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PA TIPS TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PESTICIDE AND LEAD POISONING

Release Date: 03/14/97
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PA TIPS TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PESTICIDE AND LEAD POISONING

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1997

EPA ISSUES LEAFLET ON TIPS TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PESTICIDE AND LEAD POISONINGS

To help safeguard children from environmental hazards around the home, and in conjunction with National Poison Prevention Week, March l6-22, EPA has issued a new leaflet, "Ten Tips to Protect Children From Pesticide and Lead Poisonings" around the home. The tips are practical, common-sense steps that can prevent poisoning incidents from happening. National Poison Prevention Week is designed to raise public awareness of accidental poisonings and exposures in the United States, particularly among children under five years of age. The theme this year is "Children Act Fast...So Do Poisons." In l995, poison centers across the United States reported to the Council that there were more than a million toxic exposures or poisonings to children under age five, including six fatalities. Of this number, 79,000 involved common household pesticide products, and an additional l9,837 involved household chlorine bleach. Childhood lead poisoning remains among the most serious environmental threats to children, with elevated blood-lead levels still present in one million children in the United States. Copies of the leaflet, also available in Spanish, are currently available by calling the National Center for Environmental Publications and Information at 513-489-8190 or the Toxic Substances Control Act Hotline at 202-544-1404. Single copies may be obtained by calling the Office of Pesticide Programs, Communications Branch at 703-305-5017. For more information about pesticides, call the National Pesticides Telecommunications Network at l-800-858-7378. For more information about lead, call the National Lead Information Center at l-800-LEADFYI; in the District of Columbia call 202-833-4726.

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