II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 632

To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the funding

of regional poison control centers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 16, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. CHAFEE, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.

BOND, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BURNS, and Mr.

DODD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

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’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Each year more than 2,000,000 poisonings

9 are reported to poison control centers throughout
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1 the United States. More than 90 percent of these

2 poisonings happen in the home. 53 percent of poi3 soning victims are children younger than 6 years of

4 age.

5 (2) Poison control centers are a valuable

6 national resource that provide life-saving and cost7 effective public health services. For every dollar

8 spent on poison control centers, $7 in medical costs

9 are saved. The average cost of a poisoning exposure

10 call is $32, while the average cost if other parts of

11 the medical system are involved is $932. Over the

12 last 2 decades, the instability and lack of funding

13 has resulted in a steady decline in the number of

14 poison control centers in the United States. Within

15 just the last year, 2 poison control centers have been

16 forced to close because of funding problems. A third

17 poison control center is scheduled to close in April

18 1999. Currently, there are 73 such centers.

19 (3) Stabilizing the funding structure and in20 creasing accessibility to poison control centers will

21 increase the number of United States residents who

22 have access to a certified poison control center, and

23 reduce the inappropriate use of emergency medical

24 services and other more costly health care services.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec3 retary of Health and Human Services.

4 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL TOLL-FREE

5 NUMBER.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide co7 ordination and assistance to regional poison control cen8 ters for the establishment of a nationwide toll-free phone

9 number to be used to access such centers.

10 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

11 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

12 $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

13 2004.

14 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA

15 CAMPAIGN.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a

17 national media campaign to educate the public and health

18 care providers about poison prevention and the availability

19 of poison control resources in local communities and to

20 conduct advertising campaigns concerning the nationwide

21 toll-free number established under section 4.

22 (b) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may

23 carry out subsection (a) by entering into contracts with

24 1 or more nationally recognized media firms for the devel25 opment and distribution of monthly television, radio, and

26 newspaper public service announcements.
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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

3 $600,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004.

4 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF A GRANT PROGRAM.

5 (a) REGIONAL POISON CONTROL CENTERS.—The

6 Secretary shall award grants to certified regional poison

7 control centers for the purposes of achieving the financial

8 stability of such centers, and for preventing and providing

9 treatment recommendations for poisonings.

10 (b) OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.—The Secretary shall

11 also use amounts received under this section to—

12 (1) develop standard education programs;

13 (2) develop standard patient management pro14 tocols for commonly encountered toxic exposures;

15 (3) improve and expand the poison control data

16 collection systems;

17 (4) improve national toxic exposure surveillance;

18 and

19 (5) expand the physician/medical toxicologist

20 supervision of poison control centers.

21 (c) CERTIFICATION.—Except as provided in sub22 section (d), the Secretary may make a grant to a center

23 under subsection (a) only if—

24 (1) the center has been certified by a profes25 sional organization in the field of poison control, and
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1 the Secretary has approved the organization as hav2 ing in effect standards for certification that reason3 ably provide for the protection of the public health

4 with respect to poisoning; or

5 (2) the center has been certified by a State gov6 ernment, and the Secretary has approved the State

7 government as having in effect standards for certifi8 cation that reasonably provide for the protection of

9 the public health with respect to poisoning.

10 (d) WAIVER OF CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant a

12 waiver of the certification requirement of subsection

13 (c) with respect to a noncertified poison control cen14 ter or a newly established center that applies for a

15 grant under this section if such center can reason16 ably demonstrate that the center will obtain such a

17 certification within a reasonable period of time as

18 determined appropriate by the Secretary.

19 (2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may only renew

20 a waiver under paragraph (1) for a period of 3

21 years.

22 (e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made

23 available to a poison control center under this section shall

24 be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal,

25 State, local or private funds provided for such center.
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1 (f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control

2 center, in utilizing the proceeds of a grant under this sec3 tion, shall maintain the expenditures of the center for

4 activities of the center at a level that is not less than the

5 level of such expenditures maintained by the center for

6 the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the

7 grant is received.

8 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may

9 impose a matching requirement with respect to amounts

10 provided under a grant under this section if the Secretary

11 determines appropriate.

12 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

13 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

14 $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

15 2004.

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