Of all the household nasties children might accidentally eat, dishwasher tablets are disturbingly poisonous and are landing children in emergency departments.
A U.S. study published in Injury Prevention found children younger than six were four times as likely to end up in hospital after contact with laundry pod detergent as opposed to regular liquid or powder.
The research looked at all hospital admissions data of children under the age of 5 between 2012 and 2014 and during that time, 10,000 children sought emergency care after coming into contact with laundry pod detergent.
This compares to 26,000 after other types of detergent.
The study is calling for changes to detergent pods including childproof containers, more muted colours, opaque packaging; and better public awareness of the dangers posed by laundry pod detergent for young children.
In the meantime, It might be worth storing detergent pods in a hard-to-reach place.