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Remarks of Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate
At the First Childhood Obesity Task Force Meeting
March 21, 2007
Last fall, I, along with many of you, attended the Institute of Medicine’s 
unveiling of its most recent report regarding childhood obesity.  This report called 
for leadership from the government, industry, communities, schools, and families 
in mobilizing the resources required to address childhood obesity. I am elated that 
each of you chose to step up and join this task force, so that together we can seek 
solutions that educate and inspire Americans to live healthier and more active 
lifestyles. 
Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to travel around the 
nation, visiting many of you, and attending conferences from New York to 
California.  In the conversations that I have had, I was pleased to discover that the 
entire country is poised to attack this epidemic.  In fact, many of you have already 
begun taking action.
· I was excited to hear about Disney’s “Healthy Kids Initiative” and other 
policies for healthful eating at its theme parks and restaurants, banning 
transfats, as well as for the use of its characters on healthy foods like fruits 
and veggies.
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· McDonald’s has recently selected a new trans-fat-free oil for cooking its 
french fries.
· And programmers have developed programs that encourage activity, like 
Nickelodeon’s “Let’s Just Play” encourages kids to go out and play by 
actually “going dark” for 3 hours on their Worldwide Day of Play.
· The Discovery Health Channel is promoting its fourth annual National 
Body Challenge to encourage health and fitness.  Discovery Health's 
National Body Challenge is a free, eight-week, comprehensive fitness and 
weight-loss challenge that provides the tools and inspiration, online and on 
television, to get in shape, shed extra pounds and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
· America’s Milk Processors recently launched the “Think About Your 
Drink” campaign, which aims to help battle childhood obesity by 
encourage American’s to exercise together, eat nutritious meals, and 
choose lowfat milk rather than sugar drinks.
· Last October, I met with researchers at the Kellogg company who 
explained how food science is playing a critical role in the development of 
food crops like soybeans that form the basis of a more healthful diet, 
including the reduction of harmful trans fats.
· PepsiCo and Kraft have introduced a line of snack products aimed at 
portion control – each serving is limited to 100 calories.  This is a 
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wonderful response, not only to obesity, but a response to a marketplace 
that is hopefully becoming more attuned to how much they eat. 
· Just last month the Ad Council launched the Childhood Obesity Prevention 
campaign which includes both television and radio ads inspiring children to 
eat well and be physically active.
· And later this month, Food Network will air an hour-long documentary 
titled “Childhood Obesity: Danger Zone,” which explores both what is 
fueling the explosion in overweight youth and what parents, teachers, 
doctors and public officials are doing to fight this epidemic.
Like I have said many times before, borrowing from “It takes a village,” it will 
take an entire society to solve this epidemic.  This is not about a child having a 
birthday party, or the occasional treat.  This is not about celebrating Valentine’s 
Day, and giving your grandmother a box of chocolates.  This is about our overall 
picture and living a more balanced, healthy lifestyle.  I appreciate all that you have 
already done to battle this epidemic.  I am excited to see the solutions that will 
come out of this task force, and I look forward to working with you all.