Parents, please -- please! -- be careful with the bleach. New analysis explains why

Household-cleaning products may be injuring fewer kids than they used to ... but not few enough. That’s the upshot of an analysis published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

From 1990 through 2006, more than 267,000 children age 5 or under were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for injuries connected to such products. There were 22,141 such injuries in 1990, researchers found, and 11,964 in 2006.

Perhaps the American Academy of Pediatrics’ poison-prevention advice is getting through. Here’s the first tip: “Store medicine, cleaners, paints/varnishes and pesticides in their original packaging in locked cabinets or containers, out of sight and reach of children.”

Those same tips note that all poisons are different -- so treatment is different -- so forget that old advice about administering ipecac syrup. Just cut to the chase and call poison control at 800-222-1222 or, if a child isn’t breathing or is having convulsions, 911.

Of all the products -- drain cleaners, room deodorizers, spot removers, dishwashing liquids, oven cleaners, laundry soaps, general-purpose cleaners, etc. -- old-fashioned bleach was most often the culprit in such injuries. And yes, bleach (a.k.a. sodium hypochlorite) is considered poisonous.

Here’s the full report on household-cleaning products.

Note the particular danger posed by spray bottles.

-- Tami Dennis