[Poison centres in Germany-history, function, and relevance]

In 1963 first poison control centres (PCCs) were created in the former Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) as well as in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In the 1980s, the GDR centralized the toxicological information service in only one centre, whereas the federal structure of the FRG resulted in a foundation of 19 centres. Today only eight German PCCs are established under the responsibility of the German states. Most of them are part of or closely related to university hospitals. In this article, the history, function and relevance of German PCCs are presented.The centres advise on about 255,000 human exposures per annum in a 24/7 service. They provide a very special service in therapeutic emergency management, which is used to a large extent in childhood poisoning. The scientific contributions of German PCCs are well represented at international congresses and two German standard textbooks about the treatment of poisonings in children and adults are published. The worthiness of PCCs in appropriate healthcare and their monetary benefit are as yet unrecognized, although the profit has already been demonstrated through a first systematic assessment in 1991. From public data sources, no sufficient data can be collected for early risk detection in Germany. However, appropriate data could be generated by PCCs and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), but the precondition is the need for better technical equipment and manpower.The existing German political mandate to set up a national monitoring system for poisoning will be ground-breaking for nationwide scientific evaluation and the treatment of cases of human poisoning in the future.