Proclamation 5940—National Poison Prevention Week, 1989

Since the first National Poison Prevention Week, in 1962, thousands of American children under age five have been saved from accidental poisonings, thanks to the combined efforts of consumers, health professionals, government, and industry. Each year, the distribution of printed materials, activities at State and local levels, and media broadcasting all remind consumers to use child-resistant packaging and to store medicines and household chemicals out of the reach of young children.

Data compiled annually by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission show that the number of child poisonings has decreased by more than 70 percent since 1972, when the first drugs were required to have child-resistant packaging. Life-saving treatment advice by poison control centers when a poisoning does occur has also been a valuable factor.

Many lives have been saved, but there is more to do. We must continue to instruct new parents and grandparents on the need to use child-resistant packaging and to keep medicines and household chemicals out of the reach of children. Underlying our poison prevention program is the assumption that virtually all childhood poisonings are preventable.

To encourage the American people 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, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning March 19, 1989, as National Poison Prevention Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by participating in appropriate ceremonies and events and by learning how to prevent childhood poisonings.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

GEORGE BUSH