The Consumer Product Safety Commission should crack down on detergent companies whose superconcentrated cleanser “pods” look so much like candy that even a sitting senator wanted to gobble one.

Since April, 40 local children in the city have mistakenly downed the colorful laundry packs such as Tide Pods, leading to numerous hospitalizations, some emergency intestinal surgery, and pangs of hunger of Sen. Charles Schumer.

“The incidents are skyrocketing,” Schumer said Sunday joined by several medical professionals. “These pods were supposed to make household chores easier, not tempt our children to swallow harmful chemicals. I saw one on my staffer's desk and I wanted to eat it.”

Schumer said 200 cases had been reported to poison control centers nationwide as of May, but that figure jumped to 1,210 by the end of June.

In one case, a 15-month-old who bit into a packet and breathed the contents began vomiting and had to be put on a ventilator.

The one-time use clothing cleaners are designed to reduce spills and balky bottles but they are more dangerous because the brightly colored pods are highly concentrated, Schumer said.

Medical experts cautioned that the colorful plastic packaging is especially tempting because it looks like a teething toy.

“They look yummy and like candy,” said Dr. Tamara Kuittinen, director of medical education in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Sen. Charles Schumer shows off the dangerous detergent pods at a news conference Sunday. (Anonymous/AP)

She warned parents to keep the pods and colorful dishwashing packets in high and locked storage spaces.

In May, Proctor and Gamble announced that it would be implementing a new double-latch lid for the Tide Pod containers, a safety move Schumer is hoping others will voluntarily follow.

Arm and Hammer and other makers have not followed suit.

The pods have caused serious injuries in Europe where they have been on the market for several years, Schumer said.

But there are no plans to ban the new product, he said.

“We don’t want to throw out the baby with the detergent water,” he said.

“I don’t know why they make them look so delicious.”

rblau@nydailynews.com

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