[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 121 (Monday, September 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NATIONAL SCHOOL BACKPACK AWARENESS DAY

 Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, fall has come and across the 
country, students are returning to school facing a public health risk 
from what many see as a completely benign and essential back-to-school 
supply, the school backpack.
  More than 40 million American students carry backpacks to and form 
school each day. Health experts say that many of our children are 
hauling around too much weight, and that extra weight can adversely 
affect their healthy growth and development. Children carrying 
backpacks that are overloaded or improperly worn are putting themselves 
at risk for musculoskeletal pain, including back, neck, and shoulder 
pain, adverse affects on posture and the developing spine and 
compromised breathing and fatigue.
  The good news for parents and kids is that many of these problems can 
be avoided by taking some very simple steps to help lighten the load. 
And the first step is education, raising awareness among parents, 
educators and kids about these potential risks and offering solutions 
to address them.
  To that end, the American Occupational Therapy Association, AOTA, is 
sponsoring the first of its kind National School Backpack Awareness Day 
this week, on Wednesday, September 25. On that day, health 
professionals will hold events in schools across the country to weigh-
in backpack-wearing kids and demonstrate the risks of injury that can 
result from carrying packs that are worn improperly, or are too heavy. 
Experts say that students should carry backpacks that weigh no more 
than 15 percent of their total body weight. Occupational Therapists, 
thousands of whom work every day in America's schools, will offer 
simple steps in how to properly pack, select and wear school backpacks.
  Nashville, TN, Occupational Therapists will be at the Nashville State 
Technical Community College helping students learn more about the 
issue. In Knoxville, there will be a backpack weigh-in and Awareness 
Day event at Pond Gap Elementary School. I am proud to see these 
communities taking a leadership role on this important public health 
issue and I encourage other communities to take similar action on this 
day to help prevent health care problems that can arise.
  Surely, we can all appreciate the bottom line lesson in this 
important public health education campaign, an ounce of prevention is 
worth of a pound of cure.

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