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About Poisonings Who is At Risk? Find Your Poison Center What You Can Do

Who is At Risk

A common misunderstanding about poisoning is that it is a problem that affects only a certain group of people – such as young children or older adults. This is not true. Poisoning can happen to anyone, of any age.


Why You Should Care About Poisoning

Poisoning is a public health problem that can affect everyone - from parents to older adults to health professionals and everyone in between.

Adults may need the poison center’s help, for example, if they are splashed with a poison at work, or are bitten by a spider, or use a strong cleaning product without gloves. Misuse of medicines causes many poisonings in teens, adults, and older people. In fact, most deaths from poisoning happen in adults, not young children.

For more information on how poisonings can affect everyone, download the Poison Help brochure. This brochure has four separate inserts with specific information for different groups of people, including adults, health professionals, parents, and older adults.


Poisoning Risks

Although everyone needs to be aware of poisoning risks, there are certain kinds of poisonings that are more common among certain groups. For example, older adults need to be aware of the poisoning risks involved in prescription medication, while parents need to be aware of keeping cleaning products out of reach for children. When using the Poison Help brochure, you can use one or more of the four separate inserts depending on your audience.


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