Frank Pallone: “I am very pleased we are able to bring this resolution to the floor while it is still, in fact, Diabetes Awareness…”

“I am very pleased we are able to bring this resolution to the floor while it is still, in fact, Diabetes Awareness Month, November, because diabetes is one of the top public health threats in our country today. About 70,000 people are thought to have died from underlying causes of diabetes on an annual basis, with tens of thousands more deaths related to the disease. The CDC estimates that right now about 81 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes, and we know many more will get it. With better research, we can determine how people lose their lives to this disease, and we can both, we hope, find a cure for the disease and also mitigate the losses. As well as a terrible public health threat in this country, diabetes is also an important economic issue, which is why the Diabetes Caucus worked so hard to raise awareness in this body. Diabetes will cost this Nation almost $3.4 trillion through 2020, according to a recent study released by the United Health Group.”