For quite some time, Consumer Reports has been attempting to warn consumers about the dangers posed by laundry detergent pods. This single-use detergent item is thought to pose a danger to children due to its colorful appearance that makes it look not unlike a single piece of candy.
Now, a report has been released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delving into this threat, and the findings seem to support what Consumer Reports has suspected for awhile. In the time between May 17 and June 17 of 2012, 1,008 incidents involving someone being exposed to laundry detergent were reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Of those, a whopping 485 were related to these single-use pods, which means that this item equates to almost half of all incidents.
What’s perhaps even more disheartening is the fact that these pod incidents were almost exclusively related to children under five attempting to consume the item. And whereas only 63% of incidents involving other types of laundry detergent led to medical attention becoming necessary, that number jumps to 80% among pods.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been the recipient of a letter from Consumer Reports asking the organization to create some sort of regulations pertaining to the type of packaging these pods are contained within. But until that happens, parents are simply urged to utilize caution and keep the items away from kids.