Charity calls on manufacturers and parents to prevent button battery deaths

Responding to concerns about button batteries raised on BBC’s The One Show on 27 November, Katrina Phillips, Chief Executive of the Child Accident Prevention Trust, said:

“Most people just think of button batteries as a choking risk. In fact, swallowing a button battery can have the same effect as drinking drain cleaner. Put bluntly, it can burn a hole through their throat and major blood vessels and your child can bleed to death.

“You’ll find button batteries in a wide range of apparently harmless household objects that children love to play with, including small remote controls, novelty cards, flameless candles and children’s thermometers.

“We urge parents to check their homes for products with button batteries and put them, and any spare batteries, out of harm’s way. Visit our website for button battery safety advice.

“We call on button battery manufacturers to improve product packaging and labelling, and to work with us to raise awareness of button battery safety”.