Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 16, 2010 / Notices 12493 

• What entities are best positioned to 

help define the possible categories? 

• How should the designation of 

intermediate ingredients and feedstocks 

be organized? 

• What categories of intermediate 

ingredients/feedstocks currently have 

the greatest potential to expand product 

eligibility for the BioPreferred program, 

and what high-impact categories might 

be expected to emerge over the next five 

years? 

• What should be the minimum 

allowable biobased content for 

intermediate products and feed stocks? 

• What information should be 

provided to assist purchasing decision 

makers? 

• Will federal procurement agencies 

ever purchase intermediate ingredients, 

or will they be purchasing only end-use 

products? 

• What are the potential obstacles to 

designating intermediate products and 

ingredients for preferred procurement 

status? 

Dated: March 10, 2010. 

Pearlie S. Reed, 

Assistant Secretary for Administration, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture. 

[FR Doc. 2010–5681 Filed 3–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

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, multisectoral 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. 


sroberts on DSKD5P82C1PROD with NOTICES
12494 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 16, 2010 / Notices 

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 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

Agency: International Trade 

Administration (ITA). 

Title: Procedures for Considering 

Requests from the Public under the 

Textile Apparel Safeguard Provision of 

the United States-Oman Free Trade 

Agreement. 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission. 

Burden Hours: 24. 

Number of Respondents: 6 (1 for 

Request; 5 for Comments). 

Average Hours per Response: 4 hours 

for a Request; and 4 hours for a 

Comment. 

Needs and Uses: Title III, Subtitle B, 

Section 321 through Section 328 of the 

United States-Oman Free Trade 

Agreement Implementation Act (the 

‘‘Act’’) implements the textile and 

apparel safeguard provisions, provided 

for in Article 3.1 of the United StatesOman Free Trade Agreement (the 

‘‘Agreement’’). This safeguard 

mechanism applies when, as a result of 

the elimination of a customs duty under 

the Agreement, an Omani textile or 

apparel article is being imported into 

the United States in such increased 

quantities, in absolute terms or relative 

to the domestic market for that article, 

and under such conditions as to cause 

serious damage or actual threat thereof 

to a U.S. industry producing a like or 

directly competitive article. In these 

circumstances, Article 3.1 permits the 

United States to increase duties on the 

imported article from Oman to a level 

that does not exceed the lesser of the 

prevailing U.S. normal trade relations 

(NTR)/most-favored-nation (MFN) duty 


sroberts on DSKD5P82C1PROD with NOTICES