[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 144 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 144
Recognizing the week of March 21 through March 27, 2021, as ``National
Poison Prevention Week'' and encouraging communities across the United
States to raise awareness of the dangers of poisoning and promote
poison prevention.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 25, 2021
Mr. Brown (for himself and Mr. Scott of South Carolina) submitted the
following resolution; which was considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the week of March 21 through March 27, 2021, as ``National
Poison Prevention Week'' and encouraging communities across the United
States to raise awareness of the dangers of poisoning and promote
poison prevention.
Whereas the designation of National Poison Prevention Week was first authorized
by Congress and President Kennedy in 1961 in Public Law 87-319 (75 Stat.
681);
Whereas National Poison Prevention Week occurs during the third full week of
March each year;
Whereas, as of February 10, 2021, poison centers have handled more than 838,000
cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic alone and have seen dramatic
increases in cases relating to hand sanitizer and household cleaning
products;
Whereas poison control centers responded to COVID-19 related surges by
conducting poison safety and poisoning prevention outreach in a virtual
format during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas the American Association of Poison Control Centers (referred to in this
preamble as the ``AAPCC'') works with the 55 poison control centers in
the United States to track--
(1) more than 1,000 commonly used household and workplace products that
can cause poisoning; and
(2) poisonings and the sources of those poisonings;
Whereas the National Poison Data System (NPDS) database contains over 447,000
products, ranging from viral and bacterial agents to commercial chemical
and drug products;
Whereas, in 2019, 2,148,141 people called the poison help line to reach a poison
control center;
Whereas, in 2019, as reported to the AAPCC, 92 percent of poison exposures
reported to local poison control centers occurred in the home;
Whereas local poison control centers save the people of the United States
$1,800,000,000 in medical costs annually;
Whereas the AAPCC and poison control centers partner with the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and
State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments to monitor
occurrences of environmental, biological, and emerging threats in
communities across the United States, including food poisoning,
botulism, and vaping-associated lung injury;
Whereas, in the United States, more than 300 children 19 years of age and
younger are treated in emergency departments for poisoning every day,
and more than 130 children 19 years of age and younger die as a result
of being poisoned each year;
Whereas, in 2019, children younger than 6 years of age constituted 43 percent of
all poison exposures;
Whereas, from 2000 to 2018, data from poison control centers revealed a
significant increase of an average of 3.4 percent per year in the number
of intentional suicide patients who were adolescents 10 to 24 years of
age, and that increase disproportionately occurred among females;
Whereas, in 2021, poison control centers are seeing an increase in suspected
suicides in individuals ranging from 11 to 14 years of age;
Whereas, in 2019, more than 114,000 children 19 years of age and younger were
treated in an emergency room due to unintended pediatric poisoning, and
more than 90 percent of those incidents occurred in the home, most often
with blood pressure medications, acetaminophen, laundry packets, bleach,
or sedatives or anti-anxiety medication;
Whereas there was a 444 percent increase in pediatric magnet ingestion cases
reported to United States poison control centers from 2018 to 2019 based
on an analysis of the National Poison Data System (NPDS), demonstrating
the significant risk of injury from high-powered magnet ingestions;
Whereas 70,237 cases of death due to drug overdose were reported in the United
States in 2017, and the majority of those cases, approximately 68
percent, involved an opioid;
Whereas, in 2019, the most common medications that adults called the poison help
line about were prescription and non-prescription pain relievers,
household cleaning substances, cosmetics and personal care products, and
antidepressants;
Whereas pain medications lead the list of the most common substances implicated
in adult poison exposures, and are the single most frequent cause of
pediatric fatalities reported to the AAPCC;
Whereas poison control centers issue guidance and provide support to
individuals, including individuals who experience medication and dosing
errors;
Whereas more than 60 percent of calls to the poison help line are from
individuals 20 years of age or older, with more than half of those calls
involving patients older than 50 years of age, and a common reason for
those calls is therapeutic errors, including questions regarding drug
interactions, incorrect dosing route, timing of doses, and double doses;
Whereas normal, curious children younger than 6 years of age are in stages of
growth and development in which they are constantly exploring and
investigating the world around them, and are often unable to read or
recognize warning labels;
Whereas the AAPCC engages in community outreach by educating the public on
poison safety and poisoning prevention, and provides educational
resources, materials, and guidelines to educate the public on poisoning
prevention;
Whereas individuals can reach a poison control center from anywhere in the
United States by calling the poison help line at 1-800-222-1222;
Whereas, despite regulations of the Consumer Product Safety Commission requiring
that a child-resistant package be designed or constructed to be
significantly difficult for children under 5 years of age to open, or
obtain a harmful amount of the contents, within a reasonable time,
children can still open child-resistant packages; and
Whereas, each year during National Poison Prevention Week, the Federal
Government assesses the progress made by the Federal Government in
saving lives and reaffirms the national commitment of the Federal
Government to preventing injuries and deaths from poisoning: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the week of March 21 through March 27, 2021,
as ``National Poison Prevention Week'';
(2) expresses gratitude for the people who operate or
support poison control centers in their local communities;
(3) expresses gratitude for frontline workers supporting
poison prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(4) supports efforts and resources to provide poison
prevention guidance or emergency assistance in response to
poisonings; and
(5) encourages--
(A) the people of the United States to educate
their communities and families about poison safety and
poisoning prevention; and
(B) health care providers to practice and promote
poison safety and poisoning prevention.
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