Date Published: 9 July 2006
Safety First: Call to prevent child poisonings - Griffith University, Australia
Poisonings prevention expert Professor Nerida Smith has called for tighter controls on the packaging of potentially dangerous medications in the wake of a South Australian inquest into the poisoning death of a toddler.
The two-year-old boy died from morphine toxicity after ingesting some of his father's medication, which was dispensed in blister packaging.
Professor Smith, Head of Pharmacy at Griffith University, said many medications that had the potential to be toxic to small children in low doses were dispensed in blister or foil packaging. These included medications such as pain killers, anti-depressants, anti-epilepsy drugs, and blood pressure tablets.
She said while it was mandatory for the child safety caps used on medication bottles to meet an Australian Standard for child resistance, medications in foil packaging fell through the cracks.
" The general public would assume that such packaging is tested to be child resistant, to be of good quality and meet appropriate standards," Professor Smith said.
" Currently the Australian standard only looks at the strength of the seal: blister and foil packaging is not tested to be child resistant."
Professor Smith has a particular interest and expertise in human toxicology and the management and prevention of poisoning. She has participated in international collaborations in the field including the development of Guidelines on the Prevention of Toxic Exposures for the World Health Organisation's International Programme on Chemical Safety.
" Australia is not keeping up with international standards set in countries such as the UK, USA, Germany and Canada," she said.
" Studies of calls made to the Poisons Information Centres in Australia clearly show children are accessing dangerous medications in foil and blister packaging. Unfortunately some incidents resulted in the death of children, which could have been avoided.
_ There is an expense involved in testing and modifying this type of packaging, but certainly we shouldn't be leaving it to industry to allow medications in flimsy packaging to be available in homes where there are small children."
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recently extended the list of medications which have to be dispensed in child resistant packaging.
Bottles with child resistant caps will still have to meet standards for child resistance.
However, the TGA has proposed that child resistance testing of blister or foil packaging remain on a voluntary basis.
Professor Smith said clinical toxicologists, Poisons Information Centres, child safety and injury prevention specialists agreed that testing of such packaging, particularly for drugs that are toxic in low doses to children, should be mandatory and meet international safety standards.
Source(s): 
Griffith University, Australia.
