Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008
PL 110-377 (S.2932), enacted 10/08/2008

122 STAT. 4063 
PUBLIC LAW 110–377—OCT. 8, 2008 
Public Law 110–377 
110th Congress 
An Act 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center national 
toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program to provide assist-
ance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of poison centers, and enhance 
the public health of people of the United States. 
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 Center Support, Enhance-
ment, and Awareness Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Poison control centers are the primary defense of the 
United States against injury and deaths from poisoning. 
Twenty-four hours a day, the general public as well as health 
care practitioners contact their local poison control centers for 
help in diagnosing and treating victims of poisoning. In 2007, 
more than 4,000,000 calls were managed by poison control 
centers providing ready and direct access for all people of 
the United States, including many underserved populations 
in the United States, with vital emergency public health 
information and response. 
(2) Poisoning is the second most common form of uninten-
tional death in the United States. In any given year, there 
will be between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 poison exposures. Sixty 
percent of these exposures will involve children under the age 
of 6 who are exposed to toxins in their home. Poisoning accounts 
for 285,000 hospitalizations, 1,200,000 days of acute hospital 
care, and more than 26,000 fatalities in 2005. 
(3) In 2008, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center 
reported that poisonings from accidents and unknown cir-
cumstances more than tripled in rate since 1990. In 2005, 
the last year for which data are available, 26,858 people died 
from accidental or unknown poisonings. This represents an 
increase of 20,000 since 1990 and an increase of 2,400 between 
2004 and 2005. Fatalities from poisoning are increasing in 
the United States in near epidemic proportions. The funding 
of programs to reverse this trend is needed now more than 
ever. 
(4) In 2004, The Institute of Medicine of the National 
Academy of Sciences recommended that ‘‘Congress should 
amend the current Poison Control Center Enhancement and 
Awareness Act Amendments of 2003 to provide sufficient 
42 USC 300d–71 
note. 
42 USC 201 note. 
Poison Center 
Support, 
Enhancement, 
and Awareness 
Act of 2008. 
Oct. 8, 2008 
[S. 2932] 
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122 STAT. 4064 
PUBLIC LAW 110–377—OCT. 8, 2008 
funding to support the proposed Poison Prevention and Control 
System with its national network of poison centers. Support 
for the core activities at the current level of service is estimated 
to require more than $100 million annually.’’. 
(5) Sustaining 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. The 2004 Institute of Medicine Report to Congress 
determined that for every $1 invested in the Nation’s poison 
control centers $7 of health care costs are saved. In 2005, 
direct Federal health care program savings totaled in excess 
of $525,000,000 as the result of poison control center public 
health services. 
(6) More than 30 percent of the cost savings and financial 
benefits of the Nation’s network of poison control centers are 
realized annually by Federal health care programs (estimated 
to be more than $1,000,000,000), yet Federal funding support 
(as demonstrated by the annual authorization of $30,100,000 
in Public Law 108–194) comprises less than 11 percent of 
the annual network expenditures of poison centers. 
(7) Real-time data collected from the Nation’s certified poi-
son control centers can be an important source of information 
for the detection, monitoring, and response for contamination 
of the air, water, pharmaceutical, or food supply. 
(8) In the event of a terrorist event, poison control centers 
will be relied upon as a critical source for accurate medical 
information and public health emergency response concerning 
the treatment of patients who have had an exposure to a 
chemical, radiological, or biological agent. 
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS NATIONAL 
TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 
Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d– 
71) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide coordination 
and assistance to poison control centers for the establishment of 
a nationwide toll-free phone number, and the maintenance of such 
number, to be used to access such centers. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized 
to be appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 to carry out 
this section, and $700,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 
2014 for the maintenance of the nationwide toll free phone number 
under subsection (a).’’. 
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO 
PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1272 of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 300d–72) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CON-
TROL CENTER UTILIZATION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out, and expand 
upon, a national media campaign to educate the public and health 
care providers about poison prevention and the availability of poison 
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122 STAT. 4065 
PUBLIC LAW 110–377—OCT. 8, 2008 
control center resources in local communities and to conduct adver-
tising campaigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number estab-
lished under section 1271(a). 
