Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003
PL 108-194 (S.686), enacted 12/19/2003

117 STAT. 2888
PUBLIC LAW 108–194—DEC. 19, 2003
Public Law 108–194
108th Congress
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 Enhance-
ment and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Poison control centers are our Nation’s primary defense
against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-four hours
a day, the general public as well as health care practitioners
contact their local poison centers for help in diagnosing and
treating victims of poisoning and other toxic exposures.
(2) Poisoning is the third most common form of uninten-
tional death in the United States. In any given year, there
will be between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 poison exposures. More
than 50 percent of these exposures will involve children under
the age of 6 who are exposed to toxic substances in their
home. 
Poisoning 
accounts 
for 
285,000 
hospitalizations,
1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and 13,000 fatalities
annually.
(3) Stabilizing the funding structure and increasing accessi-
bility to poison control centers will promote the utilization
of poison control centers, and reduce the inappropriate use
of emergency medical services and other more costly health
care services.
(4) The tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the
anthrax cases of October 2001, have dramatically changed our
Nation. During this time period, poison centers in many areas
of the country were answering thousands of additional calls
from concerned residents. Many poison centers were relied upon
as a source for accurate medical information about the disease
and the complications resulting from prophylactic antibiotic
therapy.
(5) The 2001 Presidential Task Force on Citizen Prepared-
ness in the War on Terrorism recommended that the Poison
Control Centers be used as a source of public information
and public education regarding potential biological, chemical,
and nuclear domestic terrorism.
(6) The increased demand placed upon poison centers to
provide emergency information in the event of a terrorist event
42 USC 300d–71
note.
42 USC 201 note.
Poison Control
Center
Enhancement
and Awareness
Act Amendments
of 2003.
Dec. 19, 2003
[S. 686]
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117 STAT. 2889
PUBLIC LAW 108–194—DEC. 19, 2003
involving a biological, chemical, or nuclear toxin will dramati-
cally increase call volume.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.
Title XII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘PART G—POISON CONTROL
‘‘SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide coordination
and assistance to regional poison control centers for the establish-
ment 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 oper-
ation of any privately funded nationwide toll-free phone number
used to provide advice and other assistance for poisonings or acci-
dental 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 2009. Funds appropriated under
this subsection shall not be used to fund any toll-free phone number
described in subsection (b).
‘‘SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CON-
TROL CENTER UTILIZATION.
‘‘(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 cam-
paigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number established
under section 1271.
‘‘(b) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may carry out
subsection (a) by entering into contracts with one or more nationally
recognized media firms for the development and distribution of
monthly television, radio, and newspaper public service announce-
ments.
‘‘(c) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall—
‘‘(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to quan-
titatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media cam-
paign established under this section; and
‘‘(2) prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional
committees an evaluation of the nationwide media campaign
on an annual basis.
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $600,000 for each
of fiscal years 2000 through 2005 and such sums as may be nec-
essary for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2009.
‘‘SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER 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.
42 USC 300d–73.
42 USC 300d–72.
42 USC 300d–71.
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117 STAT. 2890
PUBLIC LAW 108–194—DEC. 19, 2003
‘‘(b) OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.—The Secretary shall also use
amounts received under this section to—
‘‘(1) develop standardized poison prevention and poison con-
trol promotion programs;
‘‘(2) develop standard patient management guidelines for
commonly encountered toxic exposures;
‘‘(3) improve and expand the poison control data collection
systems, including, at the Secretary’s discretion, by assisting
the poison control centers to improve data collection activities;
‘‘(4) improve national toxic exposure surveillance by
enhancing activities at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry;
‘‘(5) expand the toxicologic expertise within poison control
centers; and
‘‘(6) improve the capacity of poison control centers to answer
high volumes of calls during times of national crisis.
‘‘(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 organiza-
tion 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
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 renew a waiver under
paragraph (1).
‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In no instance may the sum of the
number of years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal
under paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence
shall take effect as if enacted on February 25, 2000.
‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made available to
a poison control center under this section shall be used to supple-
ment and not supplant other Federal, State, or local funds provided
for such center.
‘‘(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control center, in uti-
lizing 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.
Effective date.
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117 STAT. 2891
PUBLIC LAW 108–194—DEC. 19, 2003
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 686:
SENATE REPORTS: No. 108–68 (Comm. on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
sions).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 149 (2003):
June 20, considered and passed Senate.
Nov. 19, 20, considered and passed House, amended.
Dec. 9, Senate concurred in House amendment.
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000 for each
of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004 and $27,500,000 for each
of fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
‘‘SEC. 1274. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
‘‘Nothing in this part may be construed to ease any restriction
in Federal law applicable to the amount or percentage of funds
appropriated to carry out this part that may be used to prepare
or submit a report.’’.
SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
The Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act
(42 U.S.C. 14801 et seq.) is hereby repealed.
Approved December 19, 2003.
42 USC 14801
note.
42 USC 300d–74.
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