III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 557 

Recognizing the week of March 20 through March 26, 2022, 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 24, 2022 

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 20 through March 26, 2022, 

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, as of January 31, 2022, poison centers have handled more than 1,019,000 cases related to the COVID– 

19 pandemic alone and have seen dramatic increases in 


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cases relating to hand sanitizer and household cleaning 

products; 

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; 

Whereas the American Association of Poison Control Centers 

(referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘AAPCC’’) 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 (referred to in 

this preamble as ‘‘NPDS’’) database contains over 

456,000 products, ranging from viral and bacterial 

agents to commercial chemical and drug products; 

Whereas, in 2020, 2,128,198 people called the poison help 

line to reach a poison control center; 

Whereas, in 2020, as reported to the AAPCC, 93 percent of 

poison exposures reported to local poison control centers 

occurred in the home; 

Whereas local poison control centers save the people of the 

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

Whereas the AAPCC 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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Whereas, in the United States, more than 420 children 19 

years of age and younger are treated in emergency departments for poisoning every day, and more than 135 

children 19 years of age and younger die as a result of 

being poisoned each year; 

Whereas, in 2020, children younger than 6 years of age constituted 42 percent of all poison exposures; 

Whereas, from 2010 to 2021, data from poison control centers revealed a significant increase of an average of 18.8 

percent per year in the number of intentional suicide patients who were adolescents 10 to 19 years of age, and 

that increase disproportionately occurred among female 

adolescents; 

Whereas, in 2021, poison control centers have seen an increase in suspected suicides among adolescents 11 to 14 

years of age; 

Whereas, in 2020, 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 blood pressure medications, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, laundry packets, bleach, or sedatives or anti-anxiety medication; 

Whereas, based on an analysis of the NPDS, from 2018 to 

2019, there was a 444 percent increase in pediatric magnet ingestion cases reported to poison control centers in 

the United States, following the reintroduction of highpowered magnets to the market; 

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


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(1) 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 70,630 cases of death due to drug overdose were reported in the United States in 2019, and the majority of 

those cases, approximately 71 percent, involved an opioid; 

Whereas, in 2020, the most common medications that adults 

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 the AAPCC; 

Whereas poison control centers issue guidance and provide 

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

Whereas more than 35 percent of calls to the poison help line 

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

than 25 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; 


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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 

around them, and are often unable to read or recognize 

warning labels; 

Whereas the AAPCC 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 20 through 

3 March 26, 2022, as ‘‘National Poison Prevention 

4 Week’’; 


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1 (2) expresses gratitude for the people who oper2 ate or support poison control centers in their local 

3 communities; 

4 (3) expresses gratitude for frontline workers 

5 supporting poison prevention during the COVID–19 

6 pandemic; 

7 (4) supports efforts and resources to provide 

8 poison prevention guidance or emergency assistance 

9 in response to poisonings; and 

10 (5) encourages— 

11 (A) the people of the United States to edu12 cate their communities and families about poi13 son safety and poisoning prevention; and 

14 (B) health care providers to practice and 

15 promote poison safety and poisoning prevention. 

Æ 


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