Letter from the Senator

 Dear Community Leader:

I am writing to remind you that earlier this year, the U.S. Senate passed S. Res. 412 , which designates the month of September 2010 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month . This legislation was introduced by U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and me. This resolution aims to bring national attention to a growing epidemic among youth in the United States and requests that the president issue a proclamation calling on the federal government, states, tribes and localities to observe September with programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity among all ages. The companion House resolution, H. Res. 996, was introduced by Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH).

Since the mid-1970s, obesity rates in the United States have increased dramatically for both children and adults, raising concerns about the implications on the health of Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that annual expenditures related to overweight individuals and obesity are more than $264 billion – exceeding the cost of tobacco-related illnesses. Senator Gillibrand and I are pleased that First Lady Michelle Obama is making childhood obesity one of her top priorities. We look forward to working with the White House administration and other interested parties to reduce childhood obesity.

As you may know, our great state of Ohio (through the Ohio Department of Health) has authored the Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan. The plan guides state and local policy and systems changes through increasing physical activity and improving access to healthy foods. For more information on the state plan, please visit http://healthyohioprogram.org/.

As a community leader in Ohio, I thank you for the work you are undertaking to help increase awareness of this growing epidemic. You may be interested in ideas on how to commemorate National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in Ohio. Following are a few ideas as offered by the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. This list is by no means all encompassing and I encourage you to work with your colleagues to plan your own event that is relevant for your geographic region.

Finally, if you’d like to print a copy of the resolution, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov and enter S. Res. 412 in the search box in the middle of the home page.