The Three Leading Causes of Injury Mortality in the United States, 1999-2005, by Lois A. Fingerhut, M.A., Office of Analysis and Epidemiology, and Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D., Division of Vital Statistics: “In 2005, poisoning continued to be the second leading cause of injury death in the United States, having surpassed firearms for the first time in 2004. In 2004, poisoning deaths exceeded those related to firearms by 2%; however, the difference increased to 7% in 2005, with 32,691 poisoning deaths compared with 30,694 firearm deaths. Motor vehicle traffic (MVT) deaths were the leading cause of injury death from 1999-2005, accounting for 43,667 deaths in 2005. From 2004 to 2005, MVT deaths increased 1%, firearm deaths, 4% and poisoning deaths, 8%.”