e-Profile Login and ID Quick Search
National Poison Prevention Week Marks 50-Year Anniversary of Educating Americans About Poison Prevention
The 50-year anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week will be observed March 18 through March 24, 2012, to create national awareness about the risk of injury or death due to poisoning, including information on avoiding medication mistakes, overdose, or accidental ingestion by children. During this week, the Poison Prevention Week Council (PPWC), comprised of federal and private sector partners coordinated by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), will alert consumers to poison prevention educational resources through a variety of channels. As noted in a press release (PDF) prescription drug abuse is one of several poison hazards that have “reignited the need for increased awareness. In just the past year, America’s 57 poison control centers fielded 4 million calls, treating 2.4 million human poison exposures and handling 1.6 million information calls.” In addition to providing direct assistance to consumers, AAPCC provided data that helped support DEA’s emergency rules banning synthetic “bath salt” chemicals. The National Poison Prevention Week will include Web site posts and social media outreach, as well as poison prevention educational resources that may be accessed from the Poison Prevention Web site.
NABP consumer protection program AWARXE® includes AAPCC recommendations among many other Medication Safety Tips to help consumers avoid medication mistakes and accidental overdose, and for preventing accidental ingestion by children. Through the AWARXE Web site, the program also encourages consumers to keep the national, toll-free poison control center phone number, 800/222-1222, readily available for use in the event of a suspected overdose or a medication error. Calls to poison control centers are free and anonymous, and are handled by experts. Calls are accepted 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and help is available in over 150 languages. AAPCC also owns and manages the National Poison Data System (NPDS), a large database holding information from all information and human poison exposure case phone calls into all poison centers across the country.
