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Interviewer: Poison lookalikes. You might have some lurking around your house. We're going to tell you how to find them next, on The Scope.

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Interviewer: Sherrie Pace is a health educator with the Utah Poison Control Center. And some poisonings happen just because kids mistake one thing for another thing. They're called poison lookalikes and we're going to talk about that today and help you maybe create an ability for you to see those around your house in a way that you haven't seen them before. The first thing, though, if you ever suspect a poisoning regardless, don't go on the Internet. Don't try to figure it out yourself. Call Poison Control immediately.

Sherrie: Yes. That's absolutely right. It's important to do that as your first step. You don't want to go searching. You could find information on the Internet that could be actually harmful.

Interviewer: All right. So call Poison Control. They want to hear your call. What's the phone number?

Sherrie: It's 1-800-222-1222

Interviewer: So poison lookalikes. Well, explain what poison lookalikes are. You do this.

Sherrie : Okay. Yes. So poison lookalikes are things that look really similar. So one of them would be something that's okay to eat, like candy. And one would be something that would be possibly dangerous, like medication. So that sort of one of our examples of lookalikes

Interviewer: So when you go out to schools are health fair events like that, you take these and then it's kind of like a little quiz. So you're going to quiz me here.

Sherrie: Right. I'm going to quiz you. We take these to these events, usually pictures because we don't want anyone actually getting some of these products, but I brought you the real deal today.

Interviewer: All right. I'll keep my hands off. I'm a pretty smart guy. I've been around for a while. I'm not like a four-year-old. I think this is going to be pretty easy.

Sherrie: We'll find out.

Interviewer: Okay. Let's go ahead and see the first poison lookalike. Oh, my. You're kidding. What? All right. I'm looking at two jars here. Okay. They both have red pill-like objects in them. They look like Skittles. Both of them look like Skittles. And when I initially saw them, I couldn't tell them apart. When I started looking little closer, I see the letter "S" on the Skittles and I notice that these pills are a little bit smaller and not quite as round. A little bit more uniform. But there, again, I'm a grown adult.

Sherrie: Right. And you know what to look for. If you were a small child or even just a young child, you would have a hard time telling the difference

Interviewer: Wow. So before we do some more of these, is this a pretty common way? I mean, what do we know about lookalikes and the danger it really poses?

Sherrie: Yes, this is very common for our kids under six years old. Lookalikes are very problematic. They just can't tell the difference at their young age. They don't know the dangers. They just can't process that.

Interviewer: Yeah. So if I've had Skittles before, I come across these, which are not the Skittles?

Sherrie: They're going in the mouth.

Interviewer: By the way, what are these?

Sherrie: Those are like a flu and cold medication, over the counter medicine.

Interviewer: Oh, there's actually some letters on those too. They say, "CF." All right. What's next? Wow, that was eye-opening because initially, I had a hard time so I could only imagine a kid that doesn't have as much experience.

Sherrie: Okay. Here we go.

Interviewer: The second thing. You've got two containers of blue liquid.

Sherrie: Yes.

Interviewer: So . . .

Sherrie: You shook it.

Interviewer: I shook it, but . . .

Sherrie: You can't shake it. Actually, they're both bubbling up pretty good.

Interviewer: They are. They bubble differently. So I can only imagine that one of them is a glass cleaner.

Sherrie: Right. Yep.

Interviewer: I'm at a little bit of a struggle as to what would be blue that I would drink. Because it's not like blueberry juice. It's not that color blue.

Sherrie: No. It's a Powerade or a Gatorade type thing. Sports drink.

Interviewer: So that kind of . . . I don't know. Whatever kind of blue that is. Yeah. You can't tell the difference.

Sherrie: It looks identical. One of the problems we've had is people pouring cleaners into a different container, maybe even a glass or a cup to put a rag in or a toothbrush to do their deep cleaning, and it's sitting there on the counter. And along comes a child, even an older child, and they might take a swig.

