Global battery brand Duracell has announced a child safety innovation with a difference: a bitter coating on its lithium coin batteries. With coin battery ingestions on the rise over the past two decades and damage that can occur in just two hours from ingestion, the innovation is designed to help deter accidental ingestions.
Duracell says it was determined to provide parents and caregivers of young children with an additional safety feature, child-safe packaging, and supportive education to help reverse this rising and devastating trend.
Further credentialing the product’s child safety feature and innovation,
Duracell’s new lithium coin battery was awarded the coveted Parent
Tested Parent Approved Winner’s Seal of Approval. By connecting
manufacturers with consumers, PTPA helps families identify products that
have been evaluated and recommended by their peers through unbiased
review.
For additional safety, Duracell’s Child Secure Pack features a tough
double blister around the lithium coin cell that is nearly impossible to
open with bare hands. In order to retrieve the batteries, the pack must
be opened by using a pair of scissors. Duracell embodies the “Power
Safely” message by educating consumers to actively identify potential
dangers in the home while also taking the necessary steps to decrease
accidental ingestions and further child safety measures.
“Duracell takes very seriously the trust that millions of consumers across North America place in us to power their lives every day ,” says Roberto Mendez, president of Duracell North America. “ And our new bitter coating innovation is an important step in child safety for us as a brand. We are proud to work with our retailer partners and other stakeholders in bringing this innovation to market.If a child manages to get access to a lithium coin cell and swallows it, consequences can become serious if not detected fast enough. In order to help prevent accidents and help keep children safe, we’ve worked to provide more child safety features around our lithium coin cells than other leading brands. This new innovation is no different, and we are confident this is the technology families and caregivers need to help close the gap between a child getting their hands on a lithium coin cell and the unfortunate event of ingestion.”
While this technology is revolutionary in the battery category, Duracell also believes battery safety education is critical to truly change the outcome for families around accidental ingestion. That is why Duracell is embarking on the Power Safely initiative to help educate parents, caregivers and pediatric health professionals as to the importance of practicing battery safety throughout the home.
To kickstart the Power Safely campaign, Duracell has created an informational educational video to shed light on the effects lithium coin battery ingestions can have on young children and to help encourage better practices and prevention among parents and caregivers. The video showcases how even the most child-proofed home can still have hidden dangers that may be inadvertently overlooked, and how important the extra line of defense from the new non-toxic bitter coating may be to help protect children from the dangers of accidental ingestion.
