The Story Behind Child Resistant Packaging
During the Kennedy administration there was rising concern about the accidental poisoning of children. Programs emphasized basic preventive measures involving handling, use, and storage. Unintentional poisonings by medicines and household products was considered by most pediatricians to be the leading cause of injury to children aged 5 and under. In 1970, the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) was signed into law by President Nixon which required the use of child-resistant packaging for prescription drugs, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, household chemicals, and other hazardous materials. In 1975 deaths in children aged 5 and under went down by 1.4 million. The rate of fatalities went down 45% from projections of deaths without the presence of Child-Resistant (CR) Packaging.
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Reported:
- Standards promulgated for child resistance and adult effectiveness have required changes in technology and consumer acceptance. Producers, consumers, and the regulatory agency itself have had to make accommodations to the concept of promoting and accepting some inconvenience for a projected gain
- The inauguration of such a program is bound to have problems among the industries who may have to institute changes in equipment, packaging design, marketing practices, quality control procedures, assembly and capping operations, specification, and tolerances
Fast forward to the 2000’s
With cannabis coming online at a rapid pace just like pharmaceuticals did before 1970. History shows us that there is a solution for reducing death by alleviating the risk of a child gaining access to a substance that is harmful. We don’t have to collect new data to conclude that child-resistant packaging is needed in the cannabis industry. Do you think twice about having to open a child-resistant bottle of Ibuprofen? The historical inconvenience has been accepted, and the gain has been children’s lives.
So a call to the cannabis industry:
- Cannabis Consumers – Accept and support the use of child-resistant packaging
- Cannabis Business Owners – Institute changes in the design and quality of your packaging
- SAVE Children’s Lives
Written by Bill Ludlow, CEO and President, CRATIV Packaging