Interviewer: Yeah. Sure. And even if it was in the container that it's supposed to be in, kids that age might not be able to read.

Sherrie: Exactly. The little ones.

Interviewer: At some point, they would be able to recognize, I suppose. So what about the smell? When I put the glass cleaner, I could definitely smell the difference. Do kids make the differentiation?

Sherrie: They really don't. And one thing I've noticed with the cleaners these days is they actually smell pretty good. They do. They have fruity smells, flowery smells so that you are more likely to use their product.

Interviewer: I don't know what this has to add, other than the fact that I'm smelling the Gatorade or the Powerade or whatever it is.

Sherrie: And does it smell?

Interviewer: No. If you were to give this to me and say, "I want you to just make a decision whether this is safe to drink or not," what would I do? I'd smell it. I'd look at it. I might go, "Well, that could be Powerade," but I smell it and I don't necessarily . . . I wouldn't be able to confidently say this isn't something that's bad for me.

Sherrie: Right. That's true. That's true.

Interviewer: Because it doesn't really have the smell I would expect of it. Wow. Poison lookalikes. Got another one, huh?

Sherrie: Yeah, I've got another one for you.

Interviewer: Oh, it's another liquid. This time, it's clear liquid. You're covering them up so I can't see. Okay.

Sherrie: Okay. So one of these is water and one is rubbing alcohol.

Interviewer: Is rubbing alcohol pretty poisonous?

Sherrie: It can be dangerous.

Interviewer: All right. So, once again, I'm not going to shake these. Last time, I shook them, but they both bubbled up. One of them does have bubbles forming on the bottom of the container and it also has a label that says what it is. So now I know.

Sherrie: You looked.

Interviewer: Well, I didn't know that there was a label on the bottom that said what.

Sherrie: I had to put the label because I can't tell the difference once I pour them in these jars.

Interviewer: Yeah. So it is the water that has some bubbles, but other than that, you can't tell the difference.

Sherrie: You can't. If you smell it, obviously, you can tell.

Interviewer: Yeah, there's no smell to the water, obviously. You know, this is kind of weird for me too. When it's in the container, I can almost before I smell it, think about what it smells like. But because it's not in its normal container, that sense isn't working in my brain.

Sherrie: That's interesting.

Interviewer: Oh, yeah.

Sherrie: You can tell that's the rubbing alcohol. Yeah.

Interviewer: Yeah. So kids would drink that, huh?

Sherrie: They would. I mean, if it's sitting out within reach and they see it sitting there, it looks like water and they'll drink it.

Interviewer: So the question on alcohol, do they normally take a swig and it's so powerful, they're like, "Ew, no more"?

Sherrie: Sometimes that happens with some of the stronger chemicals and things. But, occasionally, they do drink a little bit too much.

Interviewer: So regardless of the amount, you should call Poison Control?

Sherrie: Absolutely.

Interviewer: "Thank God that was just a little bit. I'm not worried about it."

Sherrie: Always call us because if it's not a big deal, we'll tell you that and you can have peace of mind and not have to be worrying about it.

Interviewer: All right. Do you have one more?

Sherrie: I have one more.

Interviewer: One more. This is fun. Oh.

Sherrie: Okay. One of these is a popular candy that kids like. Little candy. And the other is a fertilizer.

Interviewer: They both sound the same.

Sherrie: Yeah. They do sound the same.

Interviewer: That one makes a little bit more noise. All right. So I'm looking at two containers and the fertilizer and the candy are both white. One tends to have a little bit more of a shiny coat on it. What I believe to be the fertilizer is this one.

Sherrie: Yeah. That's a little simpler one.

Interviewer: Yeah. That was the easiest of the bunch, but for a kid, I'd imagine these are Nerds?

Sherrie: Yeah. Those are Nerds.

Interviewer: White Nerds. They look a lot like fertilizer.

