More Accidental Drug Poisonings of Children

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesThe number of accidental drug poisonings among young children has grown over the last seven years.

The growing use of prescription drugs by adults, from pain relievers to sleep aids and heart medications, has led to an increase in accidental drug poisonings of children, new research shows.

Despite childproof caps and safety warnings, the number of accidental drug poisonings among young children surged 22 percent from 2001 to 2008, according to a new study in The Journal of Pediatrics. The reason, say researchers, is that prescription drug use by both adults and children is on the rise, and there are simply more bottles of pills in the home that can potentially be accessed by curious children.

Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati analyzed national poison control center data on 544,133 children ages 5 and younger who had visited an emergency department between 2001 and 2008 after an accidental medication poisoning.

Extracted and Adapted from The New York Times, September 16, 2011, 12:38 p. Available in <http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/more-accidentaldrug-poisonings-of-children/?ref=health>

In the sentence: “The reason, say researchers, is that prescription drug use by both adults and children is on the rise, and there are simply more bottles of pills in the home that can potentially be accessed by curious children”. The modal verb CAN indicates: