Children finding ways to open child safety caps

NBC -- We have a warning for anyone with young children. Those child safety caps on medications in your cabinets might not work.

"I just kept turning it like this and then it just came right undone," said kindergartner Walker.

Pharmacist Klista Najewicz said, "That's a little scary."

Najewicz says these are the same containers used for prescription narcotics.

"Like morphine or demerol or anything with codeine," said Najewicz.

Just a small amount can do a lot of damage to a child.

A little more could kill them.

"I pulled it and spinned it at the same time," said kindergartner Syndee.

"Be aware that it's not safe and take preventative measures," said Dr. Kirk Cumpston.
Dr. Cumpston, medical director for Virginia Poison Control says the center in Richmond received about 14-hundred calls over the last two years.

"Mom steps out of the room, dad steps out of the room, comes back find them in a bottle -- pills scattered all over," Dr. Cumpston said.

In our experiment most of the class did not get into the containers.

One child said, "I wish i would pull it off."

But eight out of 24 or one-third of them did. On average it took less than a minute.

Reporter Stephanie Harris said, "Of all these medicine bottles, the only one the kids couldn't open was this Kroger brand ibuprofen where you have to line up the arrows and pop it open."

"I believe the standard is that 85% of a group of 200 children in that age group," Dr. Cumpston said.

That is the Virginia definition of child resistant. It does not mean child proof.

This lesson is for parents.

"Keep them out of their reach," Dr. Cumpston said.

But we made sure the kids learned one too.

They know medicine is not candy and this experiment is not to be repeated.

What does bear repeating, child resistant does not mean child proof.

If you think your child has swallowed anything he or she shouldn't, call poison control right away.

Dr. Cumpston says in most cases they do not recommend ipicac or any other form of inducing a child to vomit anymore.

He recommends you keep the hotline number near the phone. It's 1-800-222-1222.