Across the United States, both large and small poison centers are closing their doors. Many of the remaining centers are scrambling for funds, diverting efforts from clinical management and prevention activities. Furthermore, because of funding deficiencies, nearly half of the United States is served by a poison center that fails to meet national quality standards. Yet poison centers are cost-effective and lifesaving public health services. ‘-’ Poison centers provide immediate, around-the-clock toxicity assessments and treatment recommendations, over the telephone, for all kinds of poisonings and overdoses affecting people of all ages, including ingestion of household products; overdoses of therapeutic, illegal, foreign, and veterinary drugs; chemical exposures on the job or elsewhere; hazardous materials spills; bites of snakes, spiders, and other venomous creatures: and plant and mushroom poisonings . Poison center toxicologists and specialists in poison information are consulted daily by parents, grandparents, child care providers, teachers, prehospital care providers, pharmacists, responders to hazardous materials incidents, and nurses and physicians in every area of practice (eg, neonatology to geriatrics, occupational medicine to psychiatry, family practice to intensive care). Most calls to poison centers are safely managed over the telephone. Referrals to health care facilities are made when necessary, and the specialist in poison information provides treatment recommendations to health care providers. In either case, follow-up telephone calls are made to assess progress and provide additional recommendations until any medical problems related to the poisoning are resolved.