PITTSBURGH -- It looks and smells like a sports drink, but it's actually a household cleaner and it’s caused more than 100 poisonings.
It's called Fabuloso and is an all purpose household cleaner, but when you put it next to bottles of sports drinks, it's hard to tell which is which.
According to the Journal of Pediatrics, there have been more than 100 accidental poisonings from Fabuloso.
It's not just kids mistaking the cleaner for a drink. More than 40 percent of calls to poison centers involve people over 12.
Also troubling is the bottle doesn’t have a safety cap.
Colgate Palmolive, maker of the cleaner, said it began making the cleaner with a child safety cap in September, but bottles purchased by Channel 11 in October still had no safety caps.
Consumer reporter Becky Thompson showed parents and kids the drink.
Most were surprised at the way it was packaged. One woman said, “It looks like a drink a child would drink.”
The bright coloring and scent doctors it as well.
Dr. Barbara Gaines of Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh said, “If something looks pretty or appealing, they're going to be more curious and interested.”
Gaines said safety caps are helpful, but parents can't depend on them to keep kids safe.
“Parents need to put any potentially hazardous material in a spot where they can't reach it. We recommend on a high shelf where they can't reach it or in a locked cabinet, so kids can't get it.”
There has not been any reported poisoning from Fabuloso in the Pittsburgh area.
image/picture >> http://www.imagezilla.info/upload.php
It's called Fabuloso and is an all purpose household cleaner, but when you put it next to bottles of sports drinks, it's hard to tell which is which.
According to the Journal of Pediatrics, there have been more than 100 accidental poisonings from Fabuloso.
It's not just kids mistaking the cleaner for a drink. More than 40 percent of calls to poison centers involve people over 12.
Also troubling is the bottle doesn’t have a safety cap.
Colgate Palmolive, maker of the cleaner, said it began making the cleaner with a child safety cap in September, but bottles purchased by Channel 11 in October still had no safety caps.
Consumer reporter Becky Thompson showed parents and kids the drink.
Most were surprised at the way it was packaged. One woman said, “It looks like a drink a child would drink.”
The bright coloring and scent doctors it as well.
Dr. Barbara Gaines of Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh said, “If something looks pretty or appealing, they're going to be more curious and interested.”
Gaines said safety caps are helpful, but parents can't depend on them to keep kids safe.
“Parents need to put any potentially hazardous material in a spot where they can't reach it. We recommend on a high shelf where they can't reach it or in a locked cabinet, so kids can't get it.”
There has not been any reported poisoning from Fabuloso in the Pittsburgh area.
image/picture >> http://www.imagezilla.info/upload.php
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