National Poison Prevention Week, 1997

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Part V

The President

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Proclamation 6977--National Poison Prevention Week, 1997

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 6977 of March 5, 1997

National Poison Prevention Week, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

This year, as we observe National Poison Prevention
Week, we highlight two achievements: the effectiveness
of child-resistant packaging required by the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the
lifesaving work of the Nation's poison control centers.
These public health efforts have reduced childhood
poisoning deaths from 450 deaths in 1961 to 50 deaths
in 1993. However, according to the American Association
of Poison Control Centers, over one million children
each year are exposed to potentially poisonous
medicines and household chemicals.

Virtually all poisonings are preventable, and we must
continue to inform parents, grandparents, and
caregivers how to prevent childhood poisonings. The
Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of 39
national organizations determined to stop accidental
poisonings, distributes valuable information used by
poison control centers, pharmacies, public health
departments, and others to conduct poison prevention
programs in their communities.

Simple safety measures--such as correctly using child-
resistant packaging and keeping potentially harmful
substances locked away from children--can save lives.
And if a poisoning occurs, a poison control center can
offer quick and lifesaving intervention.

The CPSC requires child-resistant packaging for many
medicines and household chemicals. A recent CPSC study
showed that every year approximately 24 children's
lives are saved by child-resistant packaging for oral
prescription medicines. The CPSC recently took action
to ensure that child-resistant packaging will be easier
for adults to use as well. This, in turn, will increase
the use of child-resistant packaging, preventing more
poisonings.

To encourage Americans to learn more about the dangers
of accidental poisonings and to take more preventive
measures, the Congress, by joint resolution approved
September 26, 1961 (75 Stat. 681), has authorized and
requested the President to issue a proclamation
designating the third week of March of each year as
``National Poison Prevention Week.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim March 16
through March 22, 1997, as National Poison Prevention
Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by
participating in appropriate ceremonies and activities
and by learning how to prevent accidental poisonings
among children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.