SUPPORT H.RES.961 Encouraging the establishment of programs to increase public awareness of vision disorders in children.

URGENT!! Please call, fax, write or email your local
representatives and urge them to Co-Sponsor
H.RES.961 and be a strong voice for the sight and
lives of all children in the United States.

109th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. RES. 961

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 27, 2006

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. TIBERI,
Mr. MACK, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. PALLONE,
Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HINCHEY,
Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr.
FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania, Mr. BONNER, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr.
MCCOTTER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. RAMSTAD, and Mr. LINCOLN
DIAZ-BALART of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
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RESOLUTION

Encouraging the establishment of programs to increase public
awareness of vision disorders in children.

Whereas there is a need to enhance national awareness and to educate
the public and health care providers about vision disorders in children;

Whereas millions of children in the United States suffer from vision
problems, and many cases go undetected;

Whereas there is no recent nationwide study to accurately determine the
percentage of United States children who have particular vision
problems;

Whereas there is a need for the establishment of national standards or
guidelines to further encourage early identification and treatment of
vision problems in children, from birth to age 18;

Whereas 80 percent of individual learning is through the visual
processing of information;

Whereas vision impairment affects how a child experiences and
functions in the world;

Whereas children with vision problems struggle throughout their
developmental and school years with resulting physical, emotional, and
social consequences;

Whereas some health care and educational systems are not effectively
detecting children's vision problems due to a lack of, or inadequate,
vision screenings and comprehensive eye examinations in those
systems;

Whereas common vision problems in children include refractive errors,
amblyopia, strabismus, ocular trauma, and infections;

Whereas rare but sight-threatening and life-threatening vision problems
include retinoblastoma (a malignant tumor that usually appears in the
first 3 years of age), infantile cataracts, congenital glaucoma, and genetic
or metabolic diseases of the eye; and

Whereas the costs to society and government is enormous from not
detecting, evaluating, and treating early on the vision problems in
children: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
programs should be established--

(1) to increase public awareness about the prevalence and devastating
consequences of vision disorders in children; and

(2) to educate the public and health care providers about--

(A) the warning signs and symptoms of ocular and vision disorders and
the benefits of early detection, evaluation, and treatment; and

(B) the importance of early and regular vision screening and
comprehensive eye exams to detect vision disorders that may not be
readily apparent