HR 9069

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of World
3	Diabetes Day and recognizing March 25, 2008, as American
4	Diabetes Alert Day in Florida.
5
6	WHEREAS, the World Health Organization and the
7	International Diabetes Federation established World Diabetes Day
8	in 1991 with the aim of coordinating diabetes advocacy
9	worldwide, and
10	WHEREAS, while World Diabetes Day efforts to raise global
11	awareness of diabetes last the entire year, the day itself is
12	celebrated worldwide each year on November 14, and
13	WHEREAS, with the passage of the United Nations World
14	Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006 recognizing diabetes as
15	a chronic, debilitating, and costly disease, World Diabetes Day
16	was made an official United Nations World Health Day, and
17	WHEREAS, American Diabetes Alert Day, a one-day "wake-up"
18	call to inform the American public about the seriousness of
19	diabetes, is observed annually on the fourth Tuesday in March,
20	and
21	WHEREAS, March 25, 2008, marks the 20th annual observance
22	of American Diabetes Alert Day and, on this day, the American
23	Diabetes Association will "sound the alert" about the dangers of
24	diabetes and encourage people to take the Diabetes Risk Test,
25	which can be obtained from the association, and
26	WHEREAS, the theme of the 2007-2008 World Diabetes Day
27	campaign focuses on raising awareness of diabetes in children
28	and adolescents, who face unique challenges when diagnosed with
29	diabetes, and aims to establish the message that no child should
30	die of diabetes, and
31	WHEREAS, diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by
32	disease in the world and is the sixth leading cause of death in
33	the United States, and
34	WHEREAS, diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney
35	failure, amputation, heart attack, and stroke, and
36	WHEREAS, in almost every country, the incidence of diabetes
37	is increasing, growing from an estimated 30,000,000 people
38	worldwide in 1985 to an estimated 245,000,000 people in 2007 and
39	to an estimated 380,000,000 by 2025, as reported by the
40	International Diabetes Federation, and
41	WHEREAS, the incidence has also increased in Florida from
42	538,000 people in 1994 to 1,112,000 people in 2007, as reported
43	by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and
44	WHEREAS, diabetes can strike children at any age and, when
45	diagnosed in young people, increases the risk of developing
46	life-threatening complications at an early age and shortens life
47	expectancy by 10 to 20 years on average, and
48	WHEREAS, new figures from the International Diabetes
49	Federation's Diabetes Atlas suggest that worldwide more than
50	70,000 children develop type 1 diabetes each year and 440,000
51	children under the age of 14 now live with type 1 diabetes, and
52	WHEREAS, recent data indicate that one out of every three
53	children born in the United States will develop diabetes during
54	his or her lifetime, including one out of every two children
55	from ethnic minority groups, and
56	WHEREAS, the incidence of type 2 diabetes, which was
57	previously rare in children, is rising at an alarming rate, with
58	between 8 percent and 45 percent of all new diagnoses in
59	children being this form of diabetes, and
60	WHEREAS, obesity is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes,
61	and
62	WHEREAS, at least 30,000,000 overweight children are
63	classified as obese, accounting for at least 2 percent of the
64	world's children between 5 and 17 years of age, and
65	WHEREAS, research has shown conclusively that type 2
66	diabetes can be prevented or significantly delayed through
67	healthy weight maintenance and regular physical activity, and
68	WHEREAS, adopting a lifestyle with high levels of physical
69	activity and with a low-sugar, low-fat diet can successfully
70	prevent the onset of obesity and diabetes among school-age
71	children, and
72	WHEREAS, the national excess medical costs of diabetes in
73	the United States in 2007 were over $116 billion, and the excess
74	medical costs of diabetes in Florida in 2007 were nearly $9
75	billion, and
76	WHEREAS, the economic impact of diabetes threatens to
77	undermine the achievement of the United Nations' Millennium
78	Development Goals for developing countries, NOW, THEREFORE,
79
80	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
81	Florida:
82
83	That the Florida House of Representatives supports the
84	goals and ideals of World Diabetes Day and recognizes March 25,
85	2008, as American Diabetes Alert Day in Florida.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.