III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 625 

Recognizing the week of March 17 through March 23, 2024, 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 (legislative day, MARCH 22), 2024 

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

BLUMENTHAL) submitted the following resolution; which was considered 

and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the week of March 17 through March 23, 2024, 

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 2022, poison centers responded to more than 

2,000,000 human exposure cases and information requests, including— 


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•SRES 625 ATS 

(1) opioid and fentanyl misuse; 

(2) suicide attempts, including those by adolescents 

and teens; 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; 

Whereas poison control centers responded to COVID–19 related surges by conducting poison safety and poisoning 

prevention outreach in a virtual format during the 

COVID–19 pandemic 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) 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 contains over 

466,000 products, ranging from viral and bacterial 

agents to commercial chemical and drug products; 

Whereas local poison control centers save the people in medical costs; 

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; 


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•SRES 625 ATS 

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

age of 5 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, or sedatives or anti-anxiety medication; 

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

(1) children experienced an increased incidence of 

ingestion of dangerous foreign bodies like button batteries and high-powered magnets during the COVID–19 

pandemic; and 

(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 


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cases, approximately 75 percent, involved an opioid, primarily synthetic opioids like fentanyl; 

Whereas, in 2021, the most common substances that individuals called the poison helpline 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 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 helpline 

are from individuals 20 years of age or older, 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 active, curious children will often investigate and 

sometimes ingest things they find, and every day over 

300 children between the ages of 0 to 19 are treated for 

accidental poisoning in the United States; 

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; 


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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, children can still open child-resistant packages within a reasonable time; 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 17 through 

3 March 23, 2024, 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; 

8 (3) expresses gratitude for frontline workers 

9 who supported poison prevention during the 

10 COVID–19 pandemic; 

11 (4) supports efforts and resources to provide 

12 poison prevention guidance or emergency assistance 

13 in response to poisonings; and 

14 (5) encourages— 


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1 (A) the people of the United States to edu2 cate their communities and families about poi3 son safety and poisoning prevention; and 

4 (B) health care providers to practice and 

5 promote poison safety and poisoning prevention. 

Æ 


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