[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 135 (Monday, September 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12132-S12133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DIABETES PREVENTION & TREATMENT ACT OF 2003

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege to be a sponsor with 
Senator Cochran of S. 1666, the Diabetes Prevention & Treatment Act of 
2003.
  Today, our health care system spends 1 out of every 4 Medicare 
dollars on diabetes. Almost 200,000 Americans die because of diabetes 
each year, and almost one-third of Americans alive today are not aware 
that they have the disease.
  The tragedy is that with the simple preventive and treatment measures 
available today, we can dramatically improve the likelihood that 
patients will never develop type 2 diabetes, and we can give good care 
to those who have type 1 diabetes. With only 30 minutes of walking a 
day and a healthy diet, people can reduce their chance of developing 
type 2 diabetes by 58 percent.
  Despite these innovations far too many citizens do not realize they 
are

[[Page S12133]]

at risk for diabetes or that they may already have the disease. Even 
more shocking is the disproportionate manner in which diabetes affects 
children and communities of color. Our bipartisan legislation is 
intended to see that as many citizens as possible receive the 
education, treatment, and care they need at the earliest and most 
treatable stages of the disease.
  The Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Act will apply proven methods 
of prevention and control throughout the country. Its success will 
produce major improvements in health, and major reductions in diabetes-
related costs.
  The bill authorizes quality improvement grants for diabetes. It 
supports the widespread application of best practices in diabetes 
prevention and control. It also authorizes further education 
initiatives and outreach strategies, including public awareness 
campaigns, public service announcements, and community partnership 
workshops.
  In addition, the bill strengthens the ability of the Centers for 
Disease Control to support State programs, with the goal of 
establishing a comprehensive, fully funded program in every State. It 
strengthens the ability of the National Institutes of Health to enhance 
the role of federally funded centers for diabetes research and 
training. It authorizes additional initiatives to identify the genetic 
basis of diabetes and its complications. It expands research on 
diabetes in historically underserved and minority populations.
  The bill will help to reduce diabetes in children and in communities 
of color, where it disproportionately affects American Indians, 
Latinos, and African Americans. In the American Indian and Alaskan 
Native communities, type 2 diabetes has rates 8 to 10 times higher than 
among whites. African American adults have a 60 percent higher rate, 
and Latinos have a 90 percent higher rate of type 2 diabetes than 
whites.
  People of color also have unacceptably high death rates from 
diabetes. African Americans and Latinos die twice as often from the 
disease as whites, and American Indians and Alaskan Natives die three 
to four times as often. The bill provides the CDC and NIH with new 
resources to discover why this epidemic is disproportionately affecting 
communities of color.
  The epidemic level of type 2 diabetes among children is also 
extremely disturbing. Ten years ago type 2 diabetes was unheard of in 
the pediatric community. Today, apparently because of poor nutrition 
and more sedentary behavior, children are developing a disease that 10 
years ago usually only affected adults 45 years of age or older. The 
bill's provisions on children expand and intensify research on this 
crisis, and add long-term epidemiological surveillance for type 1 and 
type 2 diabetes and the establishment of regional clinical research 
centers.
  Saving lives will save costs too. Providing better testing, 
prevention, and treatment for diabetes will save billions of dollars a 
year in the years ahead. By 2008, we could save $5.7 billion on costs 
of end-stage renal disease alone.
  Many leaders from the diabetes community have worked closely with us 
on this legislation this year. I commend them for their leadership and 
I look forward to early action by Congress to approve this bipartisan 
legislation.

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