Howard Metzenbaum: “Every year hundreds of thousands of parents call the Nation's poison centers for help to save their children's lives. In…”

“Every year hundreds of thousands of parents call the Nation's poison centers for help to save their children's lives. In 1992 alone, 60 percent of the 2,400,000 cases reported to poison control centers were for children younger than 6 years old. Frantic families got help faster from the poison control centers than they could get it from an emergency room and at much less cost. Every dollar spent on the Nation's poison control centers saves at least $7.75 in health care costs. If poison control centers were not available, 600,000 additional poisoning victims would be unnecessarily treated in hospitals each year--at a much higher cost than the cost of a lifesaving call to the poison center. Yet many of the Nation's 38 poison centers are in financial danger--the center here in the Washington area is closing and many others are closing or drastically reducing their hours or coverage or are even forced to refuse to take calls from certain areas. The problem is shortsighted budget cutting by hospitals and State and local governments.”