Business writer Lynn Tylczak works out of her home so she can keep an eye on her two kids. But even an ever-watchful parent can’t be everywhere in the house at once; kids still manage to get hurt.

Tylczak learned about a bittering agent used in Britain to keep kids from ingesting common products like garden pesticides, detergents and automotive fluids. The compound makes the product so bitter that kids gag and spit it out. Wondering what was being done in this country about the problem, Tylczak went into research mode.

When she had the facts, she wrote dozens of letters to the press and to politicians, alerting them to the fact that every year 3 million American kids under the age of six ingest a poisonous substance, a problem that could be stopped by the bittering agents being used in other countries.

When the wire services and the networks ran the story, Tylczak received over 18,000 letters, many of them simply addressed to “Lynn Tylczak, Albany OR.”

Tylczak knew she was onto something important, and it seemed to be up to her to lead. Giving up her freelance writing work, she launched the Poison-Proof Project to push for legislation and to inform people about the danger. The family had saved almost $9,000 toward a downpayment on a house; that money and hundreds of Tylczak’s hours have gone into the crusade.

The payoff has come as states write laws mandating that manufacturers of toxins incorporate the bittering agents; as endorsements come in from the American Medical Association, the Consumers’ Union and the National Safety Council; and as hundreds of children are not injured or killed.