Proclamation 6236—National Poison Prevention Week, 1991

As we mark the 30th observance of National Poison Prevention Week, we can take pride in the success of this important annual public awareness campaign. Since our first observance of National Poison Prevention Week in 1962, the number of deaths by poisoning among children under the age of five has declined significantly. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that in 1961, poisoning claimed the lives of 450 youngsters. By 1987, that number had dropped to 31. Nevertheless, because the death of even one child by accidental poisoning is intolerable, we must continue efforts aimed at education and prevention.

The Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of 36 national organizations that are determined to stop accidental poisonings, coordinates National Poison Prevention Week activities. In addition to distributing valuable information, the Council encourages local poison control centers, pharmacies, public health departments, and other concerned parties to conduct poision prevention programs in their communities. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which each year provides a member to serve as Secretary of the Poison Prevention Week Council, helps to lead this important public health campaign. Thus, it is a truly national campaign, enlisting the combined energy and resources of government officials, health care professionals, educators, business and industry leaders, media representatives, and members of private voluntary organizations.

Poison prevention activities such as those highlighted this week have helped to save lives, but there is more to do. Each year more than half a million children are exposed to potentially poisonous medicines or household chemicals. It is therefore vital that we continue to remind parents, grandparents, and other adults about the risks of childhood poisoning and the ways tragic accidents can be prevented. Simple safety measures -- such as using child-resistant closures and keeping potentially harmful substances out of the reach of children -- can save lives.

To encourage the American people to learn more about the dangers of accidental poisonings and to take more preventative 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, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning March 17, 1991, 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 sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH