[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3503 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3503

   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

                           September 7, 2007

  Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and 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) Currently, 64.5 percent of adults in the United States, 
        age 20 years and older, are overweight and 30.5 percent of them 
        are obese.
            (2) Data from two National Health and Nutrition Examination 
        Surveys show that among adults aged 20-74 years the prevalence 
        of obesity increased from 15.0 percent in the 1976-1980 survey 
        to 32.9 percent in the 2003-2004 survey.
            (3) 50 percent of women aged 20 to 74 are overweight or 
        obese in the United States according to the National Women's 
        Health Information Center.
            (4) In 2003-04, of children and adolescents 2-19 years of 
        age more than 12,500,000 (or 17.1 percent) were overweight, and 
        of adults more than 66,000,000 (or 32.2 percent) were obese. 
        Almost 5 percent of adults were extremely obese.
            (5) The percentage of children who are overweight has more 
        than doubled, and among adolescents the rates have more than 
        tripled, since 1980 increasing from 5 percent to 17.1 percent.
            (6) More than 50 percent of adults in the United States do 
        not get enough physical activity and national data have shown 
        an increase in the calorie consumption of adults.
            (7) About two-thirds of young people in grades 9-12 are not 
        engaged in recommended levels of physical activity. Daily 
        participation in high school physical education classes dropped 
        from 42 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2005.
            (8) The rising rates of obesity portend greater disease and 
        health conditions including hypertension, high total 
        cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, 
        gallbladder disease, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, and respiratory 
        problems, and some cancers, such as endometrial, breast, and 
        colon cancer.
            (9) Many underlying factors have been linked to the 
        increase in obesity, such as increasing portion sizes, eating 
        out more often, increased consumption of sugar-sweetened 
        drinks, increasing television, computer, and electronic gaming 
        time, changing labor markets, and fear of crime, which prevents 
        outdoor exercise.
            (10) Chronic diseases account for 1.7 million, or 70 
        percent, of all deaths in the United States each year. Although 
        chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health 
        problems, they are also among the most preventable. Adopting a 
        healthy lifestyle such as eating nutritious foods and engaging 
        in physical activity, can prevent or control the devastating 
        effects of these diseases. Although chronic diseases are among 
        the most common and costly health problems, they are also among 
        the most preventable.
            (11) According to the Surgeon General's Call to Action to 
        Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, the cost of 
        obesity in the United States in 2000 was more than $117 
        billion.

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 317S the following 
section:

                  ``reduction in prevalence of obesity

    ``Sec. 317T.  (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 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 
fiscal years 2010 through 2013.''.
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