III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 412 

Designating September 2010 as ‘‘National Childhood Obesity Awareness 

Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 8), 2010 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mr. VOINOVICH) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Designating September 2010 as ‘‘National Childhood Obesity 

Awareness Month’’. 

Whereas during the past 4 decades, obesity rates have soared 

among all age groups, increasing more than four-fold 

among children ages 6 to 11; 

Whereas 31.8 percent or 23,000,000 children and teenagers 

ages 2 to 19 are obese or overweight, a statistic that 

health and medical experts consider an epidemic; 

Whereas significant disparities exist among the obesity rates 

of children based on race and poverty; 

Whereas the financial implications of childhood obesity pose 

a tremendous financial threat to our economy and health 

care system, carrying up to $14,000,000,000 per year in 

direct health care cost, with people in the United States 


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•SRES 412 IS 

spending about 9 percent of their total medical costs on 

obesity-related illnesses; 

Whereas obese young people have an 80 percent chance of 

being obese adults and are more likely than children of 

normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and 

therefore more at risk for associated adult health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep 

apnea, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis; 

Whereas in part due to the childhood obesity epidemic, 1 in 

3 children (and nearly 1 in 2 minority children) born in 

the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes at some point 

in their lifetime if current trends continue; 

Whereas some consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity are psychosocial and obese children and adolescents 

are targets of early and systematic social discrimination, 

leading to low self-esteem which, in turn, can hinder academic and social functioning and persist into adulthood; 

Whereas participating in physical activity is important for 

children and teens as it may have beneficial effects not 

only on body weight, but also on blood pressure and bone 

strength; 

Whereas proper nutrition is important for children before 

birth and through their life-span as nutrition has beneficial effects for health and body weight, and is key in the 

prevention of various chronic diseases; 

Whereas childhood obesity is preventable yet does not appear 

to be declining; 

Whereas public, community-based, and private sector organizations and individuals throughout the United States, including First Lady Michelle Obama, are working to decrease childhood obesity rates for people in the United 


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•SRES 412 IS 

States of all races through a range of efforts, including 

educational presentations, media campaigns, Web sites, 

policies, healthier food options, and greater opportunities 

for physical activity; and 

Whereas Members of Congress have championed legislation to 

reduce and bring awareness to the issue of childhood obesity: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) designates September 2010 as ‘‘National 

3 Childhood Obesity Awareness Month’’ in order to 

4 raise public awareness and mobilize the country to 

5 address childhood obesity; 

6 (2) recognizes the importance of preventing 

7 childhood obesity and decreasing its prevalence in 

8 the United States; and 

9 (3) requests that the President issue a procla10 mation calling on the Federal Government, States, 

11 tribes and tribal organizations, localities, schools, 

12 nonprofit organizations, businesses, other entities, 

13 and the people of the United States to observe the 

14 month with appropriate programs and activities with 

15 the goal of promoting healthy eating and physical 

16 activity and increasing awareness of childhood obe17 sity among individuals of all ages and walks of life. 

Æ 


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