Dishwash taste burns long

When toddler Joshua Ward tried to eat dishwasher powder, he suffered such severe caustic burns to his mouth and throat that he now has to breathe and be fed through tubes.

One goes through a tracheostomy, a throat incision into his airway. The other goes through his abdomen and into his small intestine.

The 22-month-old from Pokeno is still in the Starship children's hospital being treated for the injuries he suffered three months ago. He has had seven operations and faces many more.

He is also learning sign language because the damage to his throat, and the tracheostomy - expected to be needed for two years - prevent him from speaking.

His mother, Lara Ward, said yesterday that Joshua climbed up on his ride-on toy and took a bottle of dishwasher powder from the kitchen bench.

Despite the closed lid, of a type designed to be child-resistant, he managed to open it and pour some into his mouth.

"From the granules meeting his saliva he had a burnt chin and it was bleeding. He was just screaming."

Ms Ward and the hospital's Safekids division yesterday called for the urgent introduction of compulsory child-resistant containers - ones that work - for the powders. They also want larger and more prominent warnings placed on the containers.

Safekids' call was prompted by a sharp rise in the number of young children being injured by ingesting the powders.

Five have been admitted to Starship's intensive care unit in the past four months, compared with 11 admissions to the hospital in the past four years.

The powders, which can be highly alkaline, seriously injure the throat and upper airways in a matter of seconds.

"These caustic substances cause a child's delicate throat tissues to liquefy and tissue necrosis [death] to occur," says a Safekids paper.

It says 615 cases of children ingesting dishwasher powders were reported to the National Poisons Centre in the past 2 1/2 years. More than 100 were 2-year-olds.

Safekids director Ann Weaver said child-resistant packaging was voluntary and the caps might fall short of New Zealand standards.

The Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) plans to make child-resistant packaging mandatory by July next year.

Erma chief executive Bas Walker said it was considering whether to act sooner.

Stephen Ford, commercial director of Reckitt Benckiser, which makes the Finish brand of powder, said most suppliers were trying to make their containers child-proof.

The Finish container was child-resistant, but had not been formally tested. He said Reckitt intended to change this year to a new container, which would be tested.

First aid for poisoning

If a child swallows dishwasher powder:

* Scoop it out of the child's mouth, or swill the mouth with water and have the child spit out.

* Seek medical advice immediately.

* Avoid making the child vomit, which can cause more harm.