On the recordJune 13, 2012
I rise today because there is an epidemic hovering over America, and we ought not to stand by and let it continue. A staggering one-third of Americans are obese a condition that can endanger health and shorten lifespan. Among our children, the situation is becoming a plague and leaving too many young people unable to participate in physical activities, such as sports or games. I salute the First Lady, Michelle Obama, for bringing attention to this crisis by educating parents, teachers, and kids about the need to be more active and eat nutritious food, but it is going to take the involvement of this Congress. We need to protect our children, our economy, and our national security. Our Nation's childhood obesity rate is one of the highest in the world. Here we see it, childhood obesity rates displayed worldwide: Obesity epidemic as seen among American youth. And if we look at the other major countries in the world, going from the lowest, China is at 5.2 percent, upwards to France at 14.1 percent, and then we get to America, and 31.7 percent of our children are obese or overweight. That is discouraging, very sad for the individual and for the country at large. People who are obese are at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even certain types of cancer. Obesity-related conditions kill more than 110,000 Americans every year. We do not want to see more children with diabetes.…
