Summer is coming. How to let children spend a happy holiday safely? Safety needs to be the first priority. In recent years, frequent accidental injuries to children do not only occur in the dangerous outdoors, but mostly occur in homes that are considered "safe havens". In addition to falls, collisions, cuts, and burns, parents also need to pay special attention to children's poisoning.

Data show that child poisoning has become one of the main causes of child injury and death in China. In 2015, 1,400 children aged 0 to 14 died of poisoning in China. Other data show that thousands of children aged 0 to 14 die of poisoning in China every year, which means that an average of 3.8 children die of poisoning every day. Among them, children aged 1 to 4 are the high-risk group for poisoning.

Studies have shown that in addition to drug-induced poisoning, the sources of child poisoning also include cosmetics and personal care products, household cleaning products, toys, pesticides and plants. In addition to drugs, detergents and toilet cleaners can cause severe chemical burns; if nail polish remover is swallowed, it can cause cyanide poisoning; if windshield cleaning fluid is swallowed, it can cause blindness and death.

Ms. Cui Minyan, Chief Representative of the Global Child Safety Organization (China), said in an interview with a reporter from the China Women's News and China Women's Network that children use their mouths to perceive the world, so children often unconsciously put harmful objects in their hands into their mouths. If these things contain harmful substances, they are likely to cause damage to the child's reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system. Some serious injuries may cause lifelong physiological defects and disabilities, or even death, which is extremely harmful.

Drugs are not candy beans. Children must follow the "four steps" of safety when using drugs

In September 2017, 11 children in a kindergarten in Sichuan were poisoned because they took antihypertensive drugs. The reason was that a child shared the antihypertensive medicine he took from home with other children as candy. In June of that year, in a training institution in Futian, Shenzhen, Lele, who was learning to dance, shared "candy" with two 4-and-a-half-year-old children. As a result, all three children were rushed to the hospital for treatment. It turned out that the bottle of "candy" was actually rat repellent powder.

A survey found that about 50% of children have difficulty distinguishing between candy and medicine, and every time they take medicine, their mothers like to say "sweet..." to their children, making the children mistakenly believe that "sweet" is edible. Children's inability to distinguish between medicine and candy is a very big safety hazard.

Not long ago, the "Children's Drug Safety Status Report" jointly released by the Global Child Safety Organization, the Drug Safety Cooperation Alliance and the Beijing Children's Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, which tracked data for 5 years, showed that in China, 2 out of every 5 poisoned children were poisoned by drugs, 80% of which were caused by accidental ingestion, and the largest number of children aged 1 to 4 years old.

The survey also found that parents' attention to children's drug safety is far from enough. Many families place medicines on their mothers' dressing tables and bedside tables in their bedrooms, which are easily accessible to children, posing a great risk of accidental ingestion.

In response to this, the "Report on the Current Status of Children's Medication Safety" proposes a "four-step" approach to safe medication for children. That is, before medication: read the instructions carefully, do not use adult medicines for children without authorization; ask grandparents to write down the dosage and medication time when administering medicines. When administering medicines: administer medicines according to doctor's orders or instructions, use the configured doser; administer medicines according to the time intervals given by doctor's orders or instructions. After medication: keep medicines out of reach of children, "high and far". Handling medicines: make sure that children cannot open the package and place it in a special medicine recycling place.

Household washing and cleaning products hide many safety hazards

An article recently published in the American medical journal "Pediatrics" stated that more and more young children have accidentally ingested or improperly touched laundry beads, which contain more toxic substances than other washing products. Laundry beads are very dangerous whether they come into contact with children's skin or enter the body. In the United States, children are sent to the hospital every day because they accidentally eat laundry beads placed by their parents.

In fact, in addition to laundry beads, other detergents in the home, such as detergent, glass water, laundry detergent, and washing powder, may threaten the safety and health of babies if they are not placed properly, the washing machine lid is not closed, the faucet switch is placed in the hot water position, water stains on the ground, and wire boards and wires scattered on the ground. Nearly 80% of parents do not know how to conduct safety checks on household items.

The "Home Detergent Safety Manual" jointly launched by the China Consumer Product Quality and Safety Promotion Association, the China Detergent Industry Association, the Global Child Safety Organization (China) and the "Consumer Guide" magazine reminds parents to do the following: 1. Do not mix detergent products, such as mixing may release irritating or dangerous mist due to chemical reactions; 2. Do not reuse household washing containers; 3. Do not let young children take detergents; 4. Do not place detergents on top of or next to the washing machine.

If the skin or eyes of a child accidentally come into contact with daily detergents, they should be immediately rinsed with a large amount of running water, and the rinsing time should generally not be less than 15 minutes; if a child accidentally takes a small amount of daily detergents orally, he can immediately drink an appropriate amount of milk, soy milk, or egg white to protect the digestive tract mucosa, and observe for several hours. If he feels uncomfortable, he should seek medical attention immediately.

Cui Minyan emphasized to reporters: "Children use their mouths to understand the world. Therefore, the safety principles for disposing of chemical products at home are: keep away from: place them in high places, away from children; always: place them in labeled packaging, read the instructions and warnings; discard them safely, that is, if a washing container is used up, rinse the container with clean water before discarding it."

Don't just look at whether it's fun to buy toys, but also pay attention to whether it's safe

Toys are also potential hazards that cause children to suffocate, poison, burn, fall, and even drown. In the United States, there are more than 200,000 injuries related to toys each year, including children's toy poisoning. Therefore, safety is the primary consideration for parents when choosing children's toys.

On June 1, International Children's Day this year, the European Union issued a series of recall warnings for plastic doll toys, including Sophie plastic dolls and SweetGirl plastic dolls, because the raw materials used to make these dolls contain diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), which is harmful to children's health. These phthalates may cause damage to children's reproductive system.

Not long ago, a "crystal mud" toy was very popular among primary school students. Not long ago, media reported that an 8-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy in Guangzhou suffered from severe vomiting and other discomfort due to the misuse of a cup that had been filled with crystal mud materials. The relevant departments tested this popular "crystal mud" and found that the toxic substance borax was used in it. If borax is eaten, it will react with gastric acid to produce boric acid, which may cause acute poisoning, usually manifested as vomiting, diarrhea, skin erythema, etc. Borax is easily absorbed, but it is relatively slow to metabolize from the body. If children play with toys containing borax for a long time, it will cause damage to the nervous system and directly affect the normal functioning of their reproductive and endocrine systems.

An investigation from a government supervisory agency found that some producers of children's toys used toxic and harmful materials when producing toys, without considering the requirements of children as a special group and the healthy growth of children.

Experts remind parents to avoid toys containing toxic and harmful materials when buying toys for their children. First, do not buy toys with pungent odors and particularly bright colors. Because some producers add heavy metal elements to toy paints to make the colors of toys unusually bright, most of these heavy metal elements will endanger children's health. Second, do not buy "three-no" toy products, and be sure to go to regular stores to buy toys with product quality marks and guarantees.

Cui Minyan suggested that parents can also frequently visit the National Product Quality and Safety Website (http://www.dpac.gov.cn/) to keep abreast of the latest toy safety and recall information and avoid choosing unsafe toxic toys.

Plastic Industry Video