It looks like candy, but the highly concentrated single dose packs of laundry detergent have poison control centers across the country scrambling. Toddlers are taking the colorful pods and popping them in their mouths only to end up unconscious.
The Illinois Poison Center has handled 26 cases in the last two months.
"I've had the case where the child gags a little bit, maybe has a little bit of spit up," said pharmacist Erin Pallash. "They're a very pretty little packaged deal. It really looks like a nice little piece of candy that was put there especially for them."
"We don't really know what they're made of and what the difference is as to why it's happening. All we can say is we're observing this phenomena and it's actually very concerning that so many kids are becoming unconscious and they're actually being put on breathing machines to help them breathe until they get better," said Michael Wahl, Medical Director at the Illinois Poison Center.
Most of the victims are toddlers.
Three cases in particular prompted the American Association of Poison Control Centers' alert:
A 20-month old who swallowed a pod began to vomit, wheeze, gasp and became unresponsive.
A 15-month old and 17-month old who bit a pack were rushed to the hospital - both put on ventilators.
"We don't see that with regular detergent," Wahl said. "We don't see that with dishwasher, we don't see that with any of these other household products."
A Tide spokesperson tells FOX Chicago News they'll have a double latch lid on tubs of Tide pod in the next few weeks. Tide also reiterates the accidents that prompted an alert did not involve Tide Pods.
"I think the most important point is that laundry packs and there are many on the market today are like any household cleaning product, the safer their intended use, they need to be kept out of the reach of children," said Procter & Gamble spokesperson Paul Fox. "The American Association of Poison Control Centers advised parents last week and we applaud them with that on the risk of letting children play with these types of products or any household cleaning product because they're not toys and should be kept out of the reach of inquisitive little hands."
Fox said these sort of detergent packets have been popular in Europe for a decade.
