Dishwashing Powder Campaign Wins National Award

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THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH

Dishwashing Powder Campaign Wins National Award

A campaign that successfully stopped sales of caustic dishwashing powder products has won a New Zealand Community Safety and Injury Prevention Award.

The award was presented to Safekids New Zealand, the injury prevention service of Starship Children’s Health, at a ceremony in Wellington today [September 6th].

Safekids began the campaign after intensive care specialists at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Health raised concerns about the number of young children being admitted with serious burns and poisoning injuries after swallowing the powder. Further research revealed this had been a recurring injury in New Zealand for some time.

“We learned that a number of brands had caustic formulations with a pH of 12.5 or greater. These were highly corrosive substances which, when swallowed by children, could cause life-threatening injuries with serious ongoing problems,” says Julie Chambers, Senior Policy Analyst at Safekids. “However, one brand on the market had a powder formulation that was enzyme based and therefore safer – but it was slightly more costly for manufacturers to produce.”

Through a comprehensive education, advocacy and media awareness campaign, Safekids sought the removal of highly caustic formulations of automatic powders from the New Zealand market. Many of the resources were funded by Reckitt Benckiser New Zealand, while non-financial and resource support came from agencies including the National Poisons Centre, the Plunket Society, the Ministry of Health and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service.

In July 2006 the Government introduced a standard that banned the sale of caustic formulations of dishwashing powders with a pH greater than or equal to 12.5, and gave manufacturers one year to reformulate their products. Other changes included improving labelling and packaging requirements.

“The campaign was successful on many levels – most notably in the awareness raised in the community through the media and talk-back radio,” says Chambers. “With 60,000 babies born every year, all adults need to know how to keep them safe. This campaign, and our ongoing work on raising public awareness of child injury issues, will help us to achieve this.”

The New Zealand Community Safety and Injury Prevention Awards are held as part of Safety NZ Week and are sponsored by ACC, Safe Communities Foundation New Zealand and the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy Secretariat. They recognise, reward and promote best-practice community-based injury prevention and safety promotion in New Zealand. The winners of four categories receive $2000 towards professional development and/or the development of their safety initiative.

ENDS

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