Sherrie: Kids, of course, they love those little candies.

Interviewer: And go out in the garage and, "Oh, look."

Sherrie: "It's a whole bucket."

Interviewer: "That's a king-sized bag. I've never seen such a thing. I'd better get in there."

Sherrie: Exactly.

Interviewer: Poison lookalikes. So let's talk about, quickly, a couple tips people can do to go through their home to make sure they don't have more of these lurking around. What are things to look for?

Sherrie: Okay. The first thing to do would be to think about keeping things in their original container. That is number one. So don't pour things into smaller containers for ease of use. Keep them in original containers. It's not really worth it to buy those huge warehouse buckets and bottles of things that are sitting around with lots of chemicals in the home, in the garage. Just buy what you need and keep it out of reach of kids.

Interviewer: So original containers. What are some other tips? Some containers of something good and something bad look alike.

Sherrie: They do. They really do. And some of the cleaners even have pictures of fruit on the labels, which is really problematic. Certainly, keeping those out of reach of kids, especially the little ones.

Interviewer: Are there other lookalike things to look for, other than the fact they look alike?

Sherrie: Other typical lookalikes that we get calls on are things like fingernail polish and juice drinks, even when you're talking about tubes of things, like toothpaste, it also looks like frosting tubes that we use in the kitchen to frost the cookies. So kids are interested in that. So that's just a couple of ideas of other lookalikes we get calls on.

Interviewer: So think like a three-year-old would think?

Sherrie: Yes. Absolutely.

Interviewer: You can't read, you can't tell one bottle from another, would this be something you might consume if it was left out? Any other thoughts? Anything we should leave thinking about?

Sherrie: One other tip would be to keep things stored where they should go so that the cleaners should probably not be sitting on the kitchen counter. We've had poisonings where people have accidentally put a cleaner in the refrigerator or like a windshield washer fluid in the refrigerator and then it gets poured out as a drink.

Interviewer: Yeah, sure.

Sherrie: I mean, obviously, you wouldn't do that if you were thinking, but you never know. If the groceries are getting unloaded there on the countertop and things are not getting put away where they should go, there could be a problem.

Interviewer: Or even in a cabinet, maybe don't store food and chemicals in the same place. And that way, you could educate the child, to some extent, that this is not where we go. This is okay.

Sherrie: This is where the cleaners are. This is where the food is.

Interviewer: This was very eye opening. Thank you very much.

Sherrie: You're welcome. Thanks for having me today.

Interviewer: I'm glad I asked, but it was a little bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be.

Sherrie: You did great.

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Interviewer: Poison prevention strategies for parents whose kids just started crawling, walking or climbing.

Sherrie Pace is a health educator for the Utah Poison Control Center.

Interviewer: You broke out these three segments. Why?

Sherrie: I did because development kind of changes through those three areas. With the crawlers, they're super excited to get moving. They've been looking around and seeing all these things that they want to explore for a long time and all of a sudden, they can move.

Interviewer: Yes. So before they can move, do you really have to worry that much as far as poison?

Sherrie: Well, it's always good to make sure older sibling aren't getting anything in their way. And making sure you're correctly dosing if there's medication to be given. Those are typically the infant top poisonings.

Interviewer: What should you do to protect crawlers?

Sherrie: They can reach things on low shelves, low cupboards, low drawers, anything that's left on the floor. Kind of think of it from a child's point of view as you look around your home. And then, you'll want to make sure that you put things up and out of reach of those little crawlers and then use child resistant closures because when they get a hold of medicine bottles, believe it or not, even little, tiny people can sometimes get those open.

Interviewer: And they're persistent. And I think if nothing else, that's in their favor. They will sit there and work on it for hours.

Sherrie: Putting locks on the cupboards and below cupboards. Keeping things out of their little reach.

Interviewer: Are locks are pretty effective? I've gone to other people's houses and those locks sometimes, I feel like I didn't realize it was there. I pull the door and I get it open pretty easily.

