Lawmakers push for safer laundry detergent pods

As part of National Poison Prevention Week, Democratic lawmakers are pushing for legislation that will impose tougher safety standards single-serve laundry and dish detergent packs.

Last month, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) introduced the Detergent Poisoning And Child Safety Act to require child-resistant packaging for liquid detergent packets within 18 months of the bill’s passage. The same day, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

On Thursday, lawmakers planned to hold a joint press conference to discuss their bill.

Despite their popularity, detergent packs, often referred to as pods, have been categorized as dangerous because they deliver powerful chemicals in colorful, bite-sized packages that look like candy.

From 2012 to 2013 the National Poison Data System received 17,230 calls involving children, who had ingested the chemicals in the packets.

Of those calls, 769 children required hospitalization for issues including seizures, vomiting blood, fluid in the lungs, dangerously slow heartbeats, respiratory arrest, gastric burn and comas. One 7-month-old boy died.