Colorful Detergent Pods Should be Kept Out of Kid's Reach

Efforts to spread awareness against children consuming the candy-looking miniature detergent packets and falling critically ill have been going on from past few months.

The colorful and soft liquid detergent capsules introduced in US in 2010 was popular among parents since then. It was in May, the AAPCC first released a warning notice after finding the laundry detergents posing health risks to toddlers.

An analysis published September in the Archives of Disease in Childhood found the contents of the liquid detergent tablets, the strong alkaline cleaning agents having the ability to destroy tissue and result in intense inflammation and swelling.

Based on this the authorities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have urged the parents to keep the small and single dose colorful detergent packets out of their little ones' reach.

The latest findings are the results of an investigation conducted by CDC and American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), recently.

The warning comes after the authorities received more than 1,000 cases of laundry exposure cases within one month, including about 500 cases related to laundry detergent pods, majority (94 percent) in children below five.

A closer examination showed exposure to detergent pods putting these young children to adverse health outcomes like gastrointestinal and respiratory adverse health effects, mental status modifications compared to children exposed to non-pod laundry detergents.

Following are the main symptoms of exposure to detergent pods noticed by the experts:

* Vomiting

* Drowsiness

* Coughing or choking

"Parents and caregivers should keep laundry detergent pods, as well as other household cleaning products, out of reach and out of sight of children. Health-care providers should be aware that exposure to laundry detergent from pods might be associated with adverse health effects more often than exposure to non-pod laundry detergents," experts from CDC said in a statement.

Findings have been published in CDC's the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.