Rep. Fudge's Statement on Declaring September Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

May 19, 2010
Unedited Transcript Courtesy of CQ:
thank you so much. this is something for which i'm very, very passionate. i am pleased and proud to be one of the sponsors of this legislation and to be on this floor today to talk just briefly about it. i, along with representative kay granger of texas, introduced house resolution 996 designating september, 2010, as national childhood obesity awareness month. s that bipartisan resolution supported by over 75 national organizations, including the u.s. conference of mayor the national education association, the ymca, the ywca, the american medical association, the united way, naacp, the national indian health board.

dedicating at least one month out of each year to bring awareness this issue of childhood obesity will help maximize the effect of programming, messaging, and campaigns all aligned with the sole purpose of eradicating childhood obesity.

according to the alliance for a healthier generation, one in three american children are already overweight or obese. unless we work to reverse this epidemic, these 23 million kids will be in danger of never being grand parents. imagine -- of never being grandparents. imagine, living a life and knowing you may never live long enough to be a grandparent. imagine the day when our children can't play on playgrounds because they can't play kick ball because they're winded or they sknt play basketball because they're winded or they can't run track. this is very, very important.

i want to say that it is significant that we today work with the white house and so many others who are looking at how we deal with not just obesity but nutrition. it is important for us to be sure that young people receive a healthy start and a lot of that is not in the hands of young people. it is in our hands. the financial implications of childhood obesity are overwhelming. at $14 billion per year in direct health care costs, supporting awareness and prevention of childhood obesity will eliminate billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs and help promote a healthier lifestyle that will prolong and improve the lives of the next generation of americans.

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News & Politics

Tags:

• let's move
• healthy kids
• child nutrition
• michelle obama