Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 28, 1995                   TAG: 9506300001
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOTTLE CAPS

Since its appearance 23 years ago on aspirin bottles, the child-resistant cap, used on products from prescription drugs to household cleaners, has been of two basic types: the kind that must be pushed down as it is turned to open, and the kind that requires an arrow on the cap to be lined up with an arrow on the bottle before the cap is pushed up to open.

As it turns out, however, the former requires too much strength for adults crippled by arthritis, who can't apply enough pressure on the hacksaw as they draw its blade across the bottle's neck to make a deep enough cut to sever the top. The latter requires too much dexterity for older folks, who cannot hold the bottle steady and saw at the same time.

In short, the caps too often prove to be child- and adult-resistant.

Yet, the regulation has had the desired effect, in addition to the unintended consequence. In 1972, when the first rules on child-resistant packaging went into effect, 216 children died from poisoning in the United States. In 1992, that number was 42.

Still, there are 1 million calls to poison control centers and 130,000 emergency-room treatments for childhood poisonings each year. There are no statistics on how many occur because people who must struggle to open protective packaging buy products that are not child-resistant, or simply leave the cap off once opened. But 20 percent of the poisonings occur in grandparents' homes.

Now, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has ordered a new child-resistant design for medicine bottles: Lightly squeeze the sides of the bottle and turn the cap. It's supposed to be easy, if you know how - and children under 5 aren't supposed to be able to figure out how.

If all this is giving you a headache, relax. In this era of regulatory caution, the commission is not mandating a manufacturing standard but is requiring a result: 90 of 100 people aged 50 to 70 must be able to open the bottle within five minutes on the first try, and within a minute thereafter. And no more than 40 of 200 children under 5 should be able to open it after two five-minute tries.

So there's room for entrepreneurial spirit. Anyone with a better idea for a bottle cap is welcome to try it.