[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 91 (Friday, July 14, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6836-S6837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CHILDREN'S PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

  Mr. REED. Mr President, I rise to join my colleagues Senators Frist, 
Kennedy, Jeffords and others in support of our bill the ``Children's 
Public Health Act of 2000''. This critical legislation seeks to improve 
the lives of children in this nation by enhancing access to certain 
health care services and providing additional resources for pediatric 
health research. Children are our most precious resource, and we must 
do all we can to enable our children to reach their full potential both 
physically and intellectually. The Children's Public Health Act takes 
an important step toward achieving this goal by creating an environment 
where children are able to grow and develop unhindered by the burden of 
disease.
  Overall, tremendous improvements have been made in the quality of 
children's health over the past century. For instance, deadly and 
debilitating diseases that were once prevalent during childhood have 
been largely eradicated thanks to advancements in vaccines.
  Yet, even with these remarkable advancements, new problems have 
arisen. In particular, over the past decade, we have seen dramatic 
increases in the number of preventable childhood injuries, as well as a 
rise in diagnoses of asthma, autism, and diseases often attributed to 
obesity, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension in young 
children. This legislation sets forth creative approaches for dealing 
with these increasingly prevalent pediatric conditions.
  Generally, the programs and initiatives authorized under the 
Children's Public Health Act can be broken down into four specific 
categories: (1) injury prevention; (2) maternal and infant health; (3) 
pediatric health promotion and; (4) pediatric research. I would like to 
take this opportunity to highlight a couple of the provisions included 
under the pediatric health promotion section of the bill dealing with 
lead poisoning prevention and childhood obesity.
  First, the Children's Public Health Act contains a section based on 
legislation I introduced last year along with Senator Torricelli, 
entitled the Child Lead SAFE Act. This comprehensive bill seeks to 
address an entirely preventable problem that continues to plague far 
too many children in this nation--lead poisoning. While tremendous 
strides have been made over the last 20 years in reducing lead exposure 
among the population, it is estimated that nearly one million 
preschoolers nationwide still have excessive levels of lead in their 
blood--making lead poisoning the leading childhood environmental 
disease. Childhood lead poisoning has a profound health and educational 
impact on children.
  Children with high blood lead levels can suffer from brain damage, 
behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, and hearing problems, 
among other maladies. Moreover, children with a history of lead 
poisoning frequently require special education to compensate for 
intellectual deficits and behavioral problems that are caused by their 
exposure to lead. Research shows that children with elevated blood-lead 
levels are seven times more likely to drop out of high school and six 
times more likely to have reading disabilities. By failing to eradicate 
lead poisoning, we are preventing our children from achieving their 
fullest potential and are also imposing significant health and special 
education costs on taxpayers.

  Timely childhood lead screening and appropriate follow-up care for 
children most at-risk of lead exposure is critical to mitigating the 
long-term health and developmental effects of lead. Regrettably, our 
current system is not adequately protecting our children from this 
hazard. Despite longstanding federal requirements for lead screening 
for children enrolled in Medicaid and other federally funded health 
care program, a January 1999 GAO report found that two-thirds of these 
children have never been screened and, consequently, remain untreated, 
eventhough low-income children are at particular risk for lead 
exposure. As a result, there may be thousands of children with lead 
poisoning who continue to go undiagnosed.
  The Children's Public Health Act will begin to address this problem 
by enhancing the existing lead grant program through the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention and authorizing new grant programs to 
conduct outreach and education for families at risk of lead poisoning, 
implement community-based interventions to mitigate lead hazards, 
establish uniform guidelines for reporting and tracking of blood lead 
screening from laboratories and local health departments and ensure 
continuous quality measurement and improvement plans for communities 
dedicated to lead poisoning prevention. The legislation also provides 
resources for health care provider education and training on current 
lead screening practices and would require the Health Resources and 
Services Administration to submit an annual report to Congress on the 
percentage of children in the health centers programs who are screened 
for lead poisoning.
  A second element of this bill that I believe will have a major impact 
on improving and preserving the health of children in this nation is a 
provision related to childhood obesity. Over the past fifteen years, 
childhood obesity rates have doubled. It is estimated that almost five 
million, or 11% of youth 6-19 years of age are seriously overweight. 
Contributing to this trend has been the rise in fast food consumption, 
coupled with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle where time engaged in 
physical activity has been replaced by hours playing computer games and 
watching television. Another reason for the lack of physical activity 
in children is the reduction of in daily participation in high school 
physical education classes, which has declined from 42 percent in 1991 
to 27 percent in 1997. Children simply do not have the time or 
opportunity to engage in healthy physical activities.
  As a result, younger and younger Americans are showing the signs of 
obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Research 
shows that 60 percent of overweight 5-10 year old children already have 
at least one risk factor for heart disease, such as hypertension. If 
our society continues on this trend, obesity will soon rival smoking as 
a leading cause of preventable death. Clearly, action needs to be taken 
to curb this potentially deadly epidemic.
  The Children's Public Health Act acknowledges and attempts to reverse 
this trend through a multi-pronged approach. First, the bill would 
provide states and local communities with the resources they need to 
develop and implement creative approaches to promoting good nutrition 
habits and enhancing the levels of physical activity among children. 
The bill authorizes a new competitive grant program through the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention, whereby states would develop 
comprehensive, inter-agency, school- and community-based approaches to 
better physical and nutritional health in children and adolescents. 
These programs would be evaluated and information about effective 
intervention models and obesity prevention strategies would be broadly 
disseminated.
  The legislation also calls for greater applied research in order to 
improve our understanding of the many factors that contribute to 
obesity. Research will also focus on the study of the prevalence and 
costs of childhood obesity and its effects into adulthood. Another

[[Page S6837]]

aspect of the bill is the development of a nationwide public education 
campaign informing families of the health risks associated with chronic 
obesity that provides information on incorporating good eating and 
regular physical activity into daily living. Lastly, the bill provides 
resources for health care provider education and training on evaluation 
and treatment practices for obese children or children at risk of 
becoming obese.
  Overall, this bill has many substantial provisions that will go a 
long way in improving the health and well-being of our children. This 
legislation not only expands the base of pediatric medical research 
currently ongoing, it also includes important enhancements in maternal 
and prenatal health as well as several other initiatives that will 
greatly enhance access to services to children with chronic and 
debilitating diseases.
  I am pleased to join my colleagues today on introducing this 
important legislation, and I look forward to working to pass the bill 
through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the 
full Senate this year.
  Thank you, Mr. President.

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