Edolphus Towns: “the President has designated this week as National Poison Prevention Week. I would like to applaud him for that, and his…”

“the President has designated this week as National Poison Prevention Week. I would like to applaud him for that, and his strong leadership. Over 1 million children under age 6 were accidentally poisoned last year. Fortunately, all but 30 of those children survived. Most of them were treated safely at home with the help of a poison control center. Poison control centers save lives and save money, for every $1 spent on poison centers saves $7.75 in unnecessary visits to emergency rooms over this Nation. In a misguided attempt to save money, hospitals and State and local governments are closing poison control centers around the country. Closing poison control centers merely drives up the costs of health care, and needless to say, it places lives of millions of children at risk. Shortly I will introduce legislation that will guarantee access to quality poison control service for all Americans. Closing poison control centers is health care retreat, not health care reform. We need to move forward, not backwards, so we need to keep the poison control centers open, because they are cost-saving and they also save lives.”