With more people at home due to the pandemic it’s more important than ever to keep small lithium coin batteries away from children. Duracell is on a mission to help keep families, safe. Battery brands, Duracell and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have joined forces to power safely and educate parents and caregivers about the dangers of accidental lithium coin battery ingestions and how to help prevent them. Dr. Ben Hoffman, chair of council on injury, violence and poison prevention says we know kids, especially younger kids are built to explore the world, that’s how they learn and in doing that they are going to get into stuff. Younger kids, especially, will put things in their mouth. As a result we need to make sure those are things kids can’t get to easily, keep them high, hidden and preferably locked away when we are talking about particularly risky products like lithium coin batteries says Dr. Hoffman. Small lithium coin batteries are housed in so many of todays things from remote controls to things such as calculators and thermometers.
Bobby Mendez, president, Duracell North America says they are very proud to be teaming up with the American Academy of Pediatrics in this shared vision of keeping children safe, and at the heart of the effort is the campaign is to raise awareness for parents, caregivers, healthcare providers about practicing good lithium coin battery safety at home.
Duracell has also come out with a bitter coating on their most popular lithium coin batteries to offer another line of defense in helping to prevent accidental lithium coin battery ingestion. The bitter taste discourages the child from swallowing the battery.
Dr. Hoffman says it’s really important for parents and caregivers to realize that while they want the best things for their kids and they want to protect them as much as they can, unintentional injuries still happen because these batteries are small they often fall and be lost around the home. Doing a sweep where the kids spend time, looking under couch cushions, furniture, also doing things like securing the battery compartment with tape might help, making sure you know where every lithium coin battery in your home is and there is no way a kid can get to it unintentionally.
Duracell and the AAP urge all parents, caregivers and pediatricians to learn more about lithium coin battery safety at Duracell.comor healthychildren.org.
