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Advocacy Archives: Advocacy Alert
CFSCC Charter Approved by
HHS
Advocacy Alert:
10/22/2002
We have been awaiting formal confirmation that the charter
for the CFS Coordinating Committee has been approved. CFIDS Association member
Rita Girard of Illinois received the following letter from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), confirming that the charter has been signed
and outlining preliminary plans for the Committee. We anticipate a Federal
Register announcement in the coming weeks announcing the nomination process, and
will forward that information to C-ACT members once it is
released.
Department of Health
and Human Services
Office of the Secretary
Assistant Secretary for Health
Office of Public
Health and Science
Washington DC 20201
Oct 4, 2002
Dear Ms. Girard:
Senator Richard J. Durbin has asked the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) to respond to your concerns regarding the status of the Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome Coordinating Committee. A copy of this letter is being sent to
Senator Durbin's office.
The revised charter has recently been approved by Secretary Thompson. We have
worked to bring the CFSCC into conformance with the methods and structure used
for the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as suggested in the GAO report,
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: CDC and NIH Research Activities Are Diverse, but
Agency Coordination Is Limited (GAO/HEHS-00-98).
We expect to complete the restructuring process soon, and once this task is
finalized we will expedite the nomination process for Committee members. With
this transition, the Committee will be under the direction of the Office of the
Secretary. The Committee's Executive Secretary function will be located within
the Office of Public Health and Science, with appropriate Federal agencies
continuing to provide support via memoranda of agreement. One representative
from each of four HHS agencies will be invited to serve as ex officio members of
the Committee. They will include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources and Services
Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. The Social Security
Administration will also be invited to serve as an ex officio member. As with
other advisory committees, these five Federal ex-officio members will be
non-voting members.
We believe that these changes are responsive to both the GAO's
recommendations and the greater needs of HHS to seek continuing advice and
counsel from the public. A date for the next Committee meeting has yet to be
determined, but we anticipate meeting at least once this calendar year.
Thank you for your interest in this important issue.
Sincerely yours,
Eve E. Slater, MD, FACC
Assistant Secretary for Health
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