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Americans for the first time
can use a single toll-free telephone number to reach a poison control
center anywhere in the nation, officials announced January 30.
Officials launched the national
hotline, 1-800-222-1222, and applauded it as an overdue coordination
of the country's 65 separately-run poison centers. Callers dialing the
number will be automatically linked to the closest poison center.
The nation's first poison center
opened in 1953, and subsequent centers have opened on an independent basis.
"Until now... nationwide poison prevention education was hindered
by the very structure by which poison centers evolved," said Dr.
Alan D. Woolf, the president of the American Association of Poison Control
Centers.
"This country's 65 centers
had more than 130 individual and separate telephone numbers," he
said.
The new number is part of a
$21.2 million federal effort to update poison control centers across the
country. Centers field calls on approximately 2.2 million suspected poisonings
per year, mostly involving young children. About 75% of all poisonings
can be safely handled at home with the help of a poison center aide, though
700 to 800 calls to centers per year end in fatalities, Woolf said.
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
said that the new national hotline would "help save lives and prevent
costly trips to emergency rooms." Towns crafted the House legislation
that led to congressional approval of the centers' new money.
Half of all calls to poison
centers involve preschool-age children, though calls involving adults
or elderly persons tend to be more serious. Officials said that they would
accompany their new national phone number with a print and radio-based
education campaign urging children to avoid household poisons and urging
parents to post poison control numbers near their phones.
Household cleaners and
chemicals make up the bulk of poisonous substances in homes, though perfumes,
medications, and spider and animal bites can also lead to poisoning.
Members of the public can obtain
stickers, magnets, and other promotional materials by calling the toll-free
number, Woolf said.
Meanwhile, about one third
of all centers will keep using the decades-old green "Mr. Yuck"
symbols to warn children about dangerous poisons in the home.
"Centers that use Yuck
are continuing to use Yuck," said Toby Litovitz, national director
of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
Reuters Washington January
30, 2002
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