What consumer products are the greatest threats to children? When IKE dealt with the question, it started with the Indiana Poison Center. The 16 staff handle more than 70,000 phone calls a year. And that is just the incoming calls, the staff make thousands of follow-up calls to make sure that their advice works our well. With data on each call and staff with many years of Poison Center experience, IKE believed it could get an answer the question.

IKE received a grant from IDEM, and the East Central Solid Waste District provided a matching grant to Taylor University to get the project done. In addition, IKE is working with the Regional Household Hazardous Waste Task Force as well the Indiana Poison Center.

The goal is to identify the consumer products that pose the greatest threats and develop a pollution prevention strategy to address each one.

After scanning the data and interviewing the staff, IKE makes the following observations:

• Watch out for Grandma’s purse. Kids know it as a source of pennies and candy. But a single diabetic or heart pill can kill a child.
• Think child-resistant not child-proof. The caps only slow the baby down.
• Read the label for hydroflouric acid. It soaks deep into the skin and causes severe burns. An Indiana child is blind as a result.
• Trust the Indiana Poison Center staff . They are true professionals!

For details on project.