New rules to tackle laundry-capsule poisonings

Laundry capsules will be coated in a substance that tastes repulsive to children from tomorrow, under new EU rules designed to combat accidental poisonings in the home.

Children will spit out the capsules within six seconds of tasting the “bittering agent” under safety measures agreed by each of the 28 EU states.

The capsules will also be packaged to make them more difficult for small hands to open, and larger warnings will remind parents to keep them out of reach of children.