of the Iowa Lottery to retire

No more USPS mail in Iowa prisons; inmates to get copies of mail

State officials warn of influx of fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Grinnell College football looks for more progress in rebuild

Iowa State’s Brock eyes expanded role

Iowa’s Jones adjusting to move to center

Iowa unranked to open the season

UNI’s Spencer Cuvelier bounces back from injury

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC