III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 123 

Recognizing the week of March 19 through March 25, 2023, as ‘‘National 

Poison Prevention Week’’ and encouraging communities across the 

United States to raise awareness of the dangers of poisoning and promote 

poison prevention. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2023 

Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, and Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the week of March 19 through March 25, 2023, 

as ‘‘National Poison Prevention Week’’ and encouraging 

communities across the United States to raise awareness 

of the dangers of poisoning and promote poison prevention. 

Whereas the designation of National Poison Prevention Week 

was first authorized by Congress and President Kennedy 

in 1961, in Public Law 87–319 (75 Stat. 681); 

Whereas National Poison Prevention Week occurs during the 

third full week of March each year; 

Whereas, in 2021 to 2022, poison centers managed more 

than 5,000,000 human exposure cases and information 

requests, including— 


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(1) opioid and fentanyl misuse; 

(2) suicide attempts, including those among adolescents and teenagers; and 

(3) accidental edible cannabis ingestion; 

Whereas poison centers are on the front lines assisting 

throughout the United States with emergency disasters in 

our communities, including the East Palestine, Ohio, 

train derailment where Ohio poison centers are working 

around the clock with Federal, State, and local officials, 

as well as other poison centers including, the Pittsburgh 

Poison Center, to ensure that impacted communities have 

the resources they need to have their questions answered, 

and to provide guidance to local healthcare providers on 

how to assist people experiencing symptoms; 

Whereas poison control centers responded during the 

COVID–19 pandemic to COVID–19 related surges by 

conducting poison safety and poisoning prevention outreach in a virtual format, and handled increases in cases 

relating to hand sanitizer and household cleaning products; 

Whereas America’s Poison Centers works with the 55 poison 

control centers in the United States to track— 

(1) more than 1,000 commonly used household and 

workplace products that can cause poisoning; and 

(2) poisonings and the sources of those poisonings; 

Whereas the National Poison Data System database contains 

over 447,000 products, ranging from viral and bacterial 

agents to commercial chemical and drug products; 

Whereas local poison control centers save the people of the 

United States $1,800,000,000 in medical costs annually; 


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•SRES 123 IS 

Whereas America’s Poison Centers and poison control centers 

partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and State, 

local, Tribal, and territorial health departments to monitor occurrences of environmental, biological, and emerging threats in communities across the United States, including food poisoning, botulism, and vaping-associated 

lung injury; 

Whereas, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2020, an estimated 61,500 children younger than 

5 years of age were treated in emergency rooms due to 

unintended poisonings; 

Whereas, in 2021, children younger than 6 years of age constituted 41 percent of all poison exposures; 

Whereas, from 2012 to 2022, the number of adolescents 10 

to 19 years of age seen for a suicide attempt has nearly 

doubled, and that has disproportionately affected female 

adolescents; 

Whereas, in 2022, more than 90,000 children 19 years of age 

and younger were treated in an emergency room due to 

unintended pediatric poisoning, and more than 90 percent of those incidents occurred in the home, most often 

with acetaminophen, edible cannabis, melatonin, 

ibuprofen, laundry packets, bleach, diphenhydramine, 

blood pressure medications, sedatives, and anti-anxiety 

medication; 

Whereas an analysis of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System shows— 

(1) an increased incidence of ingestion of dangerous 

foreign bodies like button batteries and high-powered 

magnets during the COVID–19 pandemic; and 


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(2) evidence that parents and caregivers sought care 

for foreign body ingestions either because they knew the 

relative danger of the object ingested or because they 

sought advice from available resources like the poison 

control centers; 

Whereas 107,622 deaths due to drug overdose were reported 

in the United States in 2021, and the majority of those 

cases, approximately 71 percent, involved an opioid, primarily synthetic opioids like fentanyl; 

Whereas, in 2021, the most common substances that individuals called the poison help line about were prescription 

and non-prescription pain relievers, household cleaning 

substances, cosmetics and personal care products, and 

antidepressants; 

Whereas pain medications lead the list of the most common 

substances implicated in adult poison exposures, and are 

the single most frequent cause of pediatric fatalities reported to America’s Poison Centers; 

Whereas poison control centers issue guidance and provide 

support to individuals, including individuals who experience medication and dosing errors; 

Whereas more than 40 percent of calls to the poison help line 

are from individuals 20 years of age or older, with nearly 

50 percent of those calls involving patients older than 50 

years of age, and a common reason for those calls is 

therapeutic errors, including questions regarding drug 

interactions, incorrect dosing route, timing of doses, and 

double doses; 

Whereas normal, curious children younger than 6 years of 

age are in stages of growth and development in which 

they are constantly exploring and investigating the world 


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around them, and are often unable to read or recognize 

warning labels; 

Whereas America’s Poison Centers engages in community 

outreach by educating the public on poison safety and 

poisoning prevention, and provides educational resources, 

materials, and guidelines to educate the public on poisoning prevention; 

Whereas individuals can reach a poison control center from 

anywhere in the United States by calling the poison help 

line at 1–800–222–1222 or accessing PoisonHelp.org; 

Whereas, despite regulations of the Consumer Product Safety 

Commission requiring that a child-resistant package be 

designed or constructed to be significantly difficult for 

children under 5 years of age to open, or obtain a harmful amount of the contents, within a reasonable time, 

children can still open child-resistant packages; and 

Whereas, each year during National Poison Prevention Week, 

the Federal Government assesses the progress made by 

the Federal Government in saving lives and reaffirms the 

national commitment of the Federal Government to preventing injuries and deaths from poisoning: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the week of March 19 through 

3 March 25, 2023, as ‘‘National Poison Prevention 

4 Week’’; 

5 (2) expresses gratitude for the people who oper6 ate or support poison control centers in their local 

7 communities; 


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1 (3) expresses gratitude for frontline workers 

2 supporting poison prevention during the COVID–19 

3 pandemic; 

4 (4) supports efforts and resources to provide 

5 poison prevention guidance or emergency assistance 

6 in response to poisonings; and 

7 (5) encourages— 

8 (A) the people of the United States to edu9 cate their communities and families about poi10 son safety and poisoning prevention; and 

11 (B) health care providers to practice and 

12 promote poison safety and poisoning prevention. 

Æ 


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