--- title: Laundry Pods: Study Finds 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids description: A new study finds the colorful detergent packets can harm young kids who try to eat or play with them canonical: https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-10T15:24:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:20:01.972Z article:section: Health og:title: Laundry Pods Pose 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids, Study Says og:description: The colorful packets of detergent can harm young kids who try to eat or play with them og:url: https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Laundry Pods Pose 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids, Study Says twitter:description: The colorful packets of detergent can harm young kids who try to eat or play with them twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Laundry Pods Pose 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids, Study Says > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=5456734e-a6b6-4f8f-af00-4fcb1cd4b4f5&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 10, 2014 3:24 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 10, 2014 3:24 PM UTC Colorful packets of detergent, called laundry pods, pose a serious risk for kids who try to eat or play with them, according to a [new study](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/11/05/peds.2014-0057.abstract). Data from the National Poison Data System shows that between March 2012 and April 2013, more than 17,000 children younger than age 6 were exposed to the candy-like laundry detergent pods, which appeared in the U.S. market in 2012 as a replacement for liquid detergent. Experts say young kids can ingest the pods, or burst them open, which can expose their skin or eyes and lead to common side effects like vomiting, nausea or drowsiness. Among the kids exposed to the pods, the study in _Pediatrics_ found, 4.4% were sent to the hospital and 7.5% had a moderate or major medical outcome like respiratory distress. One child died. The researchers say the findings underscore the need for greater efforts to prevent child exposure, like better packaging and labeling, voluntary safety standards and more public education. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/"},"headline":"Laundry Pods Pose 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids, Study Says","datePublished":"2014-11-10T15:24:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:20:01.972Z","description":"The colorful detergent packets can harm young kids who try to eat or play with them","url":"https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/","keywords":["Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3575855/laundry-pods-poisoning-risk-kids/","name":"Laundry Pods Pose 'Serious' Poisoning Risk for Kids, Study Says"}}]}] ```