The National Poison Data System - probably the GOP's real target in defunding poison control centers

[highplainsdem]

http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData.aspx

It seems inexplicable to most of us that the GOP would want to defund poison control centers, which do so much good.

But it makes sense if your corporate donors want to limit the amount of information collected on how harmful various products are.

That page about the NPDS, on the American Association of Poison Control Centers website, explains that their data can "help provide evidence for product repackaging, recalls, bans, and over the counter status changes." Which makes it extremely important and helpful to consumers, but a threat to business profits.

A similar threat is posed by something else the GOP is planning to defund now -- the Consumer Product Safety Commission's public complaint database.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2011-03-02-safetycuts0303_N.htm

It isn't that the GOP is out to poison us, as some have said.

It's just that they're less concerned about people (and animals) being poisoned than they are about their donors' profits. Databases showing which products are harmful are a threat to those profits.

[Hannah Bell]

1. kr

[highplainsdem]

6. Thanks!

[snagglepuss]

2. K & R nt

[highplainsdem]

8. Thanks!

[leftstreet]

3. K&R

[KT2000]

4. That's right!

In the Seattle area, the poison control is largely funded by chemical companies. The doctor who heads it up is a ranting RWer who has said that no child has ever suffered lead poisoning. He said that Agent Orange illness is a hoax. When a woman called about becoming dizzy when the exterminator sprayed her office building while people were present - the good doc said "try not to think about it."

Corporations have been successful at controlling what could become usable information for possible legal cases.

[highplainsdem]

5. Oh, no. Any way to direct enough media attention to that incompetent doctor to get him removed and

put someone else in charge?

[KT2000]

7. No - we have tried for years

other doctors quietly criticize him but he is a "beloved pediatrician"
with connections.

[snagglepuss]

9. Kick

[tblue37]

10. I posted a thread with a link for people to send their reps a letter

protesting the defunding. It's a prefab letter. You can just go to the link and send it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x621499

My daughter is an ER doctor, and she asked me to help spread the word. ER doctors absolutely depend on the poison control database. If they don't have ready access to it, a lot of people will die needlessly.

The more people who send the letter, the more influence we can have.