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If you suspect that your child may have ingested a poison, call for emergency medical assistance immediately. In most communities, including Columbia and all of Boone County, dial 9-1-1. If your community does not have 9-1-1, call your local emergency number or the Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital Poison Control Center emergency toll free office at 1-800-366-8888.
In Missouri, the American Association of Poison Control Centers is operated by:
Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
1465 South Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-772-5200 Non-emergency, general information
If you live in Columbia or Boone County, when you dial 9-1-1, a communications operator will dispatch the appropriate fire and ambulance units and then connect via three way calling, the Cardinal Glennon Poison Control Center. At that point, a poison control specialist will ask specific questions and guide you through specific actions or perhaps no action at all. Meanwhile, the 9-1-1 operator will be able to relay the instructions from the poison control center to the responding fire and ambulance units so that the best medical care can be administered upon their arrival.
Each year unintentional poisonings claim the lives of nearly 100 children, with children age 4 and under accounting for nearly half of the deaths. In 1999 more than 1.1 million unintentional poisonings among children ages 5 and under were reported to U.S. poison control centers. Male children are more likely than female children to suffer exposures to poisons and death from poison ingestion. African-American children are twice as likely to suffer unintentional poisoning than Caucasian children.
Medicines and Household Product Poisoning
Each year more than 40 children die from unintentional exposure to household
products and medicines. Among children ages 5 and under, over one-half of poison
exposures are by non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances,
plants, pesticides, art supplies and alcohol. When medicine is ingested by children
ages 4 and under, one-quarter of the medicines belong to someone who does not
live in the household. Grandma's purse, which may contain easy to open pill
boxes, are an easy source for children to obtain medication. And, in an alarming
statistic, only one-third of all care givers are able to measure the correct
dosage of prescribed medications administered to a child.
Lead Poisoning
It is estimated that almost one million children between the ages of 1 and
5 have elevated blood lead levels high enough to affect intelligence, growth
and development. Children between the ages of 1 and 2 are at the greatest risk
from lead poisoning. Ingesting dust from deteriorating lead-based paint is the
most common cause of lead poisoning among children. Sadly, children are more
likely to suffer elevated blood lead levels if they are low-income, receiving
Medicaid, living in large metropolitan areas or living in older homes.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (CO Poisoning)
Each year, approximately 24 children ages 14 die from CO, a odorless, colorless
and tasteless gas. In 1999, an estimated 3,400 children were treated in emergency
rooms for exposure to CO. The majority of exposures to CO occur during the winter
months and the most common cause of CO-related poisoning are unvented supplemental
heaters (non-electric space heaters).
List the local poison control center and emergency medical service numbers
near every telephone. 
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