DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES World Trade Center Health Program 

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Centers for Disease Control 

 and Prevention (CDC) 

 National Institute for Occupational 

 Safety and Health (NIOSH) 

395 E Street, S.W. 

 Suite 9200, Patriots Plaza 

Washington, D.C. 20201 

PHONE: (202) 245-0625 

FAX: (202) 245-0628 

March 21, 2012 

Dear WTCHP STAC Members: 

Let me begin by thanking each of you once again for your work on behalf of the World Trade 

Center Health Program (WTCHP) Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). I know you 

have all been preparing for next week’s Committee meeting in anticipation of sending me your 

recommendation on whether cancer or specific cancers should be added to the list of WTCrelated health conditions eligible for treatment under the WTCHP. 

I understand that in your efforts to prepare a scientific basis for your recommendation, committee 

members submitted language and materials to the committee chair for compiling in a draft 

document which you all will deliberate upon at your March 28, 2012 meeting and which will be 

made available to the public in advance of the March 28th meeting. 

Given the timeline limitations imposed by the Zadroga Act (the Act allows a maximum of 180 days 

from the date of the WTC Program Administrator’s request for the Committee to submit their 

recommendation on the addition of a condition to the Administrator, see 42 U.S.C. § 300mm22(a)(6)(C)) and constraints on the Committee’s time and available budget, this work of compiling 

a draft was completed through a series of emails. 

These emails constituted preparatory work on the part of the committee in advance of the March 

28th committee meeting. Although such email exchanges may represent a less than ideal process 

for gathering a working draft for the committee to debate and deliberate upon during its 

subsequent public meeting, regulations governing Federal Advisory Committee Management 

clearly allow for such work on the part of a Committee (or subset thereof) and exclude it from the 

procedural requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App. 

“Preparatory work” is specifically defined in 41 C.F.R. sec. 102-3.160 as “Meetings of two or more 

advisory committee or subcommittee members convened solely to gather information, conduct 

research, or analyze relevant issues and facts in preparation for a meeting of the advisory 

committee, or to draft position papers for deliberation by the advisory committee,” and is explicitly 

not subject to the notice and open meeting requirements of FACA. 
It has come to my attention that there may be concern that this preparatory work, conducted via 

email, constitutes committee deliberation and that the committee could have reached a decision 

on various points or issues in the draft report without the benefit of the public meetings required by 

FACA. It is unfortunate that the email exchanges may have created the perception that any 

recommendation or sub-issue to the recommendation has been decided. An email string of 

discordant view points from individual committee members written in an effort to submit issues, 

materials, and concerns in preparation for a full committee meeting cannot be understood to 

foreclose any discussion or represent consensus action on the part of the whole committee. 

I fully expect and anticipate that the Committee’s meeting on March 28th will include a robust 

discussion of all issues and viewpoints of the committee members and that no final decision on 

the report or any part of that report has been decided upon by the full membership of the STAC in 

advance of its March 28th meeting. 

I am committed to ensuring the Committee operates in accordance with the procedural 

requirements of FACA. I have directed the Designed Federal Official for the Committee to explore 

additional technologies which may assist in compiling preparatory work in the future and to 

respond to any inquiries about the committee’s work in this matter. 

I look forward to your public meeting on the 28th and your subsequent recommendation. 

Sincerely, 

John Howard, M.D. 

Administrator, World Trade Center Health Program