Rosstandart approved the packaging of medicines potentially dangerous for children

To test it will be entrusted to kids and representatives of the older generation

Requirements for the packaging of tablets, capsules and medicinal powders, which may pose a risk to children’s health, were approved by Rosstandart. The main thing is that it should be too strong for the child.

The document refers to both single-dose packages and blisters and strips. These familiar blocks are very similar to each other. The main component of the blister is the cells for each tablet or capsule, usually formed on a plastic sheet. The other part of the blister is a flat tape, usually metal, that closes the cells. In strips, both tapes, between which the tablets are packed, are the same, they are most often made of foil, less often of paper.

To find out how good the package is, the children will be instructed to open it. In case it turns out to be unreliable and the baby gets access to the contents, a placebo is packed into it instead of dangerous drugs. Up to 200 babies from 3.5 years to 4 years 3 months participate in the trials. Children are selected in such a way that they represent different cultural, ethnic and social strata of the country’s population. Babies who are known to have been drugged before do not participate in the trials. The group is divided into pairs, each child is given 8 test blisters or strips and asked to open them. If after 5 minutes nothing comes out for the testers, the controller shows what needs to be done to gain access to the content, and gives him another 5 minutes. The quality of the packaging is considered acceptable if after the first round more than 85% of the kids did not cope with the task, after the second – more than 80%.

This is followed by an adult stage, during which it is found out whether representatives of the older generation can extract the medicine. A hundred people from 50 to 70 years old are given a package with instructions for opening and the necessary tools for this. Those who opened their blister within 5 minutes are given a new one with an offer to open it in a minute. Those who failed in the first 5 minutes are offered to open the usual packaging, for example, a jar with a lid. If they do not have time to open it and close it again in a minute, their results are not taken into account. The packaging is considered correct, to which all adults who were not rejected for slowness and sluggishness managed to get access. The packaging is considered usable if most of the children were unable to get to the medicine, and the adults coped with the task.