Hagaon Hacham Mordechai Eliyahu z.s.l.

By: Dave Gordon

The past quarter century has seen a rise in the number of severe poisonings from battery ingestion by American children. An article in the journal Pediatrics urges parents to keep batteries –  particularly small, disc-shaped batteries that are used with digital electronics such as cameras, remote controls, watches, hearing aids, toys and musical greeting cards – away from children. Since 1985, U.S. poison-control centers have received nearly 60,000 reports of battery ingestion, and have seen a rise in the incidence of severe poisonings. Most involved burn damage to the esophagus that often required surgery and led to prolonged breathing and eating disorders. Children below the age of four were the most frequent victims, and were the victims in nearly all cases of severe complications. When ingested, the lithium battery creates an electrical current that burns the tissue it touches. In about 62 percent of cases where a young child swallowed a battery, the battery was fished out of a household item. Researchers advise parents to place strong tape over the battery compartment of all household products.