According to a new CDC report, unintentional access to pharmaceutical drugs (whether prescription or over-the-counter) accounted for more than 1.3 million incidents of accidental chemical or substance exposure in 2003 alone.
More than 42 percent of those exposures involved children under age 6, based on reports from poison control centers.
More Than 50,000
An analysis of exposures from 2001-03 data collected via hospital emergency departments found more than 50,000 children were treated annually for accidental exposure to medications. 72 percent of these cases involved kids between ages 1 and 2.
Pill Boxes or Purses
One common reason is that many parents remove the medications from the child-proof containers; instead, they are left in accessible areas such as pill boxes or purses.