46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

REQUESTING THE CREATION OF A TASK FORCE TO ADDRESS CONCERNS REGARDING OBESITY, DIABETES AND SIMILAR HEALTH ISSUES FACING NEW MEXICO'S YOUTH.

WHEREAS, health care policy experts are becoming increasingly aware that preventive health care services that emphasize the importance of diet and exercise are needed to reduce the cost of health care in America; and

WHEREAS, the percentage of young people who are overweight has doubled since 1980, with between ten percent and fifteen percent of Americans aged six to seventeen years, about eight million young people, considered to be overweight; and

WHEREAS, an unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are major, contributing factors to the onset of chronic diseases and conditions, including heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, colon cancer, gallbladder disease, arthritis and type-2 diabetes; and

WHEREAS, overweight children have an increased risk for contracting chronic diseases and conditions that are now inundating health care providers in America; and

WHEREAS, a large percentage of young people are sedentary, do not regularly engage in vigorous physical activity and spend a large portion of their day in front of a computer or television screen, and the daily participation in physical education classes has dropped from forty-two percent in 1991 to twenty-nine percent in 1999; and

WHEREAS, poor eating habits and a lack of regular physical activity may lead to obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, as well as other health problems; and

WHEREAS, poor eating habits and a lack of physical activity during youth will likely lead to poor health habits during adulthood; and

WHEREAS, until recently, type-2 diabetes was known as "adult-onset" diabetes because it developed almost exclusively in adults older than fifty years of age; and

WHEREAS, twenty years ago, only two percent of type-2 diabetes cases were diagnosed in young people nine to nineteen years of age; and

WHEREAS, now more than thirty percent of type-2 diabetes cases are diagnosed in young people nine to nineteen years of age; and

WHEREAS, more than twenty-five percent of adults in New Mexico are considered to be overweight or obese, having a body mass index of twenty-five or greater; and

WHEREAS, when an overweight person achieves a ten-percent weight loss, that loss will significantly reduce the person's lifetime medical costs;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that there be assembled a task force of responsible citizens to address the growing health problems of young people, including obesity and diabetes, and to develop proposed legislation with the specific purpose of raising public awareness of and providing for public education about these issues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be comprised of representatives from the state department of public education, concerned business entities, school administrators and the health industry; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to collaborate in a study of methods to increase the physical activity and improve the eating habits of youth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force, through the state department of public education, report to the legislative education study committee on its findings and recommendations, including those strategies that require legislative approval or funding to implement, not later than November 1, 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the director of the legislative education study committee and the superintendent of public instruction.