Procter & Gamble Takes Next Step Forward in Commitment to Consumer Safety with New Liquid Laundry Pac Tub That Includes Harder-to-Open Child-Guard™ Lid

Child-Resistant Closures to Be Available for All P&G Laundry Pacs

Today Procter & Gamble (P&G) took another step forward in its commitment to consumer safety. After three years of in-depth R&D and testing, P&G is now launching new Tide PODS and Gain Flings tubs with Child-Guard™ lids. The Child-Guard™ tub is next in a series of significant product developments, consumer education initiatives and packaging changes to reduce accidents related to P&G's liquid laundry pacs. The new child-resistant tub closure provides an even stronger layer of protection, requiring individuals to squeeze both sides of the lid and twist at the same time to open the packaging.

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Procter & Gamble's New Child-Guard™ Tub (Photo: Business Wire)

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the families who use our products," said Sundar Raman, North America Vice President of Fabric Care for P&G. "Since last year's launch of the innovative Child-Guard™ bag for liquid laundry pacs, we've been working hard to launch this same technology for our tubs. Knowing that access is a key factor in accidental exposures, we've made the new Child-Guard™ tub easy to close, but harder to open so parents and caregivers can both conveniently and safely store the product, further driving down accidents. With this key change, child-resistant packaging will now be available for all of our laundry pac products."

P&G's ongoing efforts to reduce accidents related to liquid laundry pacs include the introduction of bags with a Child-Guard™ zipper, the addition of a bitter substance to the pac's outer film and an increase to the pac's film strength to delay the release of its contents. P&G also co-led the development of a new voluntary industry standard that provides manufacturers with guidelines on laundry pac design and packaging. Additionally, the Company is working with leading experts to reach even more parents and caregivers through its national education campaign, collaborating with Safe Kids Worldwide, the Alzheimer's Association, the American Cleaning Institute and poison control centers. Together, these efforts have led to a 39% reduction in the rate of accidents related to P&G's liquid laundry pacs, which the Company is committed to reducing further through continued investment in consumer safety.

To drive awareness of liquid laundry pac safety and the availability of its new Child-Guard™ tub, P&G will continue its education campaign featuring multi-media advertisements and content partnerships with leading online parenting channels.

"Safety starts at home, so we are pleased to see advances in child-resistant packaging for household products that provide families with extra protection," said Torine Creppy, Interim President of Safe Kids Worldwide. "When it comes to protecting kids around liquid laundry packets, we can't stress enough the importance of keeping them up, closed and out of children's reach and sight."

"Keeping children safe is the shared goal of advocates, industry and government agencies. Procter & Gamble's continued effort to make child-resistant liquid laundry pac packaging available demonstrates the Company's ongoing industry leadership," shared Inez Tenenbaum, former Chairman of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. "Along with P&G's education initiatives, its new Child-Guard™ tub lids will help protect children from accidental exposure to liquid laundry pacs."

The new Child-Guard™ tubs will be on store shelves this summer and will be widely available by the end of the year. Visit www.tide.com/safety to learn more about how to make safety a top priority during your laundry routine for family and loved ones.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

About Safe Kids Worldwide

Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to protect kids on the road, at home and at play. Preventable injuries are the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Throughout the world, almost one million children die of an injury each year, and almost every one of these tragedies is preventable. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. and with partners in more than 30 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings and more. Since 1988, Safe Kids has helped reduce the U.S. childhood death rate from unintentional injury by 60 percent. Working together, we can do much more to protect kids. Join our effort at safekids.org.

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