[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3177 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3177

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
     program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of 
 significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity 
                among individuals in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 1999

  Mr. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
     program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of 
 significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity 
                among individuals in the United States.

    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 ``Lifelong Improvements in Food and 
Exercise (LIFE) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Obesity has increased by more than 50 percent among 
        adults and 100 percent among children and adolescents in just 
        the past 15 years.
            (2) Fifty percent of women over 20 are overweight.
            (3) Obesity is associated with many of the leading causes 
        of death and disability, including heart disease, diabetes, 
        certain forms of arthritis and cancer.
            (4) The rising rates of obesity portend greater disease, 
        disability and early death, and concomitant rises in health 
        care costs and lost wages and productivity.
            (5) Overweight among women is significantly outstripping 
        overweight among men, and the problem is getting worse decade 
        by decade.
            (6) Almost 25 percent of young people, ages 6-17, are 
        overweight and the percentage who are seriously overweight has 
        doubled in the last 30 years.
            (7) One third of young people ages 12-21 do not regularly 
        engage in physical exercise.
            (8) Part of the reason for youth inactivity is the 
        reduction in daily participation in high school physical 
        education classes from 42 percent in 1991 to 27 percent in 
        1997.
            (9) The lack of activity combined with poor eating habits 
        among children carries over to adulthood; 25 percent of adults 
        are totally inactive and 60 percent of whom engage in too 
        little physical activity.
            (10) Chronic diseases account for 70 percent of deaths in 
        this country and 60 percent of medical care expenditures.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OBESITY; PROGRAM FOR LIFELONG 
              IMPROVEMENTS IN FOOD AND EXERCISE.

    Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317G the following 
section:

                  ``reduction in prevalence of obesity

    ``Sec. 317H. (a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall carry 
out a national program to conduct and support activities regarding 
individuals who are overweight or obese in order to make progress 
toward the goal of significantly reducing the number of cases of 
obesity among individuals in the United States.
    ``(b) Certain Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall (directly or through grants or contracts) carry out the 
following with respect to individuals who are overweight:
            ``(1) Activities to train health professionals to recognize 
        that patients are overweight and to recommend prevention 
        activities regarding such condition, including educating 
        patients on the relationship between such condition and 
        cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other health conditions, 
        and on proper nutrition and regular physical activities.
            ``(2) Activities to educate the public with respect to the 
        condition of being overweight, including the development of a 
        strategy for a public awareness campaign.
            ``(3) The development and demonstration of intervention 
        strategies for use at worksites and in community settings such 
        as hospitals and community health centers.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 
for fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 
fiscal years 2001 through 2004.''.
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