[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 10 (Monday, March 12, 2001)]
[Pages 404-405]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7413--Save Your Vision Week, 2001

 March 5, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    As part of our regular health routine, we often overlook vision. 
Good vision affects how we work, communicate, and learn. According to 
the Department of Health and Human Services, about 80 million Americans 
suffer from potentially blinding eye diseases, 3 million have low 
vision, and 200,000 more are severely visually impaired.
    Visual impairment can strike at any time. Some eye diseases, such as 
diabetic retinopathy, can develop and damage the eye without warning. 
Also, visual impairment can develop more often in certain groups. For 
example, some groups of Americans have a higher risk for glaucoma, 
including those over the age of 60, African Americans over the age of 
40, and people who have a family history of the disease.
    Visual impairment can also strike the future of this country: our 
children. Infants and young children are not immune to eye disorders. 
Amblyopia, poor vision in an eye that did not develop normal sight 
during early childhood, causes problems in very early life. Early vision 
screening is important for our young people to ensure that their eyes 
receive immediate treatment if problems are found. Also, myopia, or 
nearsightedness, affects 15 percent of those entering high school.
    Many occupations and forms of recreation can present dangers to the 
eye. Eye protection is a necessity when jobs create the possibility of 
eye injury. Wearing protective eyewear when playing sports can cut down 
on eye injury by as much as 90 percent, and wearing eye protection when 
working in the yard can also reduce the number of serious eye injuries.
    The best way to detect eye diseases and disorders is through a 
dilated eye exam. Many eye problems can be prevented or reversed with 
early detection and appropriate intervention.
    There are many other ways we can help reduce vision disorders. We 
can make healthy lifestyle choices for ourselves and our families, 
clinicians can emphasize prevention in their practices, and scientists 
can pursue new treatments and prevention strategies through research. 
Using both traditional and innovative approaches, we can all work to 
make better vision and vision protection an important part of our 
Nation's public health agenda.
    The Congress, by joint resolution approved December 30, 1963 (77 
Stat. 629; 36 U.S.C. 138), has authorized and requested the President to 
proclaim the first week in March of each year as ``Save Your Vision 
Week.''
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of 
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 4 through March 10, 
2001, 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.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
March, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., March 7, 
2001]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
8.

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