High-energy diets
A study from the USA reminds us that we should take extra care to keep used batteries out of reach of small hands. Even a depleted battery, if swallowed, can produce enough current to burn the oesophagus and stomach, and there are, of course, heavy metals and unpleasant chemicals inside batteries which should also be avoided.
A report in the Pediatrics Journal details a study of one hundred US hospital emergency rooms over a twenty year period and discovered 65,788 "battery insertion incidents" an overall average of some 3,000 per year, but with the annual numbers rising substantially in the last eight years. The average age of the victim was slightly under four years old, and with a 60:40 split between boys and girls. Some sort of surgical intervention was required in 8% of the cases. The majority of the incidents reported were for ingestion of the battery, although 10% arrived with a battery stuck up the nose, and 6% with a battery lodged in the ear. The percentages added up to a hundred so if other orifices were involved, these were not reported.
It should come as no surprise that children swallow things they shouldn't. What is perhaps less obvious to us adults is that the button batteries, which have become far more common in recent years, are small, shiny, about the same size as a sweet, and accounted for about 80% of the reported incidents. This underlines that we all need to take care when disposing of them.
Are you guilty of throwing your old batteries into the rubbish bin? Button batteries, like all other batteries, should be properly recycled after use. Electrical retailers such as Currys and many high street shops such as the Co-op now have boxes where you can drop your used batteries but too many still find their way into landfill.
30th May 2012