Off The Record
Family Issues Stark Warning After Daughter Is Blinded By Common Product Found At Home
Parents have received an urgent warning after an incident involving a washing pod blinded a child.
While assisting her mother, Jodi Lowe, with laundry, four-year-old Luca de Groot bit into the gel capsule that contained concentrated detergent.
Jodi claims that before she could stop Luca from yelling, he unintentionally smeared the product in her eyes.
Jodi tried to rinse the chemicals off her daughter by putting her in the shower, but when Luca’s yelling got worse, she hurried her to the hospital.
It’s shocking to see images of Luca’s red, puffy eyes covered in painful blisters and scabs that appeared days after exposure to the detergent.
Luca was sent home from the hospital after 16 days, but she still hasn’t totally recovered her vision in one eye.
Given her daughter’s serious injuries, Jodi, who lives in Perth, Western Australia, feels that the packaging’s warnings need to be strengthened.
The washing capsule was touted as a “3 in 1” capsule with “Comfort Freshness” and was sold as Omo in Australia but as Persil in the UK.
Jodi, 34, a sales manager, said, “Luca was helping me with the laundry and I gave her the pod just to hold while I put the washing on.”
“And by the time I’d turned around, she’d already bitten into it and it went into her eyes. They’re quite solid so when you pop them, they spray.”
“And kids being kids she rubbed her eyes, which meant it went across both eyes.”
“She’s never had the urge to bite before. It’s very out of character for her. She helps me with the laundry a lot but doesn’t normally play with them.”
“They do look and smell quite nice. They’re attractive to kids.”
“I put her into the shower and looked at the back of the product and it said to ‘seek medical advice’ so I didn’t think it was going to cause much of an issue.”
“She was screaming and really upset.”
“I noticed she wasn’t calming down, she was still hysterical. I called [a medical phone advice service] and they told me to go to hospital.”
Luca was released from the hospital after a 16-day stay, but doctors predict that she will continue to experience redness around her eyes for the next six to twelve months.
Jodi said, “Her sight in her left eye isn’t fully there yet but is coming back slowly. She has a slight vision impairment.”
“It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s been pretty traumatic. It’s not easy seeing your daughter in so much pain with nothing you can do.”
Jodi is adamant that the warnings on the package for Persil and Omo be updated because she feels they are “not good enough.”
Jodi said, “I know [Persil] say keep them away from the kids but on the packet it doesn’t say anything about going to a hospital. It just says ‘seek medical advice.”
“It needs to be more. It’s not good enough how it is.”
“I didn’t realise the extent of injuries they could cause. You wouldn’t think direct contact could cause pretty excessive burns, three surgeries and 16 days in hospital.”
“There needs to be more awareness on their packaging.”
A Unilever spokesman said, “Consumer safety is of paramount importance to Unilever. Any incident with children involving laundry capsules is one too many.”
“Our liquid detergent capsules are not intended for use by children, and packaging is fitted with child safety closures and warnings on the front and back of pack.”
“We have spoken to the mother about her child’s incident and will conduct a review of the warnings and safety advice on our laundry capsule range in Australia.”
Children have previously suffered injuries from washing pods and pills.
Lockie, the three-year-old son of McFly actor Harry Judd, was taken to the hospital in October following a similar incident.
Izzy, the 38-year-old’s wife, used Instagram to warn others and describe the “traumatic” few days the family had gone through.
The 40-year-old author disclosed that her son was taken to A&E after he grabbed a washing pod and it exploded, squirting the contents into his eye, along with a black and white photo of her youngest child’s hand.
After injecting 22 liters of fluid into his eyes, it took many hours for the pH levels to return to normal.
Izzy said at the time, “It’s been a traumatic few days… the reason I’m sharing this is because I don’t want another family to experience this and although we all get told the risks of cleaning products at home, reminders are always important.”
“So please, please put cleaning products high up and completely out of reach- this has been my scariest moment as a mum, I’m so sorry for others who have experienced these kind of awful accidents too.”
Children who mistake washing pods for “candy” have been known to attempt eating them, resulting in poisoning, burns, and blindness.
Strangely, the ‘Tide pod Challenge’ on social media in 2018 prompted the makers of the US detergent brand Tide to issue a caution after young people posted videos of themselves chewing into Tide washing pods.
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