|
Texas Poison Center Network eNewsletter | April 2010
|
|
Greetings!
This issue is packed with great tips for the beautiful, blooming season of Spring. Keep reading to learn ways to prevent poisonings as you tackle spring cleaning, yard work, and gardening. You will also find helpful information about the "silent epidemic" effecting our tweens and teenagers. We hope that you find the information in this issue helpful. Don't forget to forward it to your friends and family! |
| Tickle Spot |
What do you get if you cross a four leaf clover with
poison ivy?
A rash of good luck.
|
|
| Next Issue | |
Food and Spring Safety Tips
|
|
|
| A few "Green" Ways to Prevent Poisonings | |
These days it's hip to be green, but even though being green is good for the environment, the products we use to embrace an environmentally-friendly lifestyle aren't always fit for ingestion, skin contact or inhalation.
Just as special care must be taken when handling harsh chemical cleaners and household products, so must care be taken when dealing with their earth-friendlier alternatives.
This becomes particularly important in spring, when the garden - and its eventual fruits - become part of a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
The Texas Poison Center Network offers the following tips for those who want to save the world and keep themselves safe in the process:
- Pay attention to what you're growing. The tomato plants that you are getting ready to put into the ground will be a tasty addition to the summer, but other plants in your garden may be hazardous. Make sure you know what's in your garden, and what could be toxic. Consult your local poison center to help identify potentially harmful plants, and be sure to consider weeds, because nightshade and nettles often co-exist with planted flowers and shrubs. Signs of plant poisoning include symptoms ranging from skin irritation to nausea to hallucinations.
- Even if the green cleaning agents you buy are advertised as non-toxic, make sure you store and use them safely. Mixing household cleaners can create hazardous fumes, and some ingredients like boric acid and alcohol foundin "green" cleaners can be extremely toxic, and should be used with caution. Some green cleaners may already exist in your pantry - vinegar, baking soda, salt, mineral oil and cornstarch could be used for everything from floors to windows to freshening the air.
- Believe it or not, it's possible to make killing pests a greener process. Consider stale beer to get rid of slugs or tuna fish oil to attract earwigs. Onion and garlic extracts combined with dish soap might be effective in getting rid of insects, and diatomaceous earth is safe and effective against ants, ticks, bedbugs and earwigs. Insecticidal soaps, meanwhile, can kill soft-bodiedinsects on contact.
- Sometimes you might want to get rid of the green. Consider a vinegar/water mixture to get rid of moss.
- Remember that while green, natural and organic are terms that are used interchangeably, that doesn't necessarily mean the products are harmless. Regardless of the product, make sure you carefully read label information before using any green product.
If you believe you've been exposed to a poison or have questions about whether a substance is poisonous, call your local poison center at 1 (800) 222-1222. |
| Tweens & Inhalants: A Deadly Mix |
 For most parents, the idea of child-proofing ends once the child gets old enough to walk and talk.
But the need for child-proofing lasts even past the age when your child can go to a middle-school dance, play a school sport or babysit other children.
By the time your child becomes a teenager, poison dangers aren't as straightforward as keeping the cleaning supplies locked up. Drug abuse becomes a danger, and the substances in your home that you rarely think twice about can become lethal drugs to your "tween" or teenager.
Poison centers refer to inhalant abuse as "the silent epidemic" because most people do not know about the dangers of inhalants and abuse often goes unnoticed. The Texas Poison Center Network wants you to be aware of these dangers, and offers the following tips aimed at preventing inhalants from becoming an epidemic that infects your home.
- Inhalants can be found in homes, schools and offices. More than 1,000 products can be inhaled for intoxicating effects. They are available, low cost and in legal products rarely thought of as poisonous. First, be aware that they exist.
- Common inhalants include gasoline products, paint remover, glue, "White-Out" correction fluid, markers, spray paints, medial anesthetics, room deodorizers and whipped cream dispensers.
- Inhalants provide an immediate "high" that can last 1 to 5 minutes, sometimes longer. The effect is similar to drinking too much alcohol and causes mind altering effects. Tell your children that they can be lethal. Abuse of inhalants can cause "sudden sniffing death" even the first time inhalants are used. They can lead to irregular rhythms in the heart, which in turn may lead to cardiac arrest. Inhalant abuse can cause suffocation by interfering with breathing or a person could choke. Long term inhalant abuse may cause the loss of normal function in arms, legs and loss of bladder and bowel control. Inhalants destroy brain cells. Finally, most of these chemicals are fire hazards and could cause a fire or an explosion.
- Signs that your child may be using inhalants include a drunk, dazed appearance, chemical smells on the breath, body or clothing, red eyes, runny noses or nose bleeds, personality changes, slurred speech, and anunusually large collection of paint, spray cans, room deodorizers or other inhalant products.
- Talk to your kids about inhalant abuse. Tell them inhalants are poison and do not belong in the body, but don't teach them how to abuse inhalants or show them which products to use. Talk about their "toxic effects," instead of "getting high." And don't call them inhalants - call them chemicals or toxins. Not talking to your kids about inhalants could be a fatal mistake.
For more information about inhalant abuse call your local poison center at 1 (800) 222-1222 or contact the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition at www.inhalants.org.
All 6 poison centers in the Texas Poison Center Network offer poison safety education for their region. To get contact information for your local educator, click HERE or call 1-800-222-1222. |
| Your Poison Control Center: The Best Health Care Deal Around |
The health care debate has spurred a lot of conversation about the high cost of medical care. You may not know that your poison center is the best health care bargain around.
Calling a poison center is free and confidential. You can call your poison center for questions such as: Is it safe to take certain medications together? Or: Is the cleaning product my child just touched safe for kids?
Most poison exposures can be treated successfully at home, without a costly emergency room visit. Studies indicate that every dollar spent on a poison center saves $7. And patients who do need to be treated in a health care center stay a median of 3.5 days when they call a poison center, compared to 6.5 days when they do not.
If you have a question about poison, call your poison center at 1 (800) 222-1222.
|
|
What would you do if someone you know accidentally swallowed something dangerous?
Anytime something that might be dangerous is swallowed, gets on the skin, or in the eye - call for Poison Help right away. Whether you have a poisoning emergency or just a question, don't guess---be sure: Call your local poison center at 1-800-222-1222. A medical professional will answer your call right away and give you the help you need.
The call is free...peace of mind is priceless. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
