109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2844
To amend the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act
of 1990 to foster greater understanding of human dietary eating patterns and
food intake, physical activity level, food security, dietary exposure, and
nutritional status; to provide timely information to public program managers
and private sector decision makers to improve nutritional intake, physical
activity, health, productivity and other measures of quality of life of Americans,
based on scientifically established norms and the knowledge and experience
developed under the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act
of 1990 over the past decade; to reauthorize nutrition monitoring programs;
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2005
Mr. HINCHEY (for himself, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. FRANK
of Massachusetts, and Mr. AL GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act
of 1990 to foster greater understanding of human dietary eating patterns and
food intake, physical activity level, food security, dietary exposure, and
nutritional status; to provide timely information to public program managers
and private sector decision makers to improve nutritional intake, physical
activity, health, productivity and other measures of quality of life of Americans,
based on scientifically established norms and the knowledge and experience
developed under the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act
of 1990 over the past decade; to reauthorize nutrition monitoring programs;
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as `National Health, Nutrition, and Physical Activity
Monitoring Act of 2005'.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.
The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C.
5301-5342) is amended--
(1) by amending section 2 to read as follows:
`SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
`(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:
`(1) The United States faces an epidemic due to the large number of overweight
and obese Americans. The Department of Agriculture (in this Act referred
to as `USDA') and the Department Health and Human Services (in this Act
referred to as `DHHS' ) have identified obesity as a high priority and are
mobilizing resources and staff to address this growing problem.
`(2) Two of the major national surveys that collect data on dietary intakes
of foods and nutrients, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(in this Act referred to as `NHANES') conducted by the DHHS, and the Continuing
Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (in this Act referred to as `CSFII')
previously conducted by the USDA, were merged in 2002 into an integrated
survey intended to be the primary source of nationally representative data
on the nutritional status and dietary intakes of foods and nutrients.
`(3) The newly integrated NHANES obtains data that contribute to our understanding
of excess body weight, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, stroke,
gallstones, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, respiratory
problems, bladder control problems, psychological disorders (such as depression
and eating disorders), certain types of cancer (such as breast, prostate,
and colon), as well as exposure via food to environmental toxins and contaminants.
`(4) Preventable lifestyle-related diseases are major contributors to poor
quality of life and health care expenditures for an increasing proportion
of the population. There is a lack of tracking of health behaviors related
to dietary intakes and physical activity, via surveys such as the Diet and
Health Knowledge Survey, which has not been conducted since 1999.
`(5) Preventable dietary and physical activity related diseases cost the
economy over $117 billion annually and is predicted to rise to $1.7 trillion
in the next ten years. Nevertheless, funding for the national, comprehensive
nutrition and health monitoring system has not increased in real dollars
since 1992.
`(6) The nation commits over $35 billion to Federal food and nutrition assistance
and education designed to maintain and improve the health of millions of
Americans, but Federal agencies lack adequate data from a statistically
valid number of nutritionally vulnerable individuals on dietary and dietary
supplement intake, physical activity, food safety, food security and bioterrorism
risks, and diet and health knowledge to inform management decisions on Federal
nutrition and public health efforts.
`(7) Compositional changes in agricultural commodities as a result of new
technology, as well as reformulation and development of food products, have
brought improvements in the food supply. Any assessment of food consumption
patterns and intake must take into consideration product modernization and
include newly available estimates of all health promoting components in
food.
`(8) The USDA and DHHS have relied on data on dietary intake, physical activity,
nutritional status, and diet and health knowledge to advise decisions about
the `Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guidance System'.
`(9) Substantial Federal resources at the Food and Drug Administration (in
this Act referred to as `FDA') are committed to developing food fortification
policies, food and nutrition labeling policies, and risk assessments on
food additives and contaminants based on the dietary intake data collected
by the integrated NHANES.
`(10) The Environmental Protection Agency (in this Act referred to as `EPA')
cites the dietary intake data from the integrated NHANES as the basis for
exposure estimates included in risk assessment of pesticides and toxic substances,
but many scientists, including those at EPA, National Institutes of Health
(in this Act referred to as `NIH'), and the National Academy of Sciences
(in this Act referred to as `NAS') recommend that a larger longitudinal
study is needed to collect additional data on the food consumption patterns
of infants and children for risk assessments.
`(b) Purposes- The purposes of this Act are as follows:
`(1) To reauthorize the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research
Act of 1990 to strengthen the combined DHHS and USDA nutrition monitoring
and research activities.
`(2) To affirm and enhance America's commitment to nutrition for all, and
to ensure sufficient resources for a national nutrition monitoring system
that can support both management decision-making and research needed to
address and improve the crisis of obesity, nutrition-related diseases, physical
inactivity, food insecurity, and the poor nutritional quality of the American
diet, as well as provide the data needed to protect the public against environmental
pathogens and contaminants.
`(3) To strengthen the scientific and statistical basis for the comprehensive
nutrition monitoring system to enable effective management and informed
decision-making pertaining to improving outcomes of dietary and physical
activity guidance and nutrition education, food and nutrition labeling,
food fortification, risk assessments of pesticides, toxic substances, and
food additives, and exposure to potential health promoting components of
foods.
