Things Kids Shouldn’t Drink
Kids will eat or drink just about anything. See if you can spot the true story below from the two bogus ones we made up:
A) Child hospitalized after mistaking lamp oil for apple juice
B) 5-year-old hospitalized after pedophile tries to get her drunk on red wine
C) Child killed after drinking 10 red bulls and going into cardiac arrest
While you’re contemplating the correct answer, please consider this very real safety fact:
Carbon-monoxide poisoning claims almost 500 lives in the United States every year.
Answer:
In Trenton, New Jersey, an 8-year-old girl was hospitalized and sustained permanent lung damage after she mistakenly drank torch lamp oil thinking it was apple juice. She wasn’t the only one. An 84-year-old woman died in the same incident and three others were injured. The state’s poison control center said that the oil comes in a clear plastic bottle that says “Tiki Torch Fuel” but looks just like a juice container.
Let this serve as a lesson of caution to everyone: such mistakes are common with kids. Wine can look like Kool-Aid, lamp oil like apple juice, and so on. Never leave a potentially dangerous liquid laying around, but especially keep it away from where drinks are also being served to avoid any mix-ups.
Source: USA Today, 7-3-08, p. 7A