June 28 — 29, 2007 Advisory Committee Meeting
Minutes

Review of Agenda, Charge to the Committee and Meeting Process

Dr. Haskell thanked the committee for their service and thanked the audience for attending. He reiterated the importance the Guidelines should have to all constituencies, including federal agencies, non-profits and the general public.

Dr. Haskell noted much of the meeting will be spent reviewing background information on physical activity and deliberating the major issues and challenges facing the Committee. He noted there would be no oral public comments as part of the agenda for this first meeting; however, comments through e-mail and Post are encouraged throughout the life-cycle of the Committee. Comments via e-mail may be sent to pa.guidelines@hhs.gov and written comments via Post may be addressed to the Committee's Executive Secretary as follows:

Dr. Haskell indicated that oral public comments would most likely be heard at the two subsequent meetings of the Committee, tentatively scheduled for December 2007 and February 2008. He emphasized that the procedures for today's meeting is not meant to suppress comment, as much of the initial meeting of the Committee will be introductory and administrative by nature, but that feedback is greatly encouraged.

RADM Royall added that the reason for following the Federal Advisory Committee Act is to insure openness and transparency. As an example, all public comments are to be sent to the Committee's general e-mail address or to the Executive Secretary in order to insure that all Committee members receive the comments. Any Committee member that is contacted by an individual representing a special interest group should refer that individual to Committee staff.

Dr. Haskell compared the process for developing Physical Activity Guidelines as similar to the process used to develop Dietary Guidelines. The Committee will make recommendations to HHS and HHS will utilize those recommendations to write the actual recommendations. He noted the differences in each process and stressed to the members of the Committee that the Committee will not write the actual Guidelines. Finally, he expressed the hope that the Physical Activity Guidelines will compliment the Dietary Guidelines and that both sets of Guidelines would help guide the future processes of updating each other.

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