BALTIMORE – Parents know that babies are curious and almost everything they touch ends up in her mouth. What do not the parents, there is an increased risk for certain types of batteries in products throughout the house to find too many of which reach well over a child. ABC2 News Joce Sterman examined.
Cara and Terry George light up when they think of their daughter, Brenna. Cara says, “She was a beautiful, happy, healthy little girl, and she was and will always be our true joy.”
But bear it when crushing heartbreak Brenna died only a year and a half. She swallowed a battery, internal to fatal injuries. Terry explains: “We scoured our house and we have no idea where it came from.”
It was a lithium battery, the round kind that you find in all kinds of household items. Colleen Driscoll with the International Association for Child Safety says it can be in scales, find car remotes remote controls and automatic garage door opener for your self. ”
Lithium batteries are also enjoyed in this musical greeting cards to the kids so much. The IAFCS parents want to be aware of the potential dangers lurking in these tiny batteries. Driscoll says: “The parents simply do not understand the risk.”
And the risk is great. The National Capital POISON CENTER Recently, a study in 8000 battery ingestion, not all of whom were lithium. But they discovered that bigger, make round lithium battery far more than the typical risk of suffocation.
The researchers say the batteries caught in the esophagus and can still generate a current inside the body of the child. Dr. Toby Litovitz with the poison center, says: “It would be like dropping drain opener in tiny drops in your child’s esophagus.”
The Poison Center gets calls with approximately 3,500 cases of battery ingestion of each year and the calls are more serious than ever before, with 13 deaths and 73 serious injuries. Litovitz said the injuries were, “As serious as it had ended with breathing tubes, stomach tubes.”
The number of incidents involving lithium batteries is way up, only one percent to 18-20 percent in the last ten years. Both the Poison Center and the IAFCS want to see warnings on products with lithium batteries. Driscoll says: “If there are more labels, directly with the product when opening the product and then not on the sheet in the back of the manual is likely to help, hidden connected.”
And want to see both groups, change the battery manufacturer subjects. Litovitz says: “62% of children are getting batteries from the product. And they do this because the battery is not safe.”
The groups would like to see changed subjects require screws. Until that happens, both parents should be closed and keep the fan belt objects with these batteries out of reach of children. You should certainly junk drawer where you keep extra batteries and secure trash can, because sometimes children have these types of batteries can be drawn from the garbage.
The George’s still not know where the battery Brenna have liked included, but they are doing in honor of her life, what they can to alert other parents. Cara says: “Our only hope is to save lives, and if we give a child, his future and save a family this unimaginable pain and devastation be, then we do, will something for them.”
Safety agencies say that the battery companies were very helpful in trying to raise awareness by warnings on the packaging. The biggest push is now on product manufacturers to have security warnings and change the battery compartments.