Title: A 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.
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the week of March 20-March 26, 2022, as National Poison Prevention Week.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 557 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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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 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;
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 
        high-powered magnets to the market;
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

    (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;
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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the week of March 20 through March 26, 2022, 
        as ``National Poison Prevention Week'';
            (2) expresses gratitude for the people who operate or 
        support poison control centers in their local communities;
            (3) expresses gratitude for frontline workers supporting 
        poison prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic;
            (4) supports efforts and resources to provide poison 
        prevention guidance or emergency assistance in response to 
        poisonings; and
            (5) encourages--
                    (A) the people of the United States to educate 
                their communities and families about poison safety and 
                poisoning prevention; and
                    (B) health care providers to practice and promote 
                poison safety and poisoning prevention.
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