Preventing Youth Poisonings
Floor Speech
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Mr. CAREY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge Senate action on a bill that will prevent deadly chemicals from falling into the hands of our children.
Our Youth Poisoning Protection Act passed the House last night with overwhelmingly bipartisan support, Democrats and Republicans working together on what we need to be doing. This must become law.
It is a parent's worst nightmare, this faceless stranger over the internet teaching your children how to take their own lives, and your child, in a moment of vulnerability, listens to them.
That is exactly what happened to Kristine Jonsson, a very vibrant 16- year-old from Hilliard, Ohio, in my district. She was very open with her parents as it related to her mental health struggles, but it was behind closed doors on some ridiculous internet forum that she found sodium nitrate.
With the coaching of these online predators, Kristine was able to purchase sodium nitrate through an online service and actually have it shipped to her front door without the knowledge of her parents.
Sodium nitrate is a chemical that is used in the preservation of meat and fish, but it is, in fact, a chemical, when it is highly concentrated, that can be over 100 times more powerful--one spoonful-- more powerful and deadly than any chemical.
Thanks to these online forums like the one that Kristine saw, the number of suicide deaths using sodium nitrate is steadily increasing. In recent years, the share of sodium nitrite usage as a method of self- poisoning has grown nine times over.
By passing this bill, what we did bipartisanly with the Democrats and the Republicans in the House, we need to have it passed in the Senate. The Youth Poisoning Prevention Act would prevent commercial sales of highly concentrated sodium nitrite so it can never fall into the hands of these vulnerable youth.
I want to thank my colleagues, Representative Trahan of Massachusetts, as well as my Senator from Ohio, J.D. Vance, and Tammy Duckworth from Illinois for partnering in this important effort.
Again, this is the stuff that we as Members of Congress need to be doing. With their support and all of yours we are one step closer to preventing these senseless tragedies.
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