National Poison Prevention Week

There are several safety tips you can keep in mind to minimize your own, and your loved ones', risk of being unintentionally poisoned. The following tips are adapted from the American Association of Poison Control Centers and other sources.

To help keep children safe from unintentional poisonings:
• Always keep medicines out of reach of young children. Don't leave doses of medications on countertops—or
anywhere that children can easily reach them.
• Don't take your medications in front of kids. Kids often copy adult behaviors.
• Keep medicines and chemical products in their original containers.
• Keep household products and poisonous plants out of children's reach.
• Return products to childproof cabinets when you finish with them.
• Make sure your child does not have access to peeling paint or chewable surfaces painted with lead-based paint.
• Regularly wash children's hands and toys. Hands and toys can become contaminated from household dust
or exterior soil. Both are known lead sources.

To prevent drug overdoses among teens and adults:
• Don't use drugs recreationally.
• Don't take drugs prescribed to others.
• Dispose of prescription drugs you don't need so that other members of your household don't use them.
• Don't ever mix strong painkillers or sedating drugs with alcohol, and
• Follow directions on labels when you give and take medications.

To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning:
• Install a battery-operated CO detector in your home and check or replace the battery when you change
the time on your clocks each spring and fall. If the detector sounds leave your home immediately and call 911.
• Don't use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, or other gasoline or charcoal-burning device inside your
home, basement, or garage or near a window.

When cleaning your home:
• Never mix household products together. Ammonia and bleach, for example, create a poisonous gas when combined.
• When using household cleaners and chemicals, turn on fans and open windows to help ventilate the area.

If someone is poisoned:
• Call 9-1-1 right away if you have an emergency, or if someone has collapsed or is not breathing.
• You should also know how to reach a poison control center. You can call 1-800-222-1222, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Put this number near every phone in your home, and program it into your cell phone.

For More Information

Learn more about CDC's work in the area of poisonings and tips on how to prevent poisonings at the following web links.

• National Poison Prevention Week
  Information about Poison Prevention Week and related resources.
• Poisoning in the United States
  Overview of poisoning in the United States, including occurrence, costs and risk factors.
• Poison prevention tips
  Tips for keeping you, your family and your friends safe from poisonings.
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
  Compilation of carbon monoxide poisoning resources, including educational materials, public service announcements, and prevention guidelines.
• Winter home heating hazards
  Tips for preventing carbon monoxide poisonings related to home heating.
• Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
  Overview of CDC's lead poisoning prevention program, including data resources, publications, and information on state and local programs.
• Medicine safety: Who's at risk and what you can do
  Information on medication safety and how to properly take, monitor, and store medicines.
• Cold and cough medicines: Information for parents
  Information on cough and cold medicines and children.
• Poisoning and methadone-related deaths
  Overview of methadone-related poisoning deaths, including trends and state-specific data.

Podcasts

• Protecting yourself and your family against poisonings
  Poisoning prevention tips for audiences of all ages.
• Protect yourself from carbon monoxide poisoning
  Tips on how to protect yourself and your family from carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Unintentional poisoning deaths
  Summary of a recent study on unintentional poisoning deaths, which indicated that poisoning death rates in the United States increased by 62.5 percent during 1999–2004.