Windshiled Fluid = Kool Aid? What are they thinking

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4aZPOJNx3m5mN5nW5N1KhFbm4mQD96T6SC80

Hide your children... this is crazy.

10 drink windshield wiper fluid at Ark. day care By JON GAMBRELL – 2 hours ago LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Ten children drank windshield wiper fluid after a staffer at an Arkansas day care mistakenly put the liquid in a refrigerator and served it, hospital officials said Friday. Doctors estimate the children, ages 2 to 7, drank about an ounce of the blue fluid late Thursday afternoon before realizing it tasted wrong, said Laura James, a pediatric pharmacologist and toxicologist at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. Only one child remained hospitalized Friday morning, after blood samples showed "measurable levels" of methanol, a highly toxic alcohol that can induce comas and cause blindness, officials said. The day care also provided the fluid for testing. "All we know was that the individual at the day care had recently shopped and had come back to the day care with a lot of different products," James told The Associated Press. "This product was mistakenly grabbed and thought to be Kool-Aid and put in the refrigerator." Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, identified the day care operator as Carolyn Bynum in Scott, about 15 miles east of Little Rock. Bynum declined to comment Friday. Bynum had a state license to care for 10 children in her home and had no found complaints or serious compliance issues in the past, Munsell said. Child welfare investigators planned to interview Bynum on Friday. "They'll go out, they'll get an explanation and they'll try to sort (it) out preliminarily," Munsell said. Munsell said a suspension or license revokation could be imposed pending an investigation. The toxicologist warned that many antifreeze or windshield wiper solutions have bright colors, which can be mistaken for fruit drinks. "I think the take-home message is not to have these products in the kitchen or where you're doing any kind of food preparation," she said.

I guess this is one of the hazards of hiring minimum wagers to take care of your kids.

I've seen really dirty brake fluid mistaken for Dr Pepper. Fairly clean fluid mistaken for Mt Dew. Of course, both had been bled into those respective bottles.

Wow. There's a serious lot of stupidity in that incident.

Some of the newer washer fluids are colors other than blue, we had some green stuff in a car this morning.

I've got orange colored fluid in the wife's Jetta. Never seems to freeze (not that it gets that cold in VA), and is good at lubing dead bugs for easy removal. The blue stuff in the Miata, well, it's rarely used (drive faster).

The real question is, how bad does actual blue Kool-Aid taste that windshield washer fluid could be mistaken for it after more than one sip?

I have the orange stuff, too. Looks a lot like Gatorade.

As for the taste, when I was in the navy we used kool-aid as a floor stripper (citric acid). Bet your fancy washer fluid can't do that.

The 'methanol' part of this reminds me of an incident several years ago where some bums (pardon me, homeless people) showed up at a hospital (IIRC in Philadelphia), blind and nauseated. It appears they had been 'squeezing Sterno'. If you squeeze the stuff in a piece of cloth you get a liquid which is something like 90% wood alcohol, or methanol. It's a quick buzz until you can't see and you start puking.

Never send the illiterate out for Kool-Aid... this is exactly what happened at Jonestown. It was all a big mistake.

well, no bugs stuck on those kid's windsheilds

Why does my Kool Aid have a childproof cap?

That's exactly what I thought, Wally. I guess I wouldn't want my kids drinking all of my Kool-Ade, either :p

My question is why the berkeley are they serving my kids koolaid? I wouldn't touch the stuff myself, and wouldn't want it served to my kid. If it looks like window cleaner, it's probably not fit for human consomtion.

Joey