S. 632

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

An Act

To provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the funding of regional

poison control centers.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Each year more than 2,000,000 poisonings are reported

to poison control centers throughout the United States. More

than 90 percent of these poisonings happen in the home. Fiftythree percent of poisoning victims are children younger than

6 years of age.

(2) Poison control centers are a valuable national resource

that provide life-saving and cost-effective public health services.

For every dollar spent on poison control centers, $7 in medical

costs are saved. The average cost of a poisoning exposure call

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

system are involved is $932. Over the last 2 decades, the

instability and lack of funding has resulted in a steady decline

in the number of poison control centers in the United States.

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

forced to close because of funding problems. A third poison

control center is scheduled to close in April 1999. Currently,

there are 73 such centers.

(3) Stabilizing the funding structure and increasing accessibility to poison control centers will increase the number of

United States residents who have access to a certified poison

control center, and reduce the inappropriate use of emergency

medical services and other more costly health care services.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Health

and Human Services.

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

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide coordination and

assistance to regional poison control centers for the establishment

of a nationwide toll-free phone number to be used to access such

centers.

(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be

construed as prohibiting the establishment or continued operation
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of any privately funded nationwide toll-free phone number used

to provide advice and other assistance for poisonings or accidental

exposures.

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized

to be appropriated to carry out this section, $2,000,000 for each

of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004. Funds appropriated under

this subsection shall not be used to fund any toll-free phone number

described in subsection (b).

SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN.

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

media campaign to educate the public and health care providers

about poison prevention and the availability of poison control

resources in local communities and to conduct advertising campaigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number established

under section 4.

(b) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may carry out

subsection (a) by entering into contracts with 1 or more nationally

recognized media firms for the development and distribution of

monthly television, radio, and newspaper public service announcements.

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized

to be appropriated to carry out this section, $600,000 for each

of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004.

SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF A GRANT PROGRAM.

(a) REGIONAL POISON CONTROL CENTERS.—The Secretary shall

award grants to certified regional poison control centers for the

purposes of achieving the financial stability of such centers, and

for preventing and providing treatment recommendations for

poisonings.

(b) OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.—The Secretary shall also use

amounts received under this section to—

(1) develop standard education programs;

(2) develop standard patient management protocols for commonly encountered toxic exposures;

(3) improve and expand the poison control data collection

systems;

(4) improve national toxic exposure surveillance; and

(5) expand the physician/medical toxicologist supervision

of poison control centers.

(c) CERTIFICATION.—Except as provided in subsection (d), the

Secretary may make a grant to a center under subsection (a)

only if—

(1) the center has been certified by a professional organization in the field of poison control, and the Secretary has

approved the organization as having in effect standards for

certification that reasonably provide for the protection of the

public health with respect to poisoning; or

(2) the center has been certified by a State government,

and the Secretary has approved the State government as having

in effect standards for certification that reasonably provide

for the protection of the public health with respect to poisoning.

(d) WAIVER OF CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—

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

the certification requirement of subsection (c) with respect to

a noncertified poison control center or a newly established

center that applies for a grant under this section if such center
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can reasonably demonstrate that the center will obtain such

a certification within a reasonable period of time as determined

appropriate by the Secretary.

(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may only renew a waiver

under paragraph (1) for a period of 3 years.

(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made available to

a poison control center under this section shall be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State, or local funds provided

for such center.

(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control center, in utilizing the proceeds of a grant under this section, shall maintain

the expenditures of the center for activities of the center at a

level that is not less than the level of such expenditures maintained

by the center for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which

the grant is received.

(g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may impose a

matching requirement with respect to amounts provided under

a grant under this section if the Secretary determines appropriate.

(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized

to be appropriated to carry out this section, $25,000,000 for each

of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.