America is truly addicted, especially when it comes to prescription medication. But a byproduct of that addiction is that it is impacting the safety of our children the poisoning deaths. A report released called VITAL Signs from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that childhood poisoning deaths increased 80 percent between 2000 and 2009, and prescription drugs accounted for 57 percent of the increase.
The only other category of accidental childhood deaths to increase was suffocation, which rose 30 percent in the same time frame. Deaths from motor vehicle accidents, fires and drowning all decreased.
Overall, the U.S. has the third highest rate of child deaths by injury among all high-income countries, behind only New Zealand and Mexico. The U.S. rate is four times higher than that of Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK – the countries with the lowest rates.This is truly a list that the United States does not need to be near the top.
These statistics parallel those of prescription drug overdoses across all age groups. According to the CDC, prescription painkiller overdoses killed nearly 15,000 people in the U.S. in 2008, more than three times the number killed by the same drugs in 1999. That stands to reason, since the quantity of prescription painkillers sold by the largest Pharmaceutical Company's to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices was four times larger in 2010 than in 1999.
In the United States one in ten adults are taking anti-depressant medication. This is up 400% in the United States since the first generation of anti-depressants went on the market in the late 1980's.
source: CDC Vital Signs Report
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