laundry Liquitabs safety warning - please read if you don't know the dangers to toddlers

[EdithWeston]

article here.

Linked in case there are other peole who are unaware of their dangers: there has been a spate of admissions to hospital for toddlers with various very serious injuries. The contents of the tab are alkali and strong enough to cause burns/swelling to eyes if spattered and thread (leading to need to ventilate).

These injuries typically follow small children getting hold of the tabs and playing with them leading to their splitting.

The packaging, according to the article, does not have safety warnings. But they need to be kept out of the reach of children at all times.

My dd squeezed a liquitab when she was helping me to do the washing it only went on her hands and clothes. I didn't realise how dangerous they were but have stopped using them now anyway.

It's also very easy to forget that just because a toddler hasn't shown any interest in something before, it doesn't mean that they won't do in future as my very lovely Thomas Kent clock with the recently-bent hands can testify. It's never stupid or misplaced to remind people about these things - well done OP.

I posted this link on Facebook and have since removed it as i was totally flamed...no need to shoot the messenger.

Of course they are detergents, but they 'appear' safe as they are in capsules. They do break occasionally.

Just delefted to say I got some stuff from one in my eye and had to have drops and antibiotics for a while. My eye looked like I had been punched and was horrific to look at. It took a while to go back to normal too. Didn't need ventilating. Don't buy those liqutabs anymore.

the last time I was in paed A&E (i think that was the febrile fit, rather than the split head or swallowed penny? can't be sure, have season pass), there was a little girl in the next bed who had squeezed a liquitab. THe force at which the detergent spurts out meant that when it hit her eye, it wasn't just the toxin issue that caused problems - it was an impact injury to the eyeball as well. It wasn't a pretty sound / sight. Have banned the b*ggers from my house ever since.

Does anyone remember the outcry when Smarties decided to bring out a white one?

And remind granny to do the same...

Glad this has come about because two years ago my one year old got hold after one after my four year old found out how to open the laundry lock whilst I was in the kitchen with him. He liked the look of the brightly coloured squidgy liquitab grabbed one and walked off with one without me seeing, went into the playroom where he left it on a chair.

In came my 18 month old year, picked it up bit into it. She then came screaming over to me bubbling from the mouth, I had no idea what it was and panicked when my four year old gave me the bitten liquatab and told me where and how she?d got it. I thought she was choking on the plastic. Everything turned out fine but the nurses told me at the time that it was very common because small children like the squidgy texture and bright colours. I stopped buying them straight away, I was so upset afterwards just couldn?t stop crying about it.

*my 18 month old not one year old!

Thanks for posting this, OP. I really hadn't thought much about them - we do keep them in a cupboard with a childproof catch but I hadn't realised they burst so easily when squeezed and with such force that that itself can cause an injury. My ds is (hopefully) old enough to be sensible, but I will be careful when we have visiting toddlers.

Tnx for reminder, we become complacent and often only think about the dangers - AFTER the event :)

More awareness is always a good thing but they shouldn't be banned! Almost everything I a hazard in some way. It's about weighing up the risks and acting appropriately.

I'm passing on the dangers of the darn things suddenly squirting you in the eye if squeezed onto my elderly Mum. She has arthritic hands, pretty common for many elderly people so is not as dextrous as she used to be. For those with reduced mobility, it's probably safer to stick to powder.

Many children will have Grandparents for whom liquitabs weren't around when their own kids were little as they are a fairly newsih innovation (I certainly don't remember anyone using them in the 70's when we were kids!). This warning is very handy for many well-meaning but possibly ignorant Grandparents & older family friends & rellies too, so in that context I see it as a potential lifesaver rather than patronising.

I cant get the link in the Op to work
I've checked the liquitabs I have and the liquid gel detergents
All have a warning label -as a big X - and it's written on the label to keep out of reach of children.

In my opinion ALL household cleaning products, detergents, disinfectants, sprays etc etc should be kept well out of the reach of children

Working BBC link to the story

dd3 managed to eat a washing powder non bio liquitab when she was 8 months old. DD2 who was 10 had, unknown to me,been playing with them and left one on the floor. Cue me rushing her to hospital and pulling over half way there to call an ambulance as she was vomiting too much for me to drive.

I was told at the hospital that the dishwasher ones were "lethal". Publicising this is a good thing. And, funnily enough, as an adult and mother of 3 I KNOW not to let kids eat washing powder.

Chemicals are in pretty concentrated form in those jewel like little tabs - they have to be. I have not found them to be terribly effective in the wash. Maybe my husband's sports kit gets way too pongy .... I prefer a supermarket's own brand powder-tablets instead. I don't remember ever child-proofing my detergent cupboard. The kids were not that bothered with the boring packaging. They saw me buy the stuff knowing it to be dull and were more interested in the cakes aisle!

My son ate part of a washing powder tablet when he was 19 months old. Luckily it wasn't particularly toxic. I had no idea that the liquitabs are so toxic.

I am shocked that so many people actually use those liquitabs considering how bloody expensive they are compared to other washing products.

There was a thread on here a few months ago by a woman whose friend's DS had burst one all over his pyjamas and had got burns. Everyone came on and said that the packaging clearly shows that these things are corrosive and have the big orange X on the back. People couldnt believe that someone would be surpised that something that concentrated (ie. one of those tiny tabs can dissolve all sorts of grease and proteins and dirt out of a large load of clothes), could be dangerous.

Thanks for posting the working link, BartletforTeamGB

I saw a piece on the lunchtime news: doctors are calling for 3 things

a) better awareness of just how hazardous they are
b) better awareness that contact with a burst one, especially if any could have been swallowed, is a straight to A&E emergency
c) change to the plastic buckets they come in to make the top childproof and to make the safety advice much more prominent. Manufacturers are currently rejecting this, though one is considering an opaque box.

Reporter said her child had required hospital attention after getting some on his face - they had been at a childless friend's house and it had taken only seconds.

Our HV told us that dishwasher tablets were hugely dangerous and to make sure they were kept well out of the way of our baby. I don't use liquitabs, and in fact we now use dishwasher powder, but it wouldn't have had such a big mental warning label for me if it hadn't been flagged up.

Hey I have harm-focused OCD (e.g. I am obsessed about risks to my toddler/baby and excessively cautious) and I had let my 2 year old throw the liquitab into the drum (with me supervising)!

Far too many holier-than-thou comments on here. The important thing is that this sort of stuff is shared. I would automatically keep everything under lock and key but the thought of my son squeezing it while putting it into the drum never occurred to me.

thanks edith reminders never hurt

I cant imagine the manufacturers going for the opaque box, as one of the marketing ploys for these things is that they look so pretty on the supernarket shelf (I have been tempted!). I dont think they actually clean any better than liquid out of a bottle, or powder, do they?

Obviously detergents are to be locked away, but toddler dd loves helping to load the washing machine & turn it on. Have always closely supervised her to make sure she put the Liquitab in the machine & not her mouth, but really hadn't concidered the possibility of it bursting. So thanks for the heads up OP.