Campaign Against Button Batteries

A number of consumer groups and parents are campaigning against button batteries after two kids died for swallowing the small batteries.

Choice, Kidsafe and The Parenthood are pushing for a mandatory standard for all products using button batteries to have a secure, screwed down battery compartments, not just for toys for kids below three years old. The groups also seek for a compulsory child-resistant packaging and clear warnings upon buying the product.

This comes after the death of two children due to button battery ingestion.

Mum Allison Rees has also expressed her support for the campaign to protect other families from a similar tragedy after her 14-month-old daughter, Isabella died due to swallowing a button battery in February 2015. The battery, which is the size of a 10 cent coin, stuck in Isabella’s oesophagus and caused her to suffer internal burns and cardiac arrest that led to her death. Ms Rees said they were unaware that Isabella swallowed a button battery and up to this day, they could not trace where the battery came from.

A four-year-old child, whose family lives in Victoria also died from ingesting a button battery.

Choice head of media Tom Godfrey said that button batteries are lethal so it is important that the federal government acts to lower the number of children ending up in emergency departments after swallowing a button battery.

“We are calling on the federal government to tighten the law around the sale of button batteries to ensure they are screwed in place and sold in child resistant packaging in a bid to arrest the alarming number of hospitalisations,” he said.

Susan Teerds, chief of Kidsafe Queensland, said that ingested button batteries could cause a chemical reaction that could burn through tissues, similar to swallowing a drain cleaner.

The Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit reported that around 20 Australian kids weekly are rushed to hospital emergency departments after ingesting batteries. Cases have also risen to 85 percent or 50 cases in 2013 from 27 in 2012, and for the first six months of 2014, 37 kids underwent treatment for battery ingestion.

Choice shared its safety tips if button batteries have been swallowed by a child:

“¢    If you suspect a child has swallowed a button battery, immediately call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 or go to a hospital emergency room. Do not let the child eat or drink, and do not induce vomiting.

“¢    Keep all disc battery-operated devices out of sight and out of reach of children.

“¢    Examine devices and make sure the battery compartment is secure.

“¢    Dispose of used button batteries immediately. Flat batteries can still be dangerous.

“¢    Tell others about the risk associated with button batteries, and how to keep their children safe.

Source: Ibtimes.com.au and Itwire.com