12 2 STA T .4063PUBLIC LA W 110 – 3 7 7 —O CT. 8, 2008 PublicLaw1 1 0–37 7 110 thCongres s A n Act Toamendth e PublicH ealth S e rv ice A ct to reauthori z e the p oi s on center national toll -f ree number , national media campai g n, 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 U nited States .Beit e nac te dby t h e S enate and Hous eo fR e pr esentati v es of the U nited States of Am erica in C on g ress assemb l ed ,SECTION1. S H O R T TIT L E. ThisActmaybe cite d as the ‘ ‘ Po iso nC ente rSup port ,E nhance - ment, and A w areness Act o f20 0 8’ ’ . SEC. 2 . F IN D IN G S. Con g ress ma k es the fo l lowing findings
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Poison control centers are the primary defense of the U nited States against in j ury 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 v ictims of poisoning. I n 200 7 , 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 e x posures. 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 hospitali z ations, 1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and more than 26,000 fatalities in 2005. (3) In 2008, the H arvard Injury Control R esearch Center reported that poisonings from accidents and unknown cir- cumstances more than tripled in rate since 1 9 90. 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. F atalities 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 M edicine of the N ational Academy of Sciences recommended that ‘‘Congress should amend the current Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003 to provide sufficient 42USC30 0 d–71note. 42 USC 201 note. P o is on Cente r S up port ,E n ha n c e m ent, and Aw areness Act o f 200 8 . O ct. 8, 2008 [ S.2 9 32 ]
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