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Mr. Yuk sticker creator Dr. Richard W. Moriarty, a retired pediatrician, stands inside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a board member.
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Children's future still at risk, says Mr. Yuk creator, as he's honored by Pittsburgh

Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette

Children's future still at risk, says Mr. Yuk creator, as he's honored by Pittsburgh

He helped adults protect children from poisoning with a sickening sticker back in the ’70s. Years later, retired pediatrician Dr. Richard W. Moriarty remains concerned about the well-being of children and their future. Now he’s focusing on climate change, the effects of gun violence and resistance to vaccines.

On Tuesday, the man behind Mr. Yuk, our favorite poison warning symbol, will be honored by proclamation in the City of Pittsburgh.

It’s the beginning of a celebration of Dr. Moriarty’s 80th birthday (Oct. 4) and his accomplishments, from his early days as a physician and founder of the Pittsburgh Poison Center, to his retirement years volunteering his talents as president of the Carnegie Discoverers and board member at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History along with helping with other community organizations.

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“I’ve led a charmed life in many respects,” he said recently as he looked back at his career. “I’ve been in the right place at the right time.”

Reared in Lawrenceville, Dr. Moriarty was a science-oriented student in high school who first considered becoming a Methodist minister, then thought about becoming a teacher.

Instead he went to medical school, graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he later became an associate clinical professor of pediatrics.

It was while he was at Children’s Hospital as an intern and resident that he noticed the existing poison-emergency response system: not much.

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“There was a phone in the emergency room,” he recalled. “Whoever picked it up was the poison center. We had no training; it was crazy.” Information about poisons and treatments was kept in a card file.

During an extended deferment from military service in the Vietnam War era, he pursued a fellowship in clinical pharmacology that went along with his interest in the poison center. As a pediatrician working at Children’s emergency room, he developed the plan, and in 1971 hired six emergency room nurses, along with trained toxicologists. Then it was time to get the word out to the public on how to call the poison control center — since many emergencies could be dealt with over the phone. So public education and a new warning symbol was needed.

He got help from an advertising firm and a focus group of children, who identified the least-likable “sick” face and the least-pleasant color: fluorescent green.

“That looks yucky,” one child said.

“Mr. Yuk was born,” Dr. Moriarty said. Parents were encouraged to put a Mr. Yuk sticker, with the poison control center number, on household chemicals to warn their children.

“We never claimed it will prevent poisoning,” he said, but with every sticker, the message was, “If you get in trouble, call us.”

In 1973, the National Poison Center Network grew out of the Pittsburgh centers’ outreach to regional hospitals, using telecopiers to transmit information back and forth. Other poison centers were told to share their information to develop better treatments. More than 50 centers joined the network. 

Dr. Moriarty left the poison center in the mid-’80s and retired in January 1999 after 20 years at Children's and another 10 at the former St. Francis Medical Center.

He’s still got a specially molded Mr. Yuk medallion on a money clip he carries around, a conversation starter.

“Mr. Yuk has a life of his own,” Dr. Moriarty said.

These days he helps sponsor the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest and promotes activities at the Museum of Natural History, including the staff wish list of under-$1,000 expenses.

The Discoverers group meets with Carnegie and outside experts to talk about their work, and in turn group members often step up to fund projects at the museum.

Dr. Moriarty supports museum director Eric Dorfman’s leadership in the study of the Anthropocene, a term for the epoch when humans have a profound impact on the Earth. Research includes monitoring a kind of beetle considered a marker for climate change.

“These are the stories we can tell, the Anthropocene, what man has done to this world,” Dr. Moriarty said. “We need to take care of it. It’s becoming critical. Scientists aren’t making this up.” Sea levels and average temperatures are rising, he pointed out.

Among his other concerns are:

• Vaccine resistance. When parents balked at the measles-mumps-rubella shots, he explained that a 1998 study indicating a connection between autism and the vaccine was discredited. “But as far as I was concerned, [the lead researcher] should have been tried for murder,” he said. If he couldn’t convince parents, he said he would add a note, signed by him and the parents, in the child’s chart, so there was proof of the parents’ refusal. Then, he said, he would show them the Yellow Pages so they could find another doctor.

• E-cigarette use among young people. “It was advertised as totally safe. It turns out it isn’t a safe product,” he said.

• Parents indulging their children. “Why do you want this kid to be your friend?” he said, “You don’t have to do that. ... Don’t have a guilt trip. You’re molding this kid.”

To contact the Pittsburgh Poison Center, call 1-800-222-1222. 

Jill Daly: jdaly@post-gazette.com

First Published: October 1, 2019, 10:35 a.m.

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Mr. Yuk sticker creator Dr. Richard W. Moriarty, a retired pediatrician, stands inside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a board member.  (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Mr. Yuk sticker creator Dr. Richard W. Moriarty, a retired pediatrician, stands inside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a board member.  (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
A Mr. Yuk sticker.  (UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh)
Mr. Yuk sticker creator Dr. Richard W. Moriarty, a retired pediatrician, stands inside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a board member. For children, he's now concerned about the effects of climate change, vaccination rates and e-cigarettes.  (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Dr. Richard W. Moriarty, a retired pediatrician and creator of the Mr. Yuk sticker, stands near a display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a board member.  (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette
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