[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 686 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 686

    To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the 
              funding of regional poison control centers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 21, 2003

  Mr. DeWine (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Breaux, Mr. 
Bingaman, and Mr. Inouye) introduced the following bill; which was read 
 twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the 
              funding of regional poison control centers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Poison Control Center Enhancement 
and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003''.

 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

     Section 2 of the Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 
U.S.C. 14801) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    ``Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) Poison control centers are our Nation's primary 
        defense against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-four 
        hours a day, the general public as well as health care 
        practitioners contact their local poison centers for help in 
        diagnosing and treating victims of poisoning and other toxic 
        exposures.
            ``(2) Poisoning is the third most common form of 
        unintentional death in the United States. In any given year, 
        there will be between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 poison exposures. 
        More than 50 percent of these exposures will involve children 
        under the age of 6 who are exposed to toxic substances in their 
        home. Poisoning accounts for 285,000 hospitalizations, 
        1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and 13,000 fatalities 
        annually.
            ``(3) Stabilizing the funding structure and increasing 
        accessibility to poison control centers will promote the 
        utilization of poison control centers, and reduce the 
        inappropriate use of emergency medical services and other more 
        costly health care services.
            ``(4) The tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the 
        anthrax cases of October 2001, have dramatically changed our 
        Nation. During this time period, poison centers in many areas 
        of the country were answering thousands of additional calls 
        from concerned residents. Many poison centers were relied upon 
        as a source for accurate medical information about the disease 
        and the complications resulting from prophylactic antibiotic 
        therapy.
            ``(5) The 2001 Presidential Task Force on Citizen 
        Preparedness in the War on Terrorism recommended that the 
        Poison Control Centers be used as a source of public 
        information and public education regarding potential 
        biological, chemical, and nuclear domestic terrorism.
            ``(6) The increased demand placed upon poison centers to 
        provide emergency information in the event of a terrorist event 
        involving a biological, chemical, or nuclear toxin will 
        dramatically increase call volume.''.

 SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL FREE NUMBER.

    Section 4 of the Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 
U.S.C. 14803) is amended--
             (1) by striking the section heading and inserting the 
        following:

``SEC. 4. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.'';

        and
            (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ``and $2,000,000 for 
        each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009'' after ``2004''.

 SEC. 4. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN.

    Section 5 of the Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 
U.S.C. 1480 4) is amended--
             (1) by striking the section heading and inserting the 
        following:

``SEC. 5. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER 
              UTILIZATION.'';

        and
            (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ``and $1,500,000 for 
        each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009'' after ``2004''.

 SEC. 5. POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.

    Section 6 of the Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 
U.S.C. 14805) is amended--
             (1) by striking the section heading and inserting the 
        following:

``SEC. 6. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.'';

            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b)  Other Improvements.--The Secretary shall also use amounts 
received under this section to--
            ``(1) develop standardized poison prevention and poison 
        control promotion programs;
            ``(2) develop standard patient management guidelines for 
        commonly encountered toxic exposures;
            ``(3) improve and expand the poison control data collection 
        systems;
            ``(4) improve national toxic exposure surveillance;
            ``(5) expand the toxicologic expertise within poison 
        control centers; and
            ``(6) improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
        answer high volumes of calls during times of national crisis'';
            (3) by striking subsection (d)(2) and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(2)  Renewal .--The Secretary may renew a waiver under 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(3)  Limitation.--In no instance may the sum of the 
        number of years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal 
        under paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence 
        shall take effect as if enacted on February 25, 2000.''; and
            (4) in subsection (h), by inserting ``and $30,000,000 for 
        each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009'' after ``2004''.

 SEC. 6. NATIONWIDE TOXICOSURVEILLANCE OF POISON CENTER DATA TO PROMOTE 
              HAZARD DETECTION.

    The Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 14801 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 7. NATIONWIDE TOXICOSURVEILLANCE OF POISON CENTER DATA TO 
              PROMOTE HAZARD DETECTION.

    ``(a)  In General.-- The Secretary shall assist in the 
implementation and maintenance of continuous national 
toxicosurveillance of poison control center data to detect new hazards 
from household products, pharmaceuticals, traditionally abused drugs, 
and other toxic substances.
    ``(b)  Contract for Services.--The Secretary may enter into a 
contract with appropriate professional organizations for the collection 
and analysis of poison center data described in subsection (a) in real 
time.
    ``(c)  Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $2,500,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2005 through 2009.''.
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