[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 11 (Monday, March 20, 2000)]
[Pages 573-574]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7281--National Poison Prevention Week, 2000

March 17, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Children face many dangers growing up, including some which we 
cannot foresee or prevent. But the danger of accidental poisoning from 
medicines, household chemicals, or other substances used routinely in 
the home is something we can--and must--stop. Each year during National 
Poison Prevention Week, we assess our progress in saving lives and 
reaffirm our national commitment to preventing injuries or deaths from 
poisoning.
    We have indeed made progress in the nearly 4 decades since the 
Congress first authorized this annual observance. In 1962, almost 450 
children died of poisoning after swallowing medicines or household 
chemicals. By 1996, that tragic statistic had been reduced to 47. Our 
goal is to reduce it to zero.
    The first and most effective means to achieving this goal is the 
proper use of child-resistant packaging, which the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission requires for many medicines and household chemicals. 
While this special packaging is child-resistant, however, it is not 
childproof; therefore, it is essential that adults keep potentially 
poisonous substances locked away from
children.
    Our second line of defense is America's poison control centers, 
where lifesaving information is only a phone call away. If a poisoning 
does occur, parents or other caregivers can call one of these centers 
and immediately learn the appropriate actions to take to mitigate the 
poison's effects. Last month, I was proud to sign into law the Poison 
Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act, which authorizes $140 
million over the next 5 years to fund our Nation's poison control 
centers, to carry out a national public awareness campaign, and to 
establish

[[Page 574]]

a national toll-free poison control hotline. Each year, more than 2 
million poisonings are reported, a million of which involve children, 
and this new funding will ensure that callers have immediate access to 
the vital services and information they need to save lives.
    I thank the Poison Prevention Week Council, which brings together 35 
national organizations to distribute poison prevention information to 
pharmacies, public health departments, and safety organizations 
nationwide, for its vital role in the progress Americans have made in 
reducing accidental poisonings. By following its lead, properly using 
child-resistant packaging, keeping poisonous substances locked away from 
children, and keeping the number of a poison prevention center close by 
the telephone, we can greatly reduce accidental poisonings.
    To encourage the American people to learn more about the dangers of 
accidental poisonings and to take responsible 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 the week beginning March 19, 2000, 
as National Poison Prevention Week. I call upon all Americans to observe 
this week by participating in appropriate programs and activities and by 
learning how to protect our children from poisonous substances.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day 
of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:31 a.m., March 20, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
21.