[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 7 (Monday, February 20, 1995)]
[Pages 254-255]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6770--National Poison Prevention Week, 1995

February 15, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Children are the future of our country, and protecting them is 
America's most sacred responsibility. All of us--government leaders,

[[Page 255]]

citizens, parents--are bound to do whatever we can to keep them safe and 
healthy. Simple safety measures--such as using child-resistant packaging 
correctly, locking cupboards, keeping prescriptions and cleaning 
supplies out of the reach of a child's hands--all can protect our most 
precious resource from the dangers of poison and other hazardous 
substances.
    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has made great 
progress in safeguarding our young people by mandating child-resistant 
packaging for medicine and dangerous chemicals. And the invaluable work 
of the Nation's poison control centers has saved countless lives, both 
young and old. These public health efforts have reduced childhood 
poisoning deaths from 450 in 1961 to 62 in 1991.
    However, according to the American Association of Poison Control 
Centers, nearly 1 million children each year are exposed to potentially 
poisonous medicines and household chemicals. Every year we lose children 
to poisoning--and almost all of these poisonings are preventable. This 
week--and every week--we must rededicate ourselves to informing everyone 
of the importance of prevention and to educating all caregivers about 
ways to prevent childhood poisonings.
    To encourage the American people to learn more about the dangers of 
accidental poisonings and to take more preventive measures, the 
Congress, by Public Law 87-319 (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 19, 1995, 
as National Poison Prevention Week. I call upon all Americans to observe 
this week by participating in appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 
of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and nineteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:17 a.m., February 16, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 17.