Parents, babysitters and daycare centers, listen up. Lots of kids still get hurt by household cleaners and chemicals each year.
A nationwide study suggests that we’re doing a better job at protecting our kids, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.
The good news is that injuries from household cleaning products dropped by almost half to about 12,000 in 2006 from around 22,000 in 1990.
The decrease surprised the researchers. While they welcomed the drop, they were also careful to note that the overall decline isn’t the whole story.
Accidents from chemicals in spray bottles increased. And the researchers think that there could be many more injuries out there because their study looked only at cases reported in emergency rooms.
The results will be published in the September issue of Pediatrics and are currently available online. (more…)
