[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12493-12494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5719]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Task Force on Childhood Obesity: Request for Information
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, U.S. Department of Education.
ACTION: Joint request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Across the country, childhood obesity has reached epidemic
rates. On February 9, 2010, President Obama signed a Presidential Memo
establishing a Task Force on Childhood Obesity that directs Federal
agencies to create a comprehensive interagency national action plan to
solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation. The
Presidential Memo directs the Task Force to focus on four pillars:
Ensuring access to healthy, affordable food; increasing physical
activity in schools and communities; providing healthier food in
schools; and empowering parents with information and tools to make good
choices for themselves and their families. This notice announces a
request for public comments to assist the Task Force in making
recommendations on public and private sector actions that can be taken
to solve the problem.
DATES: To be assured of consideration, written comments must be
submitted or postmarked on or before March 26, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments. Comments may also be submitted by fax or by
mail to: Director, Office of Executive Secretariat, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 116-A Whitten
Building, Washington, DC 20250 (FAX: 202-720-7166); however,
respondents are strongly encouraged to submit comments through http://www.regulations.gov, as it will simplify the review of their input and
help to ensure that it receives full consideration. All comments
submitted in response to this notice will be included in the record and
will be made available to the public. Please be advised that the
substance of the comments and the identity of the individuals or
entities submitting the comments will be subject to public disclosure.
All comments will be made available publicly on the internet at http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexia Green, Office of the Executive
Secretariat, United States Department of Agriculture, 202-720-1570.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Nearly one-third of children in America are
overweight or obese--a rate that has tripled in adolescents and more
than doubled in younger children since 1980. One-third of all
individuals born in the year 2000 or later will eventually suffer from
diabetes over the course of their lifetime, while too many others will
face chronic obesity-related health problems such as heart disease,
high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. Without effective
intervention, many more children will endure serious illnesses that
will put a strain on our health-care system and reduce their quality of
life.
President Obama has set a goal to solve the problem of childhood
obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach
adulthood at a healthy weight. To reach that goal, President Obama
signed a Presidential Memorandum on February 9, 2010, establishing a
Task Force on Childhood Obesity that directs Federal agencies to create
a comprehensive interagency national action plan to solve the challenge
of childhood obesity within a generation. The Task Force is chaired by
the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and composed of
senior Federal officials representing the White House, the Office of
Management and Budget, and the Departments of Interior, Agriculture,
Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as senior officials
of other executive departments, agencies, or offices designated by the
chair. The Presidential Memorandum directs the Task Force to make
recommendations that include, but are not limited to, meeting four
objectives: (1) Ensuring access to healthy, affordable food; (2)
increasing physical activity in schools and communities; (3) providing
healthier food in schools; and (4) empowering parents with information
and tools to make good choices for themselves and their families.
The specific responsibilities of the Task Force are to:
1. Detail a coordinated strategy by executive departments and
agencies to meet the objectives of the Task Force and identify areas
for reform to ensure complementary efforts and avoid duplication, both
across the Federal Government and between other public or
nongovernmental actors;
2. Include comprehensive, multi-sectoral strategies from each
member executive department, agency, or office and describe the status
and scope of its efforts to achieve this goal;
3. Identify key benchmarks and provide for regular measurement,
assessment, and reporting of executive branch efforts to combat
childhood obesity;
4. Describe a coordinated action plan for identifying relevant
evidence gaps and conducting or facilitating needed research to fill
those gaps;
5. Assist in the assessment and development of legislative,
budgetary, and policy proposals that can improve the health and well-
being of children, their families, and communities; and
6. Describe potential areas of collaboration with other public or
nongovernmental actors, taking into consideration the types of
implementation or research objectives the Federal Government, other
public actors, or nongovernmental actors may be particularly well-
situated to accomplish.
In addition, the Presidential Memo directs the Task Force to conduct
outreach with representatives of private and nonprofit organizations,
State, tribal, and local authorities, and other interested persons who
can assist with the Task Force's development of a detailed set of
recommendations to solve the problem of childhood obesity.
[[Page 12494]]
Consistent with the directives of the Presidential Memorandum, the
Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, and Department of
Health and Human Services are publishing this Request for Information
on behalf of the Task Force to solicit comments and feedback to assist
the Task Force in making recommendations on public and private sector
actions that can be taken to solve the problem of childhood obesity.
Through this notice, guidance is provided as to the matters to be
discussed and the categories of information with respect to which
interested parties may submit comments.
The work of the Task Force will complement the efforts of First
Lady Michelle Obama as she leads a national public awareness effort to
tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity. Through the First Lady's
Let's Move initiative, she will encourage involvement from the public,
nonprofit, and private sectors, as well as families to help support and
amplify the work of the Federal Government in improving the health of
the Nation's children. The campaign will give parents the information,
motivation, and support they need to make sure that their children are
healthy. It will help children be more physically active and allow them
to make healthy food choices because healthy, affordable food will be
available in every part of the country. For more information, please
visit http://www.letsmove.gov/.
Matters To Be Considered: Information is being sought on the
categories of information that follow. When submitting comments,
interested parties are asked to restate the question and to provide any
additional information deemed pertinent to their comment.
1. For each of the four objectives described above, what key topics
should be addressed in the report?
2. For each of the four objectives, what are the most important
actions that Federal, State, and local governments can take?
3. Which Federal government actions aimed at combating childhood
obesity are especially in need of cross-agency coordination?
4. For each of the four objectives, what are the most important
actions that private, nonprofit, and other nongovernmental actors can
take?
5. For each of the four objectives, what strategies will ensure
that efforts taken by all of the entities mentioned above reach across
geographic areas and to diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and
geographic groups, including children who are at highest risk of
obesity and children with disabilities?
6. What goals should we set within each objective to ensure that we
meet our overall goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity in
this Nation in a generation?
7. What concrete, specific actionable recommendations or guidelines
would help parents reduce the risk that their child will become
overweight or obese and how can their effectiveness be measured?
8. What are the key benchmarks by which we should measure progress
toward achieving those goals?
9. What important factors should be considered that do not easily
fit under one of the four objectives?
10. What are the key unanswered research questions that need to be
answered with regard to solving childhood obesity and how should the
Federal Government, academia, and other research organizations target
their scarce resources on these areas of research?
11. In areas or communities that currently have a high incidence of
childhood obesity, what is the best explanation of why particular
children do not become obese?
12. Specifically with regard to objective 1 (empowering parents):
How can Federal, State, and local governments, the private sector, and
community organizations best communicate information to help parents
make healthy choices about food and physical activity?
13. Specifically with regard to objective 2 (healthier food in
schools): What are the most promising steps that can be pursued by the
Federal, State, and local governments, schools, communities, the
private sector, and parents to ensure that children are eating healthy
food in schools and child care settings?
14. Specifically with regard to objective 3 (access to healthy,
affordable food): What are the biggest challenges to enhancing access
to healthy and affordable food in communities across America, and what
are the most promising strategies to overcome these challenges?
15. Specifically with regard to objective 4 (physical activity):
What steps can be taken to improve quality physical education and
expand opportunities for physical activity during the school day, in
local communities and neighborhoods, and in outdoor activities and
other recreational settings?
16. What other input should the Task Force consider in writing the
report?
Dated: March 9, 2010.
Thomas J. Vilsack,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Dated: March 9, 2010,
Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dated: March 9, 2010,
Arne Duncan,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2010-5719 Filed 3-15-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P