[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 382--SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF WORLD 
                              DIABETES DAY

  Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Lautenberg, and Mr. 
Coleman) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
agreed to:

                              S. Res. 382

       Whereas the World Health Organization and the International 
     Diabetes Federation established World Diabetes Day in 1991 
     with the aim of coordinating diabetes advocacy worldwide;
       Whereas World Diabetes Day is celebrated annually on 
     November 14;
       Whereas, on December 20, 2006, the General Assembly of the 
     United Nations passed a landmark resolution recognizing 
     diabetes as a chronic, debilitating, and costly disease;
       Whereas the resolution designates World Diabetes Day as a 
     United Nations Day to be observed every year starting in 2007 
     in order to raise global awareness of diabetes;
       Whereas the theme of the 2007 United Nations World Diabetes 
     Day campaign focuses on raising awareness of diabetes in 
     children and adolescents, who face unique challenges when 
     diagnosed with diabetes;
       Whereas the United Nations campaign aims, among other 
     objectives, to firmly establish the message that no child 
     should die of diabetes;
       Whereas the global diabetes epidemic has devastating 
     effects on families, societies, and national economies;
       Whereas diabetes is the 4th leading cause of death by 
     disease in the world, and is the 6th leading cause of death 
     in the United States;
       Whereas diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney 
     failure, amputation, heart attack, and stroke;
       Whereas in almost every country the incidence of diabetes 
     is increasing, growing from an estimated 30,000,000 people 
     worldwide in 1985 to an estimated 245,000,000 people in 2007, 
     and to 380,000,000 by 2025, as reported by the International 
     Diabetes Federation;
       Whereas diabetes is one of the most common chronic 
     childhood diseases;
       Whereas diabetes can strike children at any age, and when 
     diagnosed in young people the risk of developing life-
     threatening complications at an early age increases and life 
     expectancy is shortened by, on average, 10 to 20 years;
       Whereas new figures from the International Diabetes 
     Federation's Diabetes Atlas suggest that more than 70,000 
     children develop type 1 diabetes each year and 440,000 
     children worldwide under the age of 14 now live with type 1 
     diabetes;
       Whereas recent data indicate that 1 out of every 3 children 
     born in the United States will develop diabetes during their 
     lifetime, including 1 out of every 2 children from ethnic 
     minority groups;
       Whereas in low- and middle-income countries, many children 
     with diabetes die because they are diagnosed late or 
     misdiagnosed or because insulin is unaffordable, unavailable, 
     or in short supply;
       Whereas the incidence of type 2 diabetes, which was 
     previously rare in children, is rising at alarming rates, 
     with more than 200 children a day developing this form of 
     diabetes;
       Whereas obesity is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes;
       Whereas according to the International Obesity Task Force 
     of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 
     155,000,000 school-age children worldwide are overweight, 
     representing at least 1 out of every 10 school-age children;
       Whereas at least 30,000,000 of those overweight children 
     are classified as obese, accounting for at least 2 percent of 
     the world's children between the ages of 5 and 17 years of 
     age;
       Whereas research has shown conclusively that type 2 
     diabetes can be prevented or significantly delayed through 
     healthy weight maintenance and regular physical activity;
       Whereas adopting a lifestyle high in physical activity and 
     adopting a low-sugar, low-fat diet can successfully prevent 
     the onset of obesity and diabetes among school-age children;
       Whereas diabetes is costly, with the world estimated to 
     spend at least $232,000,000,000 in 2007 and over 
     $302,500,000,000 by 2025 to treat and prevent diabetes and 
     its complications;
       Whereas world treatment costs for diabetes are growing more 
     quickly than the world population;
       Whereas diabetes threatens to subvert global economic 
     advancement by both straining government budgets worldwide 
     (with the cost of diabetes-related disability payments, 
     pensions, social and medical service costs, and lost revenue) 
     and burdening private health insurers and employers with 
     spiraling health care costs;
       Whereas by 2025 the largest increases in diabetes 
     prevalence will take place in developing countries, whose 
     economies are less able to support increased expenditures to 
     provide for those with the disease and engage in effective 
     prevention efforts; and
       Whereas the economic impact of diabetes threatens to 
     undermine the achievement of the United Nation's Millennium 
     Development Goals for developing countries: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports the goals and ideals of 
     World Diabetes Day.

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