`(4) To enhance the performance and benefits of current Federal nutrition
monitoring and related data collection and research activities, and thereby
provide a scientific basis for the maintenance and improvement of the nutritional
status of the people of the United States and the quality (including nutritive
and nonnutritive content) of food supplied and consumed in the United States.
`(5) To improve the quality of retrievable national nutritional, physical
activity, and health status data, related data bases and networks to improve
its value and accessibility for public and private sector decision makers
at Federal and State level.
`(6) To coordinate the Federal nutrition monitoring activities to provide
more timely and useful data for the many health, nutrition, physical activity,
food safety, and food security programs and entities that use it; and to
stimulate development and adoption of uniform indicators, standards, methodologies,
technologies, and procedures for food and nutrition monitoring.
`(7) To advance mechanisms for addressing the food, nutrition, and physical
activity monitoring needs of the USDA nutrition assistance programs, Federal
dietary guidance and nutrition education activities, the USDA Extension
Service, the USDA economic, food safety, and human nutrition research programs,
the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (including the National Center for Health Statistics), the
National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Department
of Homeland Security, other Federal data users, State, and local governments,
scientific and engineering communities, health professionals, and the public.
`(8) To provide for the conduct of such scientific research to ensure that
timely collections of nutrition and physical activity monitoring data adequate
for program management purposes are completed, and that such data are sufficient
for corollary scientific analysis that can contribute to the scientific
understanding of human nutrient and food consumption.
`(9) To secure ongoing source of funding.';
(A) by striking paragraphs (1), (3), and (6), and
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (4), (5), (7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs
(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6), respectively,
(A) by striking subsection (c),
(B) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c),
(C) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
`(b) Extension of Program- To carry out the purposes of this Act, the 10-year
coordinated nutrition monitoring system known as the `National Nutrition Monitoring
and Related Research Program' is hereby extended for the 10-year period beginning
on the date of the enactment of the `National Health, Nutrition, and Physical
Activity Monitoring Act of 2005'.',
(i) in paragraph (1) by striking `; and' and inserting a period,
(ii) by striking paragraph (2), and
(iii) by striking `shall-- (1) be' and inserting `shall be',
(4) by amending section 102 to read as follows:
`SEC. 102. IN GENERAL.
`The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services
shall provide jointly for the--
`(1)(A) continuous collection of data that is nationally representative;
`(B) periodic collection of data representative, to the extent practicable,
of special populations such as, but not limited to Native Americans, Alaska
Natives, rural populations, the homeless, and Hispanic Americans, through
community Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys;
`(C) timely distribution of statistics through publicly accessible channels,
to determine the nutritional status, physical activity levels, food security,
and food consumption of Americans; and
`(D) collaboration and coordination with users of the data to address the
nutrition monitoring needs of--
`(i) USDA nutrition assistance programs, Federal dietary guidance, food
guidance system, and nutrition education, and USDA Extension Service programs;
`(ii) USDA economic, food safety, and human nutrition research programs;
`(iii) risk assessments of the EPA Office of Pesticides and the EPA Office
of Children's Health;
`(iv) risk assessments, fortification decisions and labeling policies
of FDA;
`(v) research, education, and programs of Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (including the National Center for Health Statistics),
the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Armed
Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and other Federal data
users;
`(vi) health and nutrition programs of State and local governments; and
`(vii) food and nutrition activities of the private sector (including
both the food and dietary supplement industries, scientific and engineering
communities, and health professionals) and the public;
`(2) analysis of data collected as part of the integrated NHANES, when new
data becomes available, and integration with data collected under paragraph
(1) to the extent practicable, to determine the nutrition, physical activity,
and health status of Americans to guide policy recommendations regarding
Federal nutrition programs and dietary and physical activity guidance, as
well as estimate dietary exposures of vulnerable groups to environmental
pathogens and contaminants, and to compile periodic reports, at least once
every 5 years, of trends identifying nutrition, physical activity, and health
status concerns that are to be made available to the public;
`(3) continuous updating, in consultation with public and private stakeholders
and relevant professional groups, of the food composition tables, using
all reliable nutrient composition data and all available resources to analyze
foods, to keep tables current with the food supply in the marketplace for
maximum usefulness in program design, and management and evaluation, as
well as scientific research;
`(4) development of data collection methods and standards for analyses that
could be used by USDA or made available to other entities, for assessment
of nutritional and physical activity data;
`(5) awarding competitive grants to States, public, and nonprofit entities
to encourage and assist local and State governments in collecting and analyzing
nutritional and physical activity data, based on the methodology developed
for the integrated NHANES or developed under paragraph (4);
`(6) provision of competitive grants and other programs to accelerate the
development of uniform and cost-effective standards and indicators for the
assessment and monitoring of nutritional, dietary, and physical activity
status and for relating food consumption and physical activity patterns
