[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 31003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-14531]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DHHS.

ACTION: Meeting notice.

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    Pursuant to Public Law 92-463, notice is hereby given of the first 
meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing 
(SACGT), U.S. Public Health Service. The meeting will be held from 9 
a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 30, 1999 at the National Institutes of Health, 
Building 31, C Wing, Conference Room 10; 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, 
MD 20892. The meeting will be open to the public from 9 a.m to 
adjournment with attendance limited to space available. The first SACGT 
meeting will be for orientation and organizational purposes. There will 
be a limited period of time provided for public comment and interested 
individuals should contact the SACGT Executive Secretary as shown 
below.
    Under authority of 42 U.S.C. 217a, section 222 of the Public Health 
Service Act, as amended, the Department of Health and Human Services 
established the SACGT to advise and make recommendations to the 
Secretary through the Assistant Secretary for Health on all aspects of 
the development and use of genetic tests. The SACGT is directed to (1) 
recommended policies and procedures for the safe and effective 
incorporation of genetic technologies into health care; (2) assess the 
effectiveness of existing and future measures for oversight of genetic 
tests; (3) and identify research needs related to the Committee's 
purview. The establishment of the SACGT was recommended by the Task 
Force on Genetic Testing (TFGT) of the NIH-DOE Working Group on the 
Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of the Human Genome 
Project as well as the Joint NIH-DOE Committee to Evaluate the ELSI 
Program of the Human Genome Project.
    The SACGT is composed of 13 non-governmental experts in relevant 
medical, scientific, and professional fields, including genetic 
testing, medical genetics, genetic counseling, primary health care, 
public health, clinical laboratory management, diagnostic technology, 
ethics, law, psychology, and social sciences, as well as patient/
consumer advocates. Since the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory 
Committee (CDC) and the Medical Devices Advisory Committee (FDA) have 
relevant roles in ensuring the quality and safety of genetic testing 
laboratories and genetic test kits, one current member of each of these 
committees serve on the SACGT. The heads, or their designees, of six 
DHHS agencies are nonvoting, ex officio members of the SACGT. The 
agencies are the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention; Food and Drug Administration; 
Health Care Financing Administration; Health Resources and Services 
Administration; and National Institutes of Health.
    The draft meeting agenda and other information about the SACGT will 
be available at the following web site: http://www.nih.gov/od/orda/
sacgtdocs.htm. Individuals who wish to provide public comments or who 
plan to attend the meeting and need special assistance, such as sign 
language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should 
notify the SACGT Executive Secretary, Ms. Sarah Carr, by telephone at 
301-496-9838 or E-mail at [email protected]. The SACGT office is located 
at 6000 Executive Boulevard, Suite 302, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

    Dated: June 2, 1999.
David Satcher,
Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General.
[FR Doc. 99-14531 Filed 6-8-99; 8:45 am]
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