Missouri Poison Center Promoting National Poison Prevention Week

(Newswire.net — March 15, 2018) St. Louis, MO — The week of March 19-23 will present National Poison Prevention week in the U.S., when the country and the individual states observe the best practices to avoid poison. National Poison Prevention week (#NPPW) was started over 50 years ago by President John F. Kennedy, after the U.S. Congress requested that it become a nationally recognized series of days. It is currently maintained by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), which oversees the country’s 55 poison centers, one of which is the Missouri Poison Center. NPPW always falls on the third week of March, and the daily themes are often the same, with updates added if and when any discoveries in poison prevention occur.

The goal of NPPW is to raise the awareness of poison control on a community level through a sustained information campaign that is accessible to everyone. These are the daily themes of National Poison Prevention Week, which you can follow on the official Facebook and Twitter pages of the Missouri Poison Center:

Monday, March 19- Children Act Fast . . . So Do Poisons

Tuesday, March 20 – Poison Centers: Saving You Time and Money

Wednesday, March 21 – The Risk of Poisonings Span a Lifetime

Thursday, March 22 – Home Safe Home

Friday, March 24 – Medicine Safety

The Missouri Poison Center doesn’t just promote poison control during the national week, but all year round. The organization encourages regular inspections of the household to find dangerous chemicals like cleaning products and pesticides to make sure they’re stored properly. The Missouri Poison Center offers assistance to Missouri residents at their hotline: 1-800-222-1222. The number is active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Specialists are available if you think you or someone else has been poisoned, or simply for general inquiries about poison safety.