[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 9 (Monday, March 8, 1999)]
[Pages 336-337]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7171--Save Your Vision Week, 1999

March 1, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Vision is an extraordinary blessing--one that should be cherished 
and protected. Complex and remarkable organs, the eyes work in concert 
with the brain to produce vision, allowing us to experience the beauty 
and variety of the physical world around us.
    Because blindness and vision loss are often avoidable, the 
maintenance of good vision must be a top health priority and an integral 
part of every American's overall health care routine. Preventative eye 
care is particularly important because there are often no warning signs 
or pain associated with many eye diseases, and, by the time vision loss 
is identified, it is frequently too late to undo the damage. Periodic 
dilated pupil eye examinations can reveal the early signs of eye disease 
and buy precious time for treatment.
    It is equally important to protect our eyes from injury, another 
leading cause of vision loss. Each year, more than 2.4 million eye 
injuries occur in the United States. By using protective eyewear when 
working with machinery or chemicals, playing sports, or engaging in 
other recreational activities, we can help prevent irreparable loss of 
sight.
    Taking measures to prevent vision loss in our children is especially 
important because their early development and academic achievement can 
suffer due to vision problems or diseases. Even before they begin 
school, children should undergo a complete eye examination so that poor 
vision or eye disorders can be appropriately treated.
    As the 21st century fast approaches, our national investment in 
research to prevent, postpone, and treat eye diseases and disorders has 
produced substantial results. Laser technology, new medications, gene 
mapping, innovations in diagnostic techniques, and other sight-saving 
discoveries are improving the lives of millions of Americans. These 
advances in medical research, combined with preventative eye care and 
increased safety measures, can all work to preserve our gift of sight.
    To remind our citizens of the importance of safeguarding their 
eyesight, the Congress, by join resolution approved December 30, 1963 
(77 Stat. 629; 36 U.S.C. 169a), has authorized and requested the 
President to proclaim the first week in March of each year as ``Save 
Your Vision Week.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim March 7 through March 13, 1999, as 
Save Your Vision Week. I urge all Americans to participate by making eye 
care and eye safety an important part of their lives and to ensure that 
dilated eye examinations are included in their regular health 
maintenance programs. I invite eye care professionals, the media, and 
all public and private organizations dedicated to preserving eyesight to 
join in activities that will raise awareness of the measures we can take 
to protect and sustain our vision.

[[Page 337]]

    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:21 a.m., March 2, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
3.