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PAGE 16, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1974, WHI rBY FREE PRESS ~: Youcan been joyingnew furniture, appliances, te levisions or stereo in just the li me it ta kes to load up your car trunk, von or trailer and drive home. In most cases, yau sove enough money on your purchase to buy extra pieces you might have ha d ta pass up. No waitîng, just pick up your furniture at our warehouse loading dock. It really pays ta take it away but at Cherney'syou do have a choi ce. Our del ivery fleet is a t y our service. It lis qui ck, efficient and you save a tour usuai Iow everyday sale prices (the towest in this arec, we guarantee it in writing). Cherne*s witl not be knowingly undersold. We guarantee il in writing! Hwy.2 opposite Whitby Malil Open Mon. - Fri. lOam. ta 9:3Opm., Sat. 9 'tif 6 TODAY'S HEALTH Are You Poisoning -.Your Child? biy David Woods There is another drug problem. It isn't new. It lias nothing to do with marijuana or heroin. But it's op> pretty serious nonetheless. Fifty per cent of poisonings in children are caused by drugs, and the principal offender, believe it or not, is aspirin-good for your head- ache, perhaps, but also potentially lethal to your toddler. 0f course, the child who poisons himself with too many pis can P- hardly be biamed for his actions. The responsibiitY nmust rest with careless aduits Who leave drugs, or ailier potentialiy poisonous sub- stances, within reacli of children. The fact that nearly ail child pai- sonings occur in the home points ta negligence as a prime cause. This is particularly true when you consider that nine out of ten chiidren pai- soned are between one and five years old. This group is far too young to seek out harmful sub- stances and experiment with theni. They are siniply inclined to place everything that looks remotely edi- ble in their mouths. The first preventive siep, obvi- ously, is tô move ail potentially harmful drugs and chemicais out of the reach of chidren. A good sec- ond precaution is ta keep the phone number of the nearest poison con- trai centre, doctor, or haspital some- where near the phone, clearly identified for easy reference, even by non-members of the fainiiy- say, your baby-sitter- Ideally, drugs shouid be kept ini locked bathroam cabinets. Various household cleansers that are poten- tially lethal should flot be kept under the kitchen sink - but piaced Up higli where safnri-bound pre- schoolers won'i stant playing with them. Aspirin accounts for roughly one- quarter of chuld poisonings. How- ever indispensable you may flnd it in your home, it'll take samething stronger than that ta relieve the headache induced by whisking a chiid off ta, hospital who has swal- iowed a dozen or mare tablets at one go. Not ail poisoning us preventable of course - chidren aren't always under the direct supervision of par- ents. Parents woul be wise, C tere- fore, to learn samething about flrst aid - what ta do in the case of, say, snakebite, or a child swallowing a coin or a pin. Aithougli parents must bear the main burden of responsibility, poi- son contrai outside the home envi- ronment is also improving. Drug bottles are now increasingly avail- able wiih chiid-proof caps (they're often aduit-proof, too). Education programs (through government in- formation and similar services) are improving - and labeiling is now explicit and informative. The latest availabie siatisiics show that tais one ta four years old are far and away the most suscepti- ble ta accidentai poisaning. Neariy nine times as many cases were reported in this group as among the 5-14 year brackei. Tranquillizers, sleeping pis, vita- min tablets, birth contrai pis and many other drugs cammonly found in the home figure prominently in chuld poisonings. In the under-fives, cleaning and polishing agents foilow aspirin as the most frequent cause of paisoning. What can you do about il? Accept that pre-schaolers have an insatiable curiosity: they seek out anything within reach - ta touch, play with, taste. Then keep those substances that couid be poteniially harmful ta thern out of their reach - well out of reacli. David Woods is a former editor of Canadian Family Physician maga- zine. Hie has served on the medical staff of four médical publications, a~zd written for several otiiers w Canada and internaiionally. CARE is people heiping peole 1 ii I&4LrI~' I Sj~r~i I-i =7 7 noËf - , ý - :-'- - ,!<Ii ý,, - ..MOI -ý , , "t,