‘‘(b) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may carry out 
subsection (a) by entering into contracts with one or more public 
or private entities, including nationally recognized organizations 
in the field of poison control and national media firms, for the 
development and implementation of a nationwide poison prevention 
and poison control center awareness campaign, which may include— 
‘‘(1) the development and distribution of poison prevention 
and poison control center awareness materials; 
‘‘(2) television, radio, Internet, and newspaper public 
service announcements; and 
‘‘(3) other activities to provide for public and professional 
awareness and education. 
‘‘(c) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to quan-
titatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media cam-
paign carried out under this section; and 
‘‘(2) on an annual basis, prepare and submit to the appro-
priate committees of Congress, an evaluation of the nationwide 
media campaign. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized 
to be appropriated to carry out this section, such sums as may 
be necessary for fiscal year 2009, and $800,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2010 through 2014.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section 
shall be effective on the date of the enactment of this Act and 
shall apply to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2009. 
SEC. 5. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1273 of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 300d–73) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT 
PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall award 
grants to poison control centers certified under subsection (c) (or 
granted a waiver under subsection (d)) and professional organiza-
tions in the field of poison control for the purposes of preventing, 
and providing treatment recommendations for, poisonings and com-
plying with the operational requirements needed to sustain the 
certification of the center under subsection (c). 
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—In addition to the purposes 
described in subsection (a), a poison center or professional organiza-
tion awarded a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 
such subsection may also use amounts received under such grant, 
contract, or cooperative agreement— 
‘‘(1) to establish and evaluate best practices in the United 
States for poison prevention, poison control center outreach, 
and emergency and preparedness programs; 
‘‘(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, and commu-
nicate standard patient management guidelines for commonly 
encountered toxic exposures; 
‘‘(3) to improve national toxic exposure surveillance by 
enhancing cooperative activities between poison control centers 
42 USC 300d–72 
note. 
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122 STAT. 4066 
PUBLIC LAW 110–377—OCT. 8, 2008 
in the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention; 
‘‘(4) to develop, support, and enhance technology and 
capabilities of professional organizations in the field of poison 
control to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and 
related public health data; 
‘‘(5) to develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public 
health utilization of national poison data collected by organiza-
tions described in paragraph (4); 
‘‘(6) to support and expand the toxicologic expertise within 
poison control centers; and 
‘‘(7) to improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
answer high volumes of calls and respond during times of 
national crisis or other public health emergencies. 
‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION.—Except as provided in subsection (d), the 
Secretary may award a grant to a poison control 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 requirements of subsection (c) with respect 
to a noncertified poison control 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 reason-
able period of time as determined appropriate by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a waiver under 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In no case 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 of the date of the enactment of the Poison Center 
Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008. 
‘‘(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 expenditures maintained 
by the center for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which 
the grant is received. 
‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized 
to be appropriated to carry out this section, $27,500,000 for fiscal 
year 2009, and $28,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 
2014. The Secretary may utilize not to exceed 8 percent of the 
amount appropriated under this preceding sentence in each fiscal 
year for coordination, dissemination, technical assistance, program 
Effective date. 
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122 STAT. 4067 
PUBLIC LAW 110–377—OCT. 8, 2008 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2932 (H.R. 5669): 
HOUSE REPORTS: No. 110–681 accompanying H.R. 5669 (Comm. on Energy and 
Commerce). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 154 (2008): 
Sept. 23, considered and passed Senate. 
Sept. 25, 26, considered and passed House. 
evaluation, data activities, and other program administration func-
tions that do not include grants, contracts, or cooperative agree-
ments under subsections (a) and (b), which are determined by 
the Secretary to be appropriate for carrying out the program under 
this section.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section 
shall be effective as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
and shall apply to grants made on or after January 1, 2009. 
Approved October 8, 2008. 
42 USC 300d–73 
note. 
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