are most properly cared for in specialized facilities that have skilled pediatric critical care staff and access to toxicology consultation NONTOXIC INGESTION Often, the emergency provider will be asked about a childhood ingestion of a common household product, many of which are nontoxic unless taken in very large amounts The availability of a list of such nontoxic products often leads to immediate relief of parental anxiety and avoids the institution of unnecessary noxious interventions Before using such a list, however, several precautions need to be kept in mind The fact that an ingestion is nontoxic does not necessarily mean that it has no medical significance Ingestions often occur in the context of a suboptimal environment There may be poor supervision or unusual family stresses surrounding the incident, or the ingestion may not have been purely exploratory in nature Several criteria have been suggested to qualify an ingestion as “nontoxic.” These include the assurance that only one identifiable product is ingested in a well-approximated amount, that the product label includes no cautionary signal word, that the child is symptom free and younger than years, and that an appropriate mechanism is available for telephone follow-up When used with these criteria, Table 102.12 provides an updated list of nontoxic ingestions Consultation with a regional poison control center is often helpful In the United States, the phone number 1-800-222-1222 may be used nationwide