Sherrie: It's a deterrent, but nothing is childproof. It's child-resistant so it gives you a little more time to catch them in the act.

Interviewer: I even thought, like if you're cleaning around the house and you leave your cleaners out on the floor, you might not think of that. But, quickly, somebody could get into that, a little crawler.

Sherrie: It just takes a couple of seconds. and that's one of the biggest problems with the kids getting into the things, is it happens a lot at times and when things are out and in use. Even if we're good about putting things up high, when we're actually cleaning the floor and we've got that cleaner out and we're distracted for a split second, it can happen.

Interviewer: So think like a crawler. Get down on your hand and knees and crawl around and see what you see. Let's talk about walkers.

Sherrie: Walkers. The peak age for poisoning is 18 months. And that's usually new little walkers. They can reach higher. They actually on their tippy toes can reach pretty deep onto a counter top. And that's something where we see some difficulty. They can certainly get to higher cupboards, higher drawers than crawlers. So you have to think of it from their perspective as well. But they have a little more breach than those crawlers did.

Interviewer: The stuff on the bathroom counter, for example, nail polishes. Is toothpaste bad?

Sherrie: Toothpaste, we get a lot of calls on toothpaste. Certainly, call us if that happens because you never know what's in that. If there's fluoride in it, there could be more problems. It's just something to call us about.

Interviewer: For walkers, you've got to not only think like a crawler but like a walker and a reacher.

Sherrie: A reacher, absolutely.

Interviewer: Are there any other tips you have for the walkers?

Sherrie: Yes. Definitely with older siblings, that can be a problem too. I've definitely heard stories where an older sibling leaves something on the counter, doesn't think their little toddler sibling can get it and they do.

Interviewer: The next one: climbers and, obviously, extending the reach a little bit.

Sherrie: Right. So nothing's off limits at this age.

Interviewer: How old is a climber, generally?

Sherrie: Honestly, that depends. Some kids never really are big climbers and others, they are just so motivated to get whatever they can see. So they are scrambling up drawers, stepping drawer to drawer like stairs, getting up on counter tops in high cupboards. And if you have the climber, it's very challenging.

Interviewer: What do you do what are some tips for that?

Sherrie: I would recommend keeping especially medications locked up. Under kind of lock and key.

Interviewer: That sounds really extreme. Do people really do that?

Sherrie: It's an extreme, but it's not a bad idea, especially with your medications.

Interviewer: Especially, if you have some of those powerful painkillers. Those can be deadly.

Sherrie: They can be particularly problematic. But definitely using the child-resistant closures that can slow them down and the child protective locks that can slow them down. All those things help a little bit to catch them in the act. And obviously, adult supervision, you can't ever say enough about that.

Interviewer: It sounds like a lot of these strategies are more about slowing somebody down than really maybe getting something completely out of reach. Or is it a little bit of both?

Sherrie: Well, it's a little bit of both. When things are out of sight too, that's something where the kids aren't as enticed to get something. So a really high shelf and a cupboard with the door closed, they're less likely to be going for something that they can't see.

Interviewer: All right. When does it get better? At what point do you not have to worry quite so much that your child might get into something particularly bad?

Sherrie: Our statistics show that the majority of our calls are for kids under age six. We really recommend a lot of these strategies for under age six just because cognitively, their functioning, they can't read yet. It's difficult for them to maybe distinguish between things that are safe and things that aren't. And everything goes in the mouth when you're a little kid. It's how they explore. It's always a good idea to keep things up and out of reach.

Interviewer: After six, not quite as bad, but still probably, you need to keep an eye on things.

Sherrie: You still need to be cautious.

Sherrie: Give us a call if you need us. That's what we're there for. We know that things happen. We don't judge you. We understand things can go wrong and that's why we're there. The number is 800-222-1212.

updated: December 9, 2021
originally published: March 20, 2016