Why dont most cleaning produts have child proof caps?

Question

I was just noticing this last night when I was putting cleaning produts on the shelf at work. (I work overnight stock at Target) and I realised that most of them had no child proof caps. pine sol and mr clean among them. I dont understand it. they make the bottles and even the cleaners so colorful, and yes I do lock up my cleaners away from my children but you never know when a child may still get ahold of one of these produts, nothings foolproof. I drank amonia at age 3 and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks, mostly because I wouldnt eat or drink, so mabey thats why this bothers me so much. what are your thoughts on the subject?

well its easy to say keep them locked up, well I have a 4 year old that knows how to work my cupbard latches and get a chair and climb. I also have a 2 year old, what would happen if my 4 year old opened the cupbord and my 2 year old got to it???? see what I mean when I say nothing is foolproof?

of course parentsare going to lock these up but toddlers are very fast.

Answer 1

Yes, toddlers are fast!

My brother drank bleach as a toddler, and we were wild with worry until he turned out okay.

The thing to do with toddlers is to get them on your side. Put a 'nasty' sticker on EVERYTHING that they shouldn't touch, and have them tell you if ANYBODY touches things with a sticker on it, even if it's DADDY!

This is so important, because everything isn't going to have childproof lids, some children as young as 18 months can open childproof lids, and kids are sometimes in someone else's house.

You can transfer this training to a nifty approach to handling illegal drugs, alcohol abuse, and other 'nasty' things later.

Answer 2

I understand your concern, I too have a 4 year old that has figured out every single lock. The only one he cant figure out is a magnet one from Babies R Us. You have to have the magnet to open it,and no toy magnets come close.

And honestly the reason these bottles do not have child proof caps is because when you buy something, and bring it home, its your responsibility. We can petition for every cleaning product to be child-proof, and ask for the government to control even more in our lives, or we can take it into our own hands, be responsible parents, and figure out a way to keep that stuff away from our kids.

I think the real problem is that too many parents dont care anymore (I am not saying this is you at all, but I think that knowing this could have brought this question to your mind)

Answer 3

Because you should keep them locked in a cupboard that is ABOVE the height where you child can reach. I keep my cleaning products above the washer with the detergent. There is no way my child can get up there to reach it. Under the sink is risky because kids are crafty and my nephew knows how to unlock the latches.

I don't think we need legislation for something that should be common sense. I personally believe that when the govt. makes laws like this, it makes people even more lazy and not on guard. We get lulled into a false sense of security. Nothing is 100% guaranteed. It enables people to be irresponsible in my opinion.

If you are concerned your child can get into the cupboard, put it up in a higher cupboard where there is NO chance your child can reach it. Plus, childproof caps are hard for elderly people or people with debilitating diseases (arthritis) to open. Plus, my crafty little nephew knows how to open those childproof caps from the medicine--so that is ineffective.

Answer 4

There should be childproof caps on them. The only thing we can do though as parents is lock the products up or put them where a child cant reach them. My mom would draw "yucky" faces (X_X <---thats kind of what they looked like) on things that were dangerous when we were old enough to understand what the faces meant. Before that, she locked them up.
It would be so much easier if they would just put childproof caps on them though. They put them on medicines, and cleaning products are just as dangerous as medicines (sometimes more dangerous).

Answer 5

maybe because they advertise so hard, that products should be locked away out of reach of children, people don't really leave cleaning products out as much as they do medicine, so maybe that's why all medicines are offered as child proof, i don't have a better answer than that, also maybe because kids would think medicine is candy, but not cleaning products, don't really know for sure!!

Answer 6

Because no one has made a big enough deal about it yet.

It is sad but sometimes it takes someone with enough money to fight or enough people to make a big deal about something before we do things to protect children.

I know of many kids that have been harmed getting into a bottle of something they shouldn't.

Maybe this is your calling!! Who should you contact and let them know your concern maybe you can be the one to make a difference!!

Answer 7

Because they're intended for adults and not every household needs child-proofing. Child-proof caps also are arthritis-proof, carpel tunnel-proof, etc. These products should be easy for adults to use. Child-proof caps would cost more and not every consumer is willing to pay more for them.

Answer 8

Because it is so darned easy to keep them out of children's reach. It is the parent's responsibility to make sure their kids stay away from cleaning products, not the manufacturer's.

Answer 9

I agree that they should but that is not enough. They have to be stored properly once gotten home to make sure baby is entirely safe from them. Used properly and not OVERused as well.

Answer 10

Because children have parents that are supposed to keep those products away from them.