We still have a bottle of it in the medicine chest because I just can’t get over decades of advice to keep a bottle on hand to stimulate vomiting after a child drinks something poisonous. However, there is no evidence that it helps, and the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages its use. Vomiting poison could harm a child’s lungs or esophagus. Instead, save yourself the bucks and the space, and tape the number of the Poison Control Center – 800-222-1222 – to your medicine chest door.