Findings and Purpose

(a)

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)over 12 million children and adolescents, ages 2 through 19, are overweight, a rate that has tripled in the last 40 years; (2)overweight children have a more than 70 percent chance of being overweight adults; (3)type 2 diabetes, a disease that is mainly associated with adults, has become widespread in children in recent years; (4)children are obese in part because they watch too much television, with each child on average watching over 2 hours each day; (5)the congressionally chartered Institute of Medicine found extraordinary growth in new food products targeted to children, from just 52 new product introductions in 1994 to close to 500 in 2005; (6)an estimated $15 billion was spent on junk food marketing in 2005; (7)in the late 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission recommended banning television advertising directed at children under the age of 8 after research indicated that marketing to young children was unfair because they do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising, but was never granted the authority to do so by Congress; and (8)a recent Institute of Medicine report found that the Federal Trade Commission should be granted the authority to regulate advertising directed at children. (b)

Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to restore the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to issue regulations that restrict the marketing or advertising of foods and beverages to children under the age of 18 years if the Federal Trade Commission determines that there is evidence that consumption of certain foods and beverages is detrimental to the health of children.