Daren Bakst
Research Fellow in Agricultural Policy
Thomas A. Roc Institute for Economic Policy Studies
The Heritage Foundation
darenbakst@heritage.org
Dear Mr. Bakst:
This letter responds to your request, dated January 16th, 2015, for reconsideration of our response to you about correction of information disseminated to the public from the paper, “Eliminating the Use of Partially Hydrogenated Oil in Food Production and Preparation.” This paper was authored by CDC scientists, and was reviewed and approved by CDC following the standard agency clearance protocol. The paper by Dietz et al. was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It included the disclaimer recommended in the “OMB Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review” to indicate that the findings and conclusions of the paper were those of the authors and did not represent the official views of CDC.
The presence of the disclaimer statement does not prevent CDC or any other HHS agency from subsequently using a report in conjunction with the larger body of scientific evidence in progress reports or other publications. The Winnable Battles Progress Report: 2010-2015 did use information from the Dietz et al. paper. To clarify that the numbers presented in the Winnable Battles report came from this paper, the report now indicates that the numbers are obtained from the paper by Dietz et al.
In conclusion, CDC believes that reference to the paper authored by CDC staff members is consistent with requirements of the Information Quality Act. In response to your previous request, the Winnable Battles Progress Report:2010-2015 now provides the appropriate reference to the paper.
Sincerely,
Janet Collins, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention