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Liquid Detergent Pods Pose Danger

Last updated on Sunday, July 14, 2013

(INDIANAPOLIS) - Those little laundry detergent packets that are so popular have caused a lot of problems for children who mistook them for candy.

Emily Longnecker, of WTHR reports, that there is now a movement by Proctor & Gamble to make them safer.

The warning label says "Keep out of the reach of children," but those laundry detergent packets are so colorful, children may think they're something fun.

"It's a candy or a toy. Or, it's a teething ring or a teething toy," explained Lisa Smith.

That's what happened to Smith's two-year-old grandson Havoc this past April while his mother was doing laundry.

"She was getting ready to do the laundry and he just picked it up, grabbed it and they're kind of pressurized and it just shot down his throat," Smith explained.

The toddler was rushed to the hospital and placed in Riley Hospital for Children's Intensive Care Unit on an oxygen machine.

In response to similar incidents across the country, Proctor & Gamble has rolled out a redesigned package for its Tide Pods. The product's packaging, which used to be clear plastic, showing the liquid, will now change to opaque. That will obscure what's inside, which could make the packets less enticing to children.

The move comes on the heels of hundreds of kids across the country swallowing the laundry detergent packets because they thought they were candy.

No Indiana children have died from swallowing the packets, but many have become sick. Last year, the Indiana Poison Center reported 244 cases and 92 kids have swallowed the products so far this year.

"All this because of these crazy detergent things," said Smith.

Now P & G is hoping to bring that number down.

If this happens to your child, the Poison Control Center recommends giving your child milk or water to dilute the detergent.

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