I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1819

To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the funding 

of regional poison control centers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 11, 2003

Mr. UPTON (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. CAMP, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. GREENWOOD, and Mr. JOHN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize 

the funding of regional poison control centers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poison Control Center 

5 Enhancement and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Section 2 of the Poison Control Enhancement and 

8 Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 14801) is amended to read as 

9 follows: 
2

•HR 1819 IH 

1 ‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 ‘‘Congress finds the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Poison control centers are our Nation’s 

4 primary defense against injury and deaths from poi5 soning. Twenty-four hours a day, the general public 

6 as well as health care practitioners contact their 

7 local poison centers for help in diagnosing and treat8 ing victims of poisoning and other toxic exposures. 

9 ‘‘(2) Poisoning is the third most common form 

10 of unintentional death in the United States. In any 

11 given year, there will be between 2,000,000 and 

12 4,000,000 poison exposures. More than 50 percent 

13 of these exposures will involve children under the age 

14 of 6 who are exposed to toxic substances in their 

15 home. Poisoning accounts for 285,000 hospitaliza16 tions, 1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and 

17 13,000 fatalities annually. 

18 ‘‘(3) Stabilizing the funding structure and in19 creasing accessibility to poison control centers will 

20 promote the utilization of poison control centers, and 

21 reduce the inappropriate use of emergency medical 

22 services and other more costly health care services. 

23 ‘‘(4) The tragic events of September 11, 2001, 

24 and the anthrax cases of October 2001, have dra25 matically changed our Nation. During this time pe26 riod, poison centers in many areas of the country 
3

•HR 1819 IH 

1 were answering thousands of additional calls from 

2 concerned residents. Many poison centers were relied 

3 upon as a source for accurate medical information 

4 about the disease and the complications resulting 

5 from prophylactic antibiotic therapy. 

6 ‘‘(5) The 2001 Presidential Task Force on Cit7 izen Preparedness in the War on Terrorism rec8 ommended that the Poison Control Centers be used 

9 as a source of public information and public edu10 cation regarding potential biological, chemical, and 

11 nuclear domestic terrorism. 

12 ‘‘(6) The increased demand placed upon poison 

13 centers to provide emergency information in the 

14 event of a terrorist event involving a biological, 

15 chemical, or nuclear toxin will dramatically increase 

16 call volume.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL FREE NUM18 BER. 

19 Section 4 of the Poison Control Enhancement and 

20 Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 14803) is amended—

21 (1) by striking the section heading and insert22 ing the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 4. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUM24 BER.’’; 

25 and 
4

•HR 1819 IH 

1 (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘and 

2 $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 

3 2009’’ after ‘‘2004’’. 

4 SEC. 4. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN. 

5 Section 5 of the Poison Control Enhancement and 

6 Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 14804) is amended—

7 (1) by striking the section heading and insert8 ing the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 5. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POI10 SON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION.’’; 

11 and 

12 (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘and 

13 $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 

14 2009’’ after ‘‘2004’’. 

15 SEC. 5. POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM. 

16 Section 6 of the Poison Control Enhancement and 

17 Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 14805) is amended—

18 (1) by striking the section heading and insert19 ing the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 6. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER 

21 GRANT PROGRAM.’’; 

22 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(b) OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.—The Secretary shall 

25 also use amounts received under this section to—
5

•HR 1819 IH 

1 ‘‘(1) develop standardized poison prevention 

2 and poison control promotion programs; 

3 ‘‘(2) develop standard patient management 

4 guidelines for commonly encountered toxic expo5 sures; 

6 ‘‘(3) improve and expand the poison control 

7 data collection systems; 

8 ‘‘(4) improve national toxic exposure surveil9 lance; 

10 ‘‘(5) expand the toxicologic expertise within poi11 son control centers; and 

12 ‘‘(6) improve the capacity of poison control cen13 ters to answer high volumes of calls during times of 

14 national crisis.’’; 

15 (3) by striking subsection (d)(2) and inserting 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 

18 waiver under paragraph (1). 

19 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In no instance may the sum 

20 of the number of years for a waiver under paragraph 

21 (1) and a renewal under paragraph (2) exceed 5 

22 years. The preceding sentence shall take effect as if 

23 enacted on February 25, 2000.’’; and 
6

•HR 1819 IH 

1 (4) in subsection (h), by inserting ‘‘and 

2 $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 

3 2009’’ after ‘‘2004’’. 

4 SEC. 6. NATIONWIDE TOXICOSURVEILLANCE OF POISON 

5 CENTER DATA TO PROMOTE HAZARD DETEC6 TION. 

7 The Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 14801 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 7. NATIONWIDE TOXICOSURVEILLANCE OF POISON 

11 CENTER DATA TO PROMOTE HAZARD DETEC12 TION. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall assist in the 

14 implementation and maintenance of continuous national 

15 toxicosurveillance of poison control center data to detect 

16 new hazards from toxic substances, household products, 

17 pharmaceuticals, and traditionally abused drugs. 

18 ‘‘(b) CONTRACT FOR SERVICES.—The Secretary may 

19 enter into a contract with appropriate professional organi20 zations for the collection and analysis of poison center 

21 data described in subsection (a) in real time. 

22 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

24 $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009.’’.

Æ