I should try to be less US-centric, but did you know that the US government just declared by unanimous vote June 2008 national safety month (NSM)? On that topic, the National Safety Council has created a dedicated page to NSM with some news about real risks to Americans:

Accidental poisoning deaths have more than tripled in the United States over the past 20 years, making poisoning the nation’s second-leading cause of unintentional deaths, after motor-vehicle crashes.
[…]
Most affected by the dramatic rise in poisoning deaths are people born in the 1950s – that is, in the middle of the baby boom years. And while the largest numerical increase in poisoning deaths is among non-Hispanic white men between the ages of 20 and 64, the rate of poisoning from unintentional overdoses is increasing fastest among non-Hispanic white women in the same age range.
[…]
What’s more, most Americans – 81 percent – believe that children are at greatest risk for fatal poisoning, though data shows that less than one percent of poisoning deaths involve children under 6 years of age – about 30 deaths – and more than 96 percent involve adults 20 years and older – more than 20,200 deaths.

Wow. That is a huge number, especially compared to the number of deaths caused by terrorists.

If you are white and middle-aged, you might want to start installing cabinet safety locks now. After all, this is the week of Poisoning Prevention. But home safety is not enough. Did you read the story about the New Zealand cafe that served sodium hydroxide as wine?

She spat out the liquid when she experienced a burning sensation on her lips and mouth. A cafe worker offered to test the drink and suffered a similar reaction, the prosecutor said.

Managers at the cafe checked and found that a mulled wine container had been filled with dishwashing detergent.

Did the managers taste it too? “Waiter, this drink is causing me emotional harm. Could you please taste it? In fact, could you please have management taste a lot of it?” Don’t forget to label your poisons, especially if you keep them in the same type of bottle as those you serve to guests and customers.

We already missed Emergency Preparedness and Distracted Driving. Next week is Falls Prevention. Defying the laws of gravity?