Baby Dies After Eating Detergent Packet

7-month-old might be first such death in the nation
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2013 11:02 AM CDT
Baby Dies After Eating Detergent Packet
   (Shutterstock)

A Florida baby might be the first in the nation to die from ingesting a packet of laundry detergent, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The 7-month-old Kissimmee boy ate the packet after plucking it out of a laundry basket and immediately went into distress. Michael Williams died later at the hospital, though it will take weeks to confirm the cause of death. The child and his mother had been staying at a shelter for battered women.

Kids can confuse the laundry pods for candy, and awareness of the danger has been growing for a while now. (Procter & Gamble changed its design last year.) Nearly 6,000 young kids have been sickened this year alone, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, but this would be the first death reported if confirmed. "People are not listening to the warnings," one poison-control official tells AP. (More detergent stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X