Study Cites Poison Risk from Detergent ‘Pods’

In the last 2 years, more than 700 young children needed hospital care after exposure to laundry detergent “pods,” a new study finds. One child died. Pods are brightly colored, single-use packets of concentrated laundry detergent. The membrane around them dissolves in water. The new study looked at numbers from U.S. poison control centers. They covered the years 2012 and 2013. In all, 17,230 children under age 6 were reported exposed to laundry detergent from pods. About 4 out of 5 tried to eat the pod. About 3 out of 4 children were under age 3. For more than 1,300 children, the exposure caused a moderate or major medical problem. Of those who required a hospital stay, 100 needed a tube in the throat to help them breathe. Researchers said kids who bite into the pods get a concentrated squirt of liquid into the mouth. This can cause them to swallow toxic chemicals, cough or choke.