Are you one of the many Americans keeping cleaning products under the sink? While this storage area seems like a good place, you may want to find a better one. In August 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a warning to parents to lock up household cleaners. The warning primarily targeted families with toddlers, but the advice is sound for any family with young children. The AAP issued the announcement after reviewing the results of a study based on information from the Columbus, OH Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The hospital estimated that it treated 267,269 children under the age of five for household-cleaning-related conditions between 1990 and 2006.

In years past, the potential danger of young children getting into cleaners resulted in many companies changing their packaging in order to offer child-resistant products. As a result, parents may have put their faith in the packaging instead of taking precautions to lock up the chemicals. Even something as “harmless” as dishwasher detergent, laundry soap, or ammonia can send a toddler to the emergency room. The hospital reported the following statistics in its study:

~ Children under the age of three accounted for 72 percent of hospital visits related to cleaning products.

~ One-year-old children accounted for 45.9 percent of those injuries.

~ In the majority of cases, children ingested chemicals, with chlorine bleach being the number one product ingested.

~ Over 50 percent of the injuries involved little boys.

Overall, injuries related to household products decreased by 46 percent since 1990. The non-fatal nature of the injuries is also positive in light of the serious risk a child can encounter by playing with chemicals intended for cleaning. Mixing ammonia and bleach can cause a toxic gas, which could cause fatal harm. Drinking some chemicals could damage a child’s lungs. Some researchers attribute the improvement to a combination of child-resistant packaging and parent awareness regarding the potential harm household chemicals could cause. To prevent unintentional harm, lock household cleaners in an area out of a child’s reach, store chemicals in their original containers, buy child-resistant products, and properly dispose of cleaning agents.