More than 4.3 million calls were made to U.S. Poison Control Centers in 2008, according to new data by the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Of the calls made in 2008, 13 percent were related to exposure to painkillers, 9 percent concerned cosmetics or personal care products, and 8.6 percent were about household cleaning products. Children younger than 6 were involved in about half of all poison exposure calls.
Although most people think of poisoning as a childhood issue, adults are overwhelmingly the cause for the recent increase in unintentional poisoning deaths. In some states, overdoses have surpassed motor vehicle crash deaths to become the leading cause of unintentional death.