[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S1888]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CHILDREN AND MEDIA RESEARCH ADVANCEMENT ACT

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Enzi and Senator 
Kennedy for placing S. 1902, the Children and Media Research 
Advancement Act CAMRA, on the calendar today. I appreciate their 
commitment to the health and welfare of children. I also want to thank 
the co-sponsors of this bill, Senators Lieberman, Brownback, Santorum, 
Bayh, and Durbin for being such leaders on this issue, and my fellow 
Senators on the HELP Committee for their support for this legislation. 
In addition, I thank two groups, Common Sense Media and Children Now, 
for raising awareness of the effect media has on children's 
development. And finally, I express thanks to two researchers, Dr. 
Michael Rich of the Center for Media and Child Health at Harvard 
University Medical School, and Dr. Sandy Calvert of the Children's 
Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. Both Dr. Rich and Dr. 
Calvert have been great advocates for CAMRA. I thank them for sharing 
their expertise and support.
  Last year the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report showing 
dramatic changes in the way young people consume media, and confirming 
that children use electronic media an extraordinary amount. On average, 
children are spending 45 hours a week--more than a full-time job--with 
media.
  Young people today are not just watching television or playing video 
games, they are increasingly ``media multi-tasking,'' using more than 
one medium at a time and packing a growing volume of media content into 
each day. According to Kaiser, a full quarter of the time children are 
using media, they are using more than one type at once.
  This new pattern of media consumption presents twin challenges. 
Parents face new obstacles to monitoring their children's media 
consumption. And children are exposed to a media environment with an 
unknown impact.
  That is why the CAMRA Act--the Children and the Media Research 
Advancement Act--is so important. This bill will create a single, 
coordinated research program at the Center for Disease Control. It will 
study the impact of electronic media on children's--including very 
young children and infants'--cognitive, social and physical 
development.
  The CAMRA Act will help answer critical questions about the myriad 
effects media has on childhood development. One area we need to look at 
particularly is the effect of exposure to media on infants. Research 
tells us that the earliest years of a child's life are among the most 
significant for his or her brain development. But we need to know what 
forms of media--if any--contribute to healthy brain development for 
babies. Is it OK to put a baby down in front of the TV? Are videos 
helpful or harmful when it comes to children's cognitive and emotional 
development? Today we don't know.
  In December the Kaiser Foundation published a report finding ``no 
published studies on cognitive outcomes from any of the educational 
videos, computer software programs, or video game systems currently on 
the market for children ages 0-6.'' These products are more and more 
popular. You can see them marketed to new parents everywhere. We should 
know what their effect is on young children and infants.
  The CAMRA Act will also spur research on the effect of media on 
children's physical development. Since 1980, the proportion of 
overweight children has doubled and the rate for adolescents has 
tripled. During that same time period, the number of advertisements for 
unhealthy food that children see annually has exploded.
  In the 1970s, children saw 20,000 commercials a year. Today, they see 
40,000. Is this a coincidence or is there a direct link? We need 
answers to these questions. In December, the Institute of Medicine 
called for ``sustained, multidisciplinary work on how marketing 
influences the food and beverage choices of children and youth.'' CAMRA 
will help get us there.
  The bill I introduced with Senators Lieberman, Brownback, Santorum, 
Bayh, and Durbin included pilot projects to look at the effect of media 
on young children, and to look at food marketing and obesity. Although 
those projects were not included in this manager's package, I continue 
to be very pleased with the bill. It's a step forward for children. And 
I look forward to working with my colleagues in other venues to ensure 
that the pilot projects get done.
  But CAMRA is just one step. We need to do more so children grow up in 
a safe media environment. In December Senators Lieberman, Bayh, and I 
introduced S. 2126, the Family Entertainment Protection Act, which 
would prevent children from buying and renting ultra violent and 
pornographic video games.
  There is enough research out there now to show conclusively that 
playing violent video games has a negative effect on youth. We know 
that these games are damaging to children. We need to take the decision 
to buy them out of the hands of children and put that decision back in 
the hands of parents. That is what S. 2126 would do, and I look forward 
to working with my colleagues in the Senate to move that bill.
  I am so pleased that we are taking this step forward today with 
CAMRA, and I am hopeful that it will be speedily approved by the full 
Senate. It is one step to ensure that children in America grow up 
safely.

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