Remarks of Chairman Martin at the

Childhood Obesity Task Force Meeting

March 21, 2007

Thank you, Senator Brownback, for hosting us here today. I appreciate
your leadership and that of Senator Harkin on this very important issue.

In recent years the rate of childhood obesity has gone in only one
direction and that is up. And the concern of parents, medical experts
and public officials has risen as well.

We cannot hope to truly address this problem however, without the
participation of the media, advertisers and the food and beverage
industry. And to that end, I am so very pleased to see everyone
assembled here today.

> Childhood Obesity has gone from a national problem to a point of
> crisis.  Last September, the Institute of Medicine found that
> one-third of American children are either obese or at risk for
> obesity. 
>
> This is consistent with the Center for Disease Control's finding that
> since 1980 the number of overweight children ages 6-11 has doubled and
> the number of overweight adolescents has tripled. 

To quote the American Academy of Pediatrics, the trends of children
becoming overweight and inactive "pose an unprecedented burden in terms
of children\'s health as well as present and future health care costs.\"

As a parent, I already know the enormous influence the media has on our
children. Its impact can't really be overstated.

According to Nielsen Media Research (for the 2004-2005 season), an
average American Household has the television turned on more than 8
hours a day with children watching between 2 and 4 hours daily. And
recent studies have found that even the youngest children are highly
exposed to television. Almost one-half (43 percent) of children under
two watch TV every day.

One quarter (26 percent) of them even have a television in their
bedroom. The Kaiser Foundation also found that by the time they enter
the first grade, kids will have spent the equivalent of three school
years in front of the TV.

In the Children's Television Act, Congress noted that, by the time the
average child is 18 years old, he or she has spent between 10,000 to
15,000 hours watching television and has been exposed to more than
200,000 commercials. Congress also noted that it is well established by
scientific research that children are uniquely susceptible to the
persuasive messages contained in television advertising.

The Kaiser Family Foundation also found that children under 6 cannot
distinguish between programming content and advertising. In addition,
these kids cannot weed out the marketing messages from their favorite
show, especially when the ad campaigns feature favorite TV characters
like Sponge Bob and Scooby-Doo. 

Congress anticipated that children would be particularly susceptible to
advertising and thus put certain protections in place. Indeed, in the
Children's Television Act, Congress enacted specific limits on the
amount of advertising that could be shown during children's programming.
The Children's Television Act requires that commercial TV broadcasters
and cable operators limit the amount of commercials in children's
programs to no more than 10 ½ minutes per hour on weekends and 12
minutes per hour on weekdays. These limits apply to all digital video
programming, including both broadcasting and subscription channels,
directed to children 12 and under.

The Commission's rules also require the separation of programming
content from commercial material with a "bumper." Finally, our rules
prohibit program characters and show hosts from being featured in
commercials run during the program in which they appear.

Parents of course are the first line of defense. But we in government
and in industry must make sure they have the tools they need to ensure
their children's welfare. According to a recent study published in the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, two important ways to
reduce childhood obesity are for parents to become more aware of
children's nutritional needs and to reduce the amount of time their
children spend watching television. 

Judging by the enormous response to the creation of this Task Force, I
know that these facts and figures about childhood obesity are a concern
to many in the media, in advertising and in the food and beverage
industry as well.

I salute the steps various food and beverage and media companies have
already taken to address this issue. For example, some food and beverage
producers have responded by reformulating products to better comply with
nutritional guidelines. It has also been encouraging to hear some
broadcasters being selective about the types of ads targeting children
they will accept.

Members of this Task Force have put forward initiative of their own:

> \*       Disney's "Healthy Kids Initiative" uses their characters to
> introduce healthy leaving and eating themes\
> \*        Coke's "Live it" program for middle school kids and "Triple
> Play" an after school initiative, works to teach kids both healthy
> food choices and physical fitness. 

\*       PepsiCo offers a variety of healthy drinks and waters and has
recently joined in a voluntary agreement with Kraft, Campbell's Soup and
others to only offer healthy options and portions in America's schools.

\*       General Mills is working to promote portion control by offering
those manageable 100-calorie packages and many community based programs
to promote healthy living.

> \* McDonald's now offers a healthier version of the ever popular
> "Happy Meal" that substitutes apple slices for fries and low fat milk
> for sugary drinks.  And they have announced plans to remove the use of
> oils containing trans-fats from food preparation.

This task force is founded on the notion that we all have a
responsibility to promote and protect our children's welfare.

It is my hope that the participants will produce specific guidelines to
tackle the crisis of childhood obesity. By committing to follow a set of
guidelines, the Task Force participants can foster habits that will
promote healthier living and encourage others in your industries to
follow your example for the benefit of our children. 

Again, I appreciate Senator Brownback and Harkin's leadership on this
issue as well as that of my fellow commissioners.

I look forward in the coming months to honest and perhaps even spirited
discussion of where we are and where we are going with this national
epidemic. Thank you!