A cut too deep. Do you know where your Senator stands on continuing funding for poison control?

[ck4829]

Senate supporters say they'll work to retain federal funding of poison control centers and a new product safety complaint database, both targeted by House budget cutters, when they take up the controversial government spending bill.

House members last month approved a $27 million reduction in the $29 million budget for the 57 U.S. poison control centers, which would force most to close or drastically cut back services, says Richard Dart, president of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

The House also eliminated funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission's public complaint database, which is scheduled to launch on March 11. The database, modeled after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's database for vehicle complaints, would make thousands of complaints received by CPSC available to the public.

Poison control centers took more than 4 million calls in 2009 and nearly 75% of issues were treated without a referral to an emergency room or other health care facility. Accidental poisoning is the No. 2 cause of unintentional injury death in the USA after car crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/house-budget-cuts-target-poison-control-product-safety/story?id=13043085

Cutting poison control centers is, well, just plain stupid. And dangerous.

We've got regional toxins such as rattlesnake venom. Can a national center be efficient when it comes to that?
And what if you need a dialysis? Would you rather have a national center or a close office tell you where one is?

And without these centers, people will get poisoned, but just need to drink water or go outside, but they will go to the ER because they don't know what to do. And they will be in front of people with REAL emergencies. Is that what we want?

Please contact your Senators, ask them where they stand on this. Lives depend on it.