The household products poisoning our children.

From glow sticks to button batteries to the stuff you use to clean your toilet the list of products that land our kids in hospital each year is frightening.

A report released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has found that cleaners, detergents, bleach, toilet cleaning products, nail polish remover and glow sticks are leaving almost 2500 children admitted to hospital every year due to poisonings.

The ACCC found that the ones we have to watch the most carefully are our two-year-olds who have the highest incidence of accidental poisoning.

The study found that in the period  June 2014 to May 2015 – to the NSW poisons information centre alone –  1,373 calls were for “all purpose cleaners”( the spray type you use to clean surfaces), 1,129 for bleach, over 1000 for detergent, 900 for silica gel. Hand sanitisers, laundry detergent, glow sticks, nail polish removers and petrol were also in high numbers on the list.

Fairfax Media reports most common form of chemical exposure is through ingestion.

“This is followed by ocular and dermal exposures and exposure by inhalation. Calls relate to exposures that result in a wide range of symptoms including internal symptoms, skin reactions and burns” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.

“The most serious incidents relate to carbon monoxide exposure, button batteries, caustic cleaners such as oven and BBQ cleaners, acids, pool chemicals, household bleaches and herbicides.”

Not surprisingly button batteries, alkalis and pool acid were found to be the top three products with the highest rates of callers in hospital or referred to hospital.

The ACCC urge parents to be careful over Easter.

“Poisonings often occur on holidays when families are heading to holiday houses or visiting friends and relatives who may not have young children,” Ms Rickard said.

“Check the house on arrival to ensure medicines and household chemicals cannot fall into little hands.”

In 2013 Summer Steer, aged just four, from the Sunshine Coast, became the first child to die in Australia from swallowing a button-style battery. To this day her family do not know whether she swallowed the battery at home or at her grandparents house.

The little girl was discharged twice from hospital before doctors realised the cause of what was making her sick.

About 260 children across Australia swallow lithium batteries each year. Dr Ruth Barker, Queensland injury surveillance unit director who gave evidence to the inquest into Summer’s death said last year that parents can do one thing to stop their children dying from button batteries.

Stop buying them.

“That’s the action that you can take and that’s the action that industry will listen to. And the fewer of these that are in our environment, the better.”

The ACCC is also warning parents to be vigilant with their laundry pods -those brightly coloured laundry capsules used in washing machines.

More than 16,000 cases are reported annually worldwide of children being exposed to laundry pods, with two deaths being reported in the United States. The ACCC warns that children are attracted to their “bright colours and small size.”

“Laundry pods can be attractive to children as they often look similar to confectionary products. If a child gains access to a laundry detergent capsule, it can lead to ingestion or eye and skin exposure causing serious injuries.”

Other dangers include pool chlorine, oven and grill cleaners and alkalis – all making the top three products with the highest rate of callers presenting symptoms related to exposure.

Infants and toddlers were the highest risk age group with items such as such as toilet bowl cleaners, all-purpose/hard-surface cleaner and detergents.

For children aged five to fourteen the most common poisonings are from glow sticks, all-purpose/hard-surface cleaner, freezer/cold packs and domestic insecticides.

Adolescents aged 15 to 19 are most likely to be taken to hospital due to exposure to bleach, deodorants/antiperspirants and petrol.

Frighteningly medicines were found to be the most common source of poisons exposure overall for all ages.

The Poison Information Centre Australia – 13 11 26