Poison Information Center

Six members of the Dartmouth Medical School faculty form the staff of a new Poison Information Center established at the Hitchcock Hospital and financed by a grant of $10.000 from the New Hampshire State Board of Health. Now that the Hanover center is in operation, doctors in the North Country, who previously had to consult Boston or Worcester, can telephone to Hanover to obtain information about the diagnosis and treatment of specific poisonings.

Dr. Robert E. Gosselin, Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical School, is director of the Poison Information Center. He is co-author of a definitive reference volume on household poisons, Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, which provides an index of more than 15,000 trade name products, the manufacturer of each, and the chemical compostion of each as stated by the manufacturer

Other members of the staff are Dr. Colin C. Stewart '33, Professor of Pediatrics; Dr. Robert C. Storrs '40, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics; Dr. F. Corbin Moister '37, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Dr. Louis B. Matthews, Instructor in Medicine; and Dr. Lewis H. Lambert '40, Instructor in Pharmacology. One member of the sixman staff is available at all times to answer inquiries.

The grant from the New Hampshire State Board of Health will be used in part to produce a film to educate the public about the prevention of acute accidental poisonings caused by common household products. This movie will be aimed at parent-teacher groups, school children, granges and scout organizations. Basil Milovsoroff of Norwich, well-known pup. peteer, will assist the doctors in the production, adapting puppets to an animated color film which will be one of the first in the field of poison control.

The first Poison Information Center was set up in Chicago in 1953. Since then a number have been added in strategic medical centers throughout the country.