Budget cuts and U.S. Poison Centers - regional challenges create a nationwide problem

Federal funding of poison centers (PCs) in the United States was established in 2000 through the Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act. Unfortunately, the problems with financial stability of PCs that this legislation was intended to improve persist because of continued reliance on fragile local funding sources. In the past few months budget cuts have had an impact on PC activity and threaten the continued existence of a nationwide network of PCs in the United States. This commentary discusses the problems faced by PCs in this changing environment and illustrates the many competing tasks that the PC network performs for the U.S. population. PCs face continuing challenges in coming months and a unified approach at a national level may provide the best opportunity for a solution to this crisis.