Manufacturers Designing Safer Liquid Laundry Pods

Some manufacturers are working to make liquid laundry pods safer with new designs.

Poison control centers have reported more than 6,000 incidents of young children swallowing pods or getting them in their eyes or on their skin.

Consumer Reports has been warning about the dangers of the pods since their mainstream debut in 2012.

Manufacturers have responded and tried to make the pods less accessible to young children. They say packaging is now opaque instead of clear and some of the packaging is harder to open.

Some manufacturers plan to coat the laundry packs in a bitter tasting substance.

Despite these changes, Consumer Reports is not recommending liquid laundry pods, especially households with children younger than 6 years old, until it sees a meaningful decrease in the number of injuries.

The American Cleaning Institute issued a response to Consumer Reports:

“Our industry wide campaign is raising awareness of the importance of keeping all household cleaning products, including liquid laundry packets, out of the reach of children. Our communications to parents have been significantly reinforced with our consumer campaign that was launched in 2013. We have generated a groundswell of awareness and support with its safety posters, infographics, information packets, e-cards and videos demonstrating how to properly and safely use and store liquid laundry packets."

The response also said:

“ACI is seeing signs that the changes manufacturers have made to packaging, prominent safety warnings on product labels and our education efforts are working in both the US and abroad. We are seeing declining rates of exposures in the US and abroad."

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