By the President of the United States of America
Since its inception more than three decades ago, the annual observance of National Poison Prevention Week has saved lives. Along with year-round educational programs in the public and private sectors, this annual campaign for awareness has helped to reduce dramatically the number of fatal accidental poisonings among children. In the effort to protect every child from poisoning, which is nearly always preventable, we renew our commitment to informing parents, grandparents, and other adults about the importance of protecting children in their homes. The urgency of our efforts is underscored by the fact that, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, nearly 1,000,000 children each year are exposed to potentially harmful medicines and household chemicals.
During National Poison Prevention Week, activities are coordinated by the Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of 37 national organizations whose members are determined to stop accidental poisonings. The Council distributes valuable information that is used by the staffs of poison control centers, pharmacists, public health officials, and others as they conduct poison prevention programs in their communities. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission provides a Commission member to serve as Secretary of the Poison Prevention Week Council each year. Since 1972, the Commission has required child-resistant packaging for certain medicines and household chemicals, preventing countless tragedies.
Every American can help to protect children with simple safety measures, such as using child-resistant packaging and securing potentially dangerous substances out of the reach of children. This week I encourage all Americans to become more aware of potential hazards in their homes and to eliminate them.
The Congress, by a 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 the week beginning March 21, 1993, as National Poison Prevention Week. I urge all Americans to observe this week by participating in appropriate programs and activities and by learning how to prevent accidental poisonings among children.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventeenth.
William J. Clinton