ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The head of the Missouri Poison Control Center says parents need to be on the lookout for new, more powerful batteries that could pose a swallowing risk for their child.

The previous button batteries were only one-and-a-half volts but the new ones are twice as powerful.

Dr. Anthony Scalzo is medical director of the Missouri Poison Control Center at Cardinal Glennon Childrens Medical Center.

“With the newer batteries that are more powerful, the damage to the tissue can occur more quickly,” Scalzo said. “So in a matter of a few hours, you can get a burn to the swallowing tube and the esophagus, and this can be a pretty serious surgical emergency so we need to get these kids into the emergency room to get x-rayed.”

So far this year, the Missouri Poison Control Center has fielded 63 calls about children swallowing button batteries.