Halloween Alert: CDC and Up and Away Campaign Warn Parents to Keep Medicine Stored Out of Sight to Avoid "Candy Confusion"

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Oct 18, 2017, 08:30 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Up and Away campaign, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is reminding parents to keep their medicines up and away and out of sight, especially during the Halloween season. This year, families are expected to spend more on Halloween candy than ever before, making this year even more critical for parents to be on alert and aware that their children may mistake medicines for candy.

To avoid confusion between your children's favorite sweets and their medicines-which can look, smell, and even taste alike-check out this infographic with tips for keeping your child safe.

Remember to store medicines up and away from children between doses.

"Halloween is a fun time of year for families, but as children look for treats, it's easy to confuse medicines with candies—turning a fun time into a risky situation," said Dan Budnitz, Director of the Medication Safety Program at CDC and manager of its PROTECT Initiative. "It is critical for parents to practice safe storage and keep all medicines up and away and out of sight of young children."

Every year, about 60,000 young children end up in the emergency room after getting into medicines left within their reach. As part of the ongoing campaign to prevent accidental unsupervised ingestions of medicine, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) Educational Foundation created this printable infographic and this video for parents to illustrate the visual similarities between some medicines and favorite candies and the confusion that can ensue for children.

The CDC and Up and Away urge parents to be prepared by saving the Poison Help number in their phones—1-800-222-1222—or texting "POISON" to 797979 to save the information automatically. Additional resources on safe medicine storage are available at UpandAway.org.

About Up and Away
Up and Away and Out of Sight is an educational campaign to remind families about the importance of safe medicine storage around young children. It is an initiative of PROTECT in partnership with the CDC and CHPA Educational Foundation. For more information, visit UpandAway.org.

About Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) PROTECT Initiative
The PROTECT Initiative is a collaboration among public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates, and academic experts to develop strategies to keep children safe from unintentional medication overdoses. For more information, visit CDC.gov/MedicationSafety/PROTECT/PROTECT_Initiative.html.

About the CHPA Educational Foundation
The CHPA Educational Foundation is dedicated to helping consumers lead happier, healthier lives through responsible self-care. Established in 2004, the foundation's mission is to be the trusted source of information on the responsible use of consumer healthcare products including OTC medicines and dietary supplements. For more information, visit KnowYourOTCs.org.

SOURCE Up and Away