    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1993)]
    [Pages 447-448]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 6536--National Poison Prevention Week, 1993

     March 17, 1993

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        Since its inception more than three decades ago, the annual
    observance of National Poison Prevention Week has saved lives. Along
    with year-round educational programs in the public and private sectors,
    this annual campaign for awareness has helped to reduce dramatically the
    number of fatal accidental poisonings among children. In the effort to
    protect every child from poisoning, which is nearly always preventable,
    we renew our commitment to informing parents, grandparents, and other
    adults about the importance of protecting children in their homes. The
    urgency of our efforts is underscored by the fact that, according to the
    American Association of Poison Control Centers, nearly 1,000,000
    children each year are exposed to potentially harmful medicines and
    household chemicals.
        During National Poison Prevention Week, activities are coordinated
    by the Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of 37 national
    organizations whose members are determined to stop accidental
    poisonings. The Council distributes valuable information that is used by
    the staffs of poison control centers, pharmacists, public health
    officials, and others as they conduct poison prevention programs in
    their communities. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
    provides a Commission member to serve as Secretary of the Poison
    Prevention Week Council each year. Since 1972, the Commission has
    required child-resistant packaging for certain medicines and household
    chemicals, preventing countless tragedies.
        Every American can help to protect children with simple safety
    measures, such as using child-resistant packaging and securing
    potentially dangerous substances out of the reach of children. This week
    I encourage all Americans to become more aware of potential hazards in
    their homes and to eliminate them.

        The Congress, by a joint resolution approved September 26, 1961 (75
    Stat. 681), has authorized and requested the President to issue a
    proclamation designating the third week of March of each year as
    National Poison Prevention Week.

        Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
    States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning March 21, 1993,
    as National Poison Prevention Week. I urge all Americans to observe this
    week by participating in appropriate programs and activities and by
    learning how to prevent accidental poisonings among children.

        In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day
    of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and
    of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
    seventeenth.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [[Page 448]]

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 5:08 p.m., March 18,
    1993]

    Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March
    22.