USA Today Letter

USA TODAY ran a letter to the editor that president and CEO, Hugh R. Parry submitted on behalf of Prevent Blindness America! The letter was in response to an article regarding safe toys. Although the original article focused on toys containing lead and other toxins, our letter pointed out the dangers in toys that are considered “safe.”

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/12/keep-in-mind-wh.html

Health News in the Media

A November 24, 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation report (http://www.kff.org/entmedia/7839.cfm) found that in the 18 month period from January 2007 to June 2008 health news was the 8th biggest subject in national news, comprising 3.6% of all coverage. Crime, natural disasters and foreign affairs all received more coverage than health news. Democratic Congressional leaders plan to work on several bills in early January 2009, including health care related bills addressing SCHIP and embryonic stem cell research (http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/nation/11/23/1123congressobama.html).

November is American Diabetes Month

And World Diabetes Day is November 14. Diabetes affects more than 23 million Americans, and that number is projected to more than double by the year 2050. The Centers for Disease Control has published a number of promotional materials and information on its website regarding diabetes during this American Diabetes Month. Tools may be found at http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes.

In conjunction with American Diabetes Month, Prevent Blindness America has declared November as Diabetic Eye Disease Month in an effort to educate the public on how diabetes can affect vision. Nearly half of all diabetics have some form of diabetic retinopathy, and diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20-74 years of age. Patients and healthcare professionals can find more information diabetic eye diseases, risk factors, treatment options and Medicare benefits at http://www.diabetes-sight.org.

On November 4, Americans will vote for a new president, 35 U.S. Senators and 435 U.S. Representatives. On March 2, 2009, Prevent Blindness American will bring vision advocates to Washington, D.C. to meet with Members of Congress and staff to discuss the importance of vision research and early detection to prevent vision loss, among other issues. To learn more about our Eyes on Capitol Hill event and to apply for a scholarship to attend, please go to www.preventblindness.net/eoch. I hope to see you in March.