[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 556 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 556

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program of 
providing information and education to the public on the prevention and 
                     treatment of eating disorders.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1997

Ms. Slaughter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program of 
providing information and education to the public on the prevention and 
                     treatment of eating disorders.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Eating Disorders Information and 
Education Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia 
        nervosa, and binge eating disorder, as well as eating disorders 
        not otherwise defined or yet identified.
            (2) Eating disorders primarily affect women and girls, to 
        the point that dieting and body dissatisfaction is considered 
        normative behavior even among those considered average or 
        underweight.
            (3) Many girls begin dieting at a young age and in large 
        numbers, as revealed in one study where 80 percent of girls 
        reported they had already been on a diet to lose weight before 
        age 13.
            (4) Dieting at an early age can interfere with normal 
        physiological development and can lead to serious eating 
        disorders, which can result in cardiac impairments, depression, 
        substance abuse, osteoporosis, infertility, amneorrhea, anemia, 
        and other medical conditions.
            (5) Eating disorders can lead to death, with the National 
        Institute of Mental Health reporting that 1 in 10 people with 
        anorexia nervosa die of starvation, cardiac arrest, or other 
        medical complications.
            (6) There are effective treatments for some eating 
        disorders, although medical authorities are uncertain to what 
        extent these disorders are caused by physiological factors, by 
        psychosocial factors, or by both.

SEC. 3. PUBLIC INFORMATION AND EDUCATION ON EATING DISORDERS.

    Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 290bb-31 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
section:

                           ``eating disorders

    ``Sec. 520C. (a) Information and Education.--The Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services, shall 
carry out a program to provide information and education to the public 
on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
    ``(b) Toll-Free Telephone Communications.--In carrying out 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide for the operation of toll-
free telephone communications to provide information to the public on 
eating disorders, including referrals for services for the prevention 
and treatment of such disorders. Such communications shall be available 
on a 24-hour, 7-day basis.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 
for fiscal year 1998, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 
fiscal years 1999 and 2000.''.
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