[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    WAR AGAINST DIABETES ESPECIALLY CRITICAL TO HISPANIC COMMUNITIES

  (Mr. BONILLA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, diabetes is a tremendous public health 
problem in this country. More than 14 million Americans have the 
disease and nearly 650,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year. Of 
particular concern to me is the disproportionate impact diabetes has on 
racial and ethnic minority populations, particularly Hispanics.
  As a child growing up in heavily Hispanic South San Antonio, I 
witnessed first hand the devastation diabetes can render in a 
community. Many of my family members and friends were inflicted with 
diabetes. In fact, in our community it was not just who you knew with 
diabetes but how many people you knew with the disease.
  As an adult, I have witnessed the negative impact of diabetes in my 
own congressional district in Texas. The district spans 600 miles of 
border with Mexico from El Paso to Laredo and the majority of my 
constituents are Hispanic. Diabetes has personally touched many of 
their lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support those programs that identify people 
with diabetes and provide them with the information they need to 
prevent the disease's deadly complications. The Division of Diabetes 
Translation at the Centers for Disease Control is an excellent program 
of this type. By helping States conduct prevention and control 
activities, it has proven to be extremely successful in limiting the 
impact of diabetes. Another very successful program which specifically 
seeks to address the impact of diabetes among Hispanics is the American 
Diabetes Association's diabetes assistance and resources program.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues in the 
House to ensure that those programs dealing with the treatment, 
prevention, and control of diabetes get the attention they deserve.
  Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the 
United States, taking the lives of more than 160,000 Americans 
annually. More than 1 million Hispanics, nearly 1 in 10 adults, have 
diabetes. These individuals are at substantial risk for developing one 
or more of the disease's debilitating complications: kidney disease; 
leg, foot, and toe amputations; blindness; heart disease; and stroke. 
More than $92 billion is spent each year in the fight against diabetes.
  Fortunately, modern medicine has shown that the complications of 
diabetes can be avoided with routine preventive medical care. By 
maintaining a good diet, exercising regularly, and stabilizing one's 
blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible, one can 
dramatically reduce the odds of developing the disease's complications. 
However, there are many millions of Americans who are not even aware 
that they have diabetes, let alone know how to properly manage it. It 
is critical that these people are properly diagnosed and treated.

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