WHEREAS, The Institute of Medicine released a report on September 30, 2004 stating that childhood obesity is a crisis in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The problem is immense, approximately nine million children over 6 years of age are considered obese; and
WHEREAS, Due to obesity there is an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, as the report mentioned that obese children as young as age 7 have signs of damage to their arteries; and
WHEREAS, The percentage of youth who meet the definition of overweight has more than doubled since the early seventies; and
WHEREAS; The report outlines a number of initiatives that parents, schools, the government, advertisers and the food industry need to take changes in an effort to reduce the number of obese children; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District has taken a great step by limiting the types of beverages available to youngsters; and
WHEREAS, It is important to promote actions that can be taken by families and companies to improve the prevalence of obesity among our youth; and
WHEREAS, There needs to be an examination as to what further actions can be taken by the School District our local government departments and agencies as well as the state and federal governments; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby authorize City Council's Committees on Education and Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the crisis of youth obesity.
End