to nutritional and health status and to further the purposes of and implement
the provisions of this Act;
`(7) availability of technical assistance, standards, and methodologies,
to the extent practicable, to grantees supported by this subsection and
other federally funded nutrition programs, to maximize the data quality
and comparability with other studies; and
`(8) consultation, at least annually, with Federal agencies, State and local
governments, the private sector, scientific communities, health professionals,
and the public, regarding monitoring and related research needs for determining
the nutritional status and physical activity levels of the United States
population, especially infants, children, youth, ethnic minorities, and
persons with mobility-limiting physical disabilities of all ages.',
(5) by striking sections 103, 104, and 105, and inserting the following:
`SEC. 103. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
`Nothing in this title may be construed to grant any new regulatory authority
or to limit, expand, or otherwise modify any regulatory authority under existing
law, or to establish new criteria, standards, or requirements for regulation
under existing law.',
(i) by striking `Committees on Agriculture and Science, Space, and Technology
of the House of Representatives and to the Committees on Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry, and Governmental Affairs of the Senate' and
inserting `Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Appropriations,
the Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce
of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry, the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee
on Budget, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the Senate',
(ii) by redesignating subsections (a) and (b) as subsections (c) and
(d), respectively, and
(iii) by inserting before subsection (c), as so redesignated, the following:
`(a) There are authorized to be appropriated $44,600,000 for fiscal year 2006,
$46,200,000 for fiscal year 2007, $47,800,000 for fiscal year 2008, $49,500,000
for fiscal year 2009, $51,200,000 for fiscal year 2010, $53,000,000 for fiscal
year 2011, $54,800,000 for fiscal year 2012, $56,700,000 for fiscal year 2013,
$58,700,000 for fiscal year 2014, and $60,754,500 for fiscal year 2015, for
the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and $15,525,000 for fiscal year 2006, $16,100,000 for fiscal year
2007, $16,700,000 for fiscal year 2008, $17,300,000 for fiscal year 2009,
$17,900,000 for fiscal year 2010, $18,500,000 for fiscal year 2011, $19,100,000
for fiscal year 2012, $19,800,000 for fiscal year 2013, $20,500,000 for fiscal
year 2014, $22,217,500 for fiscal year 2015, for the Agricultural Research
Service, to--
`(1) collect continuously dietary, health, physical activity, diet and health
knowledge data on a nationally representative sample;
`(2) collect periodically data on special populations;
`(3) distribute data to the public in a timely fashion;
`(4) analyze data when new data becomes available;
`(5) update continuously food composition tables;
`(6) research and develop data collection methods and standards;
`(7) provide competitive grants and technical assistance for local and State
government data collection and analysis; and
`(8) hold annual meeting with stakeholders and users of the data.
`(b) The funding for the comprehensive nutrition monitoring should include,
but not be limited to, continuing the integrated NHANES on at least 5000 individuals
on an annual basis. An additional $7,000,000 for the National Center for Health
Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for each fiscal
year is authorized to be appropriated to plan and commence in fiscal year
2006 and each subsequent year, the community Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey. Additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for Agriculture
Research Service to commence a food consumption longitudinal survey of at
least 15,000 individuals in fiscal year 2007.'.
(7) by striking title II, and
(i) in subsection (a) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
`(1) In General- The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health
and Human Services shall publish, at least every 10 years, coordinated with
any other Department effort to set health goals, a report entitled `Dietary
Guidelines for Americans' that shall be based on the preponderance of the
nutrition monitoring data and the scientific and medical knowledge that is
current at the time. This publication shall be promoted by each Federal agency
in carrying out any Federal food, nutrition, or health program and should
serve as the basis for nutrition education, nutrition information, and food
assistance programs.',
(ii) in subsection (b)(2) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
`(A) In General- (i) During the 60-day review period established in paragraph
(1), the Secretaries shall review, and approve or disapprove, such guidance
to assure that the guidance either is consistent with the `Dietary Guidelines
for Americans' or that the guidance is based on medical or new scientific
knowledge that is determined to comply with the standard of significant scientific
agreement.
`(ii) If after such 60-day period neither Secretary notifies the proposing
agency that such guidance has been disapproved, then such guidance may be
issued by the agency. If both Secretaries disapprove of such guidance, it
shall be returned to the agency.
`(iii) If either Secretary finds that such guidance is inconsistent with the
`Dietary Guidelines for Americans' and so notifies the proposing agency, such
agency shall follow the procedures set forth in this subsection before disseminating
such proposal to the public in final form.
`(iv) If after such 60-day period, either Secretary disapproves such guidance
as inconsistent with the `Dietary Guidelines for Americans' the proposing
agency shall--
`(I) publish a notice in the Federal Register of the availability of the
full text of the proposal and the preamble of such proposal that shall explain
the basis and purpose for the proposed dietary guidance;
`(II) provide in such notice for a public comment period of 30 days; and
`(III) make available for public inspection and copying during normal business
hours any comment received by the agency during such comment period.',
(iii) by redesignating section 301 as section 201, and
(iv) by striking section 302, and
(B) by redesignating title III as title II.
END
