Gary and Carley had a mouse problem in their garage. They wanted to purchase a rodenticide product (a pesticide that controls rodents) but they were concerned about their 3-year old daughter, Simone. For that reason, Carley and Gary purchased a product where bright green pellets were inside placement packs. Gary strategically put the placement packs behind boxes near the wall of the garage, so Simone would not see them.
A week later, Carley and Simone returned home from grocery shopping. While Carley unloaded the grocery bags from the car, Simone started walking through the garage towards the house. On her way, she noticed bright green pellets on the floor. She picked some up and started playing with them.
When Carley finished unloading the car, she searched around for Simone. To Carley's surprise, Simone was sitting on the floor playing with green pellets. Carley immediately grabbed the pellets from Simone's hands and asked if she had put any in her mouth. Simone did not respond and started crying. Carley recognized the pellets as the rodent control product she and her husband purchased recently. She immediately searched for the box the rodenticide was originally in and found NPIC's phone number on the label. She called NPIC to find out if the rodenticide will cause any harmful effects.
According to the America's Poison Centers (APC), over 90,200 human exposures to rodenticides were reported in 2007, and more than 43,400 of those involved children under the age of six.