[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 10 (Monday, March 10, 1997)]
[Pages 289-290]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6977--National Poison Prevention Week, 1997

March 5, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    This year, as we observe National Poison Prevention Week, we 
highlight two achievements: the effectiveness of child-resistant 
packaging required by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 
and the lifesaving work of the Nation's poison control centers. These 
public health efforts have reduced childhood poisoning deaths from 450 
deaths in 1961 to 50 deaths in 1993. However, according to the American 
Association of Poison Control Centers, over one million children each 
year are exposed to potentially poisonous medicines and household 
chemicals.
    Virtually all poisonings are preventable, and we must continue to 
inform parents, grandparents, and caregivers how to prevent childhood 
poisonings. The Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of 39 
national organizations determined to stop accidental poisonings, 
distributes valuable information used by poison control centers, 
pharmacies, public health departments, and others to conduct poison 
prevention programs in their communities.
    Simple safety measures--such as correctly using child-resistant 
packaging and keeping potentially harmful substances locked away from 
children--can save lives. And if a poisoning occurs, a poison control 
center can offer quick and lifesaving intervention.
    The CPSC requires child-resistant packaging for many medicines and 
household chemicals. A recent CPSC study showed that every year 
approximately 24 children's lives are saved by child-resistant packaging 
for oral prescription medicines. The CPSC recently took action to ensure 
that child-resistant packaging will be easier for adults to use as well. 
This, in turn, will increase the use of child-resistant packaging, 
preventing more poisonings.
    To encourage Americans to learn more about the dangers of accidental 
poisonings and to take more preventive measures, the Congress, by 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 March 16 through March 22, 1997, 
as National Poison Prevention Week. I call upon all Americans to observe 
this week by participating in appropriate ceremonies and activities and 
by learning how to prevent accidental poisonings among children.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., March 7, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
10.

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