Poison Prevention Week: March 20-26
It’s the time of year when we celebrate and educate for National Poison Prevention Week - an annual awareness week that brings light to an important topic that encourages safety to the public.
The theme for this year’s Poison Prevention Week is “Safe Storage Prevents Poisoning” as our homes contain a variety of products that have the risk to be poisonous. These common products can be things like medications, cannabis, tobacco, hand sanitizers, cleaners, detergent pods, disinfectants, cosmetics, and personal care products used for cleaning, maintaining our health, and appearance.
Other items include things like paint, automotive chemicals (oil, antifreeze, and windshield wiper fluid), fertilizer, and pesticides in sheds or garages. If these products are used or stored incorrectly they can cause unintentional poisoning and serious injury.
Safe storage is a way to prevent an unintentional poisoning from happening, this means keeping products in their original containers, locked, and up high and out of reach. Alberta data from PADIS (Poison and Drug Information Service) shows that from 20162021 there were reports of more than 25,000 calls every year concerning potential poisoning, which is around 70 calls a day.
This high volume of calls tells us just how important National Poison Prevention
Week is to bring awareness and education to the public. Of those calls, 44 per cent were for children aged 0 to 5 years old. Some of those calls were around exposures to ibuprofen, pediatric and adult acetaminophen, Vitamin D, ethanol-based hand sanitizer, melatonin, essential oils, toothpaste with fluoride, and glow sticks.
If these types of products are stored safely by being locked up tight, and out of sight and out of reach, these stressful situations for many worried callers could have been prevented. This campaign is about awareness and by sharing prevention messages with family, friends, and the community about safe storage of potential poisonings, it helps to reduce harmful outcomes. This year’s campaign messages to share include:
• Store poisons locked up tight, out of sight and out of reach of children. Keeping poisons safely stored can prevent harm and misuse.
Keep poisons in their original containers.
Visitors may carry medications and personal care items with them. Keep their coats and bags out of reach of children.
If you are concerned that someone has been poisoned, call PADIS at 1-800-332-1414.
Other ways to stay connected or learn more is to visit the Injury Prevention Centre website.
Chloe Trautman is a health promotion facilitator with Alberta Health Services and can be reached at chloe.trautman@ahs.ca