[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 56 (Thursday, March 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1836-S1837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. Scott of South Carolina) submitted the 
following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 144

       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

[[Page S1837]]

     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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