18 Nov 2013

Lithium Coin Cell Dangers

Battery Industry Warning to Parents of Toddlers & Children

 

All Parents need to be safety wise & acutely aware of the dangers posed with children and the potential ingestion of button & coin size batteries.

With the recent death of a four year old girl in Queensland who sadly died after swallowing a lithium coin cell battery, child safety experts urge parents to keep these coin & button type batteries out of sight and out of reach.

Used or flat batteries should also be disposed of immediately and safely. More information on battery disposal & recycling is available by clicking this Link .

 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been recently focused on assessing the safety of button and coin cell batteries due to an increasing number of injuries associated with ingestion and insertion of these products, particularly in children under five.

When a button/coin cell battery gets stuck in a child’s throat, the saliva triggers an electrical current. This causes a chemical reaction that can severely burn tissue in as little as two hours.

In Australia, an estimated five children per week present to an emergency department with an injury related to button and coin cell batteries.

The ACCC is working closely with industry stakeholders to discuss improvements that can be made to the child-resistance of packaging and to the efficacy of warnings.

The hope is that this would have the effect of reducing the number of ingestions by making batteries less accessible and raising consumer awareness of the hazard.

 

To find out more about the hazard associated with button and coin cell batteries please see thebatterycontrolled.com .

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