A Better Way To Clean

Good decisions are the product of careful consideration, not fear.

Last week (July 13) I appeared on the Today Show commenting on the case of Sidney Moe, a precocious 2 year old who became intoxicated after licking alcohol hand sanitizer off her hands. While there is no question that this story can be frightening to any parent, I don’t believe that making parents fearful is either useful or necessary. Instead, my intent was to use this as an opportunity to discuss the importance of making good, informed decisions whenever purchasing or using potentially toxic products in your house and around your family.

Of course, it is well established that teaching children proper hand hygiene can have a real impact on their health and the health of everyone around them. Hand sanitizers have been proven to be a useful tool in this effort as long as it is understood by all that they supplement but don’t replace good handwashing. It should not be surprising that these products are aggressively marketed to parents and teachers for use by and on young children. Parents put bottles of them in their children’s lunchboxes and hook colorful bottles onto their backpacks. Teachers have large bottles on their desks and squirt them on the student’s hands before snack time and lunch. Nothing in this behavior would suggest to the child that they might be dangerous.

However, it is precisely because these products are commonplace that most of us don’t read the label or appreciate the toxic risk that they pose to children if ingested. It is remarkably easy to have a blind spot for hazardous household products, especially when we have seen images of the product being used by and around children. This is the reason that the EPA prohibits images of children and food on the labels and marketing of disinfectants. Until challenged by a story like the one presented on the Today Show, we may not appreciate that the familiar bottle on the desk or in the lunchbox is potentially flammable and toxic.

A couple of general principles are worth extra emphasis:

• Children explore the world around them by putting bits of it in their mouth. This is especially true of products that are brightly colored and fragranced to smell like candy.
• It only takes seconds for a curious child to swallow something dangerous. Even the most conscientious and responsible parent cannot supervise a child every minute of the day.
• Assume that any personal care or household cleaning product is a potential health and safety risk, especially if it going to be used around children on a regular basis.
• Always read the label, ask questions, and make informed decisions.
• Whenever there is a choice of products always choose the safest alternative.

Fortunately, most calls to Poison Control concerning children ingesting alcohol hand sanitizer don’t result in a trip to the emergency room, and most children who do end up in the hospital to be seen recover quickly. There is no reason to live in fear. Stories of children like Sidney Moe on the Today Show should remind you that is important to read the label before you buy anything, even products that you are have been using for years. Finally, remember that children tend to mimic the behaviors of their parents and the adults around them. If you use a hand sanitizer, they will be drawn to use it as well. Similarly, if you wash your hands frequently and in their presence they will want to wash their hands.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Clean Hands, Clean Kids, What Does That Mean?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.