The National Assembly Research Service (NARS, Chief, Kwan Hu Lee), National Assembly member Wang-jin Seo of the Rebuilding Korea Party and Mi-hwa Seo of the Democratic Party of Korea, together with the Seoul Poison Control Center, held a joint policy seminar on February 10, 2025 on the theme “Future Health of Korea: The Necessity and Challenges of Establishing a National Poison Control Center.”

In the first presentation, Sung-woo Lee, Director of the Seoul Poison Control Center of Korea University’s Anam Hospital, explained that the center provides real-time counseling and conducts various preventative activities. He also highlighted key achievements, including the development of professional manuals and guidelines for preventing exposure to toxic substances. Dr. Lee emphasized the need to establish a National Poisoning Control System (NPCS) that can conduct real-time, nationwide monitoring and continuous tracking of poisonous substances, along with prevention, public awareness, and education efforts.

The second presentation was given by Professor Dong-wook Park of Korea National Open University, who emphasized the importance of integrated collection and storage of toxicological information for the prevention and monitoring of exposure to toxic substances. Hence, the establishment of a toxicology information database and a Poison Information Center (PIC), which can support the foundation for establishing the Poisoning Control Center (PCC).

The third presentation was given by Dong-young Lee, a legislative research officer from NARS. He emphasized the need to establish a comprehensive, full-cycle poisoning surveillance system—from the occurrence to prevention of poisoning. He also highlighted that a National Poison Control Center should be established as an inter-ministerial institution at the national level, with its legal basis clearly stipulated by law.

Following the presentations, a general discussion was held, moderated by Dr. Byunghak So, Director of the Emergency Medical Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital, under the Catholic University of Korea. In the first discussion, Professor Kyungho Choi of the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University emphasized that it is the state’s responsibility to protect public health from toxic substance poisoning. He stated that the center should function as both a call center and a surveillance network, and should be operated as a national institution capable of multi-agency coordination, involving communication experts, environmental health specialists, and others.

In the second discussion, Professor Sung-kyun Kim of the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University emphasized the need for a chronic exposure management system. He stated that the National Poisoning Center should operate along multiple tracks, including treatment and identification of causative substances, estimation of sources, routes, and levels of exposure, identifying the responsible managements, as well as prevention and education. He also urged the establishment of a system tailored to Korea’s needs, based on successful models from the United States, the European Union, and New Zealand.

In the third discussion, Professor Sol-ah Kim of the School of Emergency Medicine at Hallym University pointed out that the current management of poisoning information and collection, utilization is difficult as it is fragmented across multiple agencies. She emphasized the importance of establishing an inter-ministerial institution to oversee the management and provision of toxicological information, as well as to collect poisoning cases through consultation with the general public.

In the final discussion, Director Kim Yong-geun of the Chemical Products and Biocides at the Ministry of Environment said that the function of ‘medical consultation’ should be an important function of the national toxic substance poisoning center that implements a preemptive surveillance system (toxicovigilance) because it can compile damage cases in real time, identify toxic damage/route/cause, and determine what the underlying issues are.