June 11, 2014, Washington, DC.Eating Disorders Coalition champions Lois Capps and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen accepted the delivery of 28,000 Change.org petition signatures, in support of the Truth in Advertising Act of 2014. The signatures were generated by Seth Matlins' petition on Change.org (Seth is the father who conceived of the idea behind the bill).
Seth, the EDC and both Congresswomen gave impassioned speeches detailing the dire need for Congress to take action on the Truth in Advertising Act of 2014 (#TruthinAds), a bill that is one part in the complex solution to addressing eating and body image disorders.
Said Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, "For too long, our nation's women and men have been subject to false, impossible expectations of beauty --expectations with consequences so severe that America is facing a full blown public health crisis. While we hope that the advertising industry eventually self regulates, the government has a duty to protect the public when over 30 million people are suffering from eating disordered behaviors."
Congresswoman Capps echoed the urgency for addressing this issue that leads, all too often, to behaviors that drive eating disorders, "Millions of Americans struggle with an eating disorder, and so many others struggle with a healthy body image, comparing themselves to an ideal that often does not exist. We know that while these altered images affect the norms and expectations of all who see them and research has shown that these psychological effects persist, even when the viewer knows that the images could be altered. This is especially impactful on our young people, particularly girls."
The EDC gives a shout out to ALL the many and varied individual activists and advocates who took the time to sign the petition. YOUR VOICE MATTERS and is making a difference!!
For more pictures from the event, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/EatingDisordersCoalition
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