[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43286-43287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17961]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30-Day-12-0040]
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
publishes a list of information collection requests under review by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these
requests, call (404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Send
written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget,
Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written comments
should be received within 30 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
NCEH/ATSDR Exposure Investigations (EIs) [OMB NO: 0923-0040,
Expiration Date 11/30/2012]-Revision-The National Center for
Environmental Health (NCEH), and the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
EIs are an approach developed by ATSDR that employs targeted
biologic (e.g., urine, blood, hair samples) and environmental (e.g.,
air, water, soil, or food) sampling to determine whether people are or
have been exposed to unusual levels of pollutants at specific locations
(e.g., where people live, spend leisure time, or anywhere they might
come into contact with contaminants under investigation). After a
chemical release or suspected release into the environment, ATSDR's EIs
are used by public health professionals, environmental risk managers,
and other decision makers to determine if current conditions warrant
intervention strategies to minimize or eliminate human exposure. EIs
are usually requested by officials of a state health agency, county
health departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, the general
public, and ATSDR staff.
ATSDR has been conducting EIs since 1995 throughout the United
States. All of ATSDR's biomedical assessments and some of the
environmental investigations involve participants. Participation is
completely voluntary. To assist in interpreting the sampling results, a
survey questionnaire appropriate to the specific contaminant is
administered to participants. ATSDR collects contact information (e.g.,
name, address, phone number) to provide the participant with their
individual results. Name and address information are broken into nine
separate questions (data fields) for computer entry. General
information, which includes height, weight, age, race, gender, etc., is
also collected primarily on biomedical investigations to assist with
results interpretation. General information can account for
approximately 20 questions per investigation. Some of this information
is investigation-specific; not all of these data are collected for
every investigation. ATSDR is seeking a revision of our approval for
use of a set of 61 general information questions.
ATSDR also collects information on other possible confounding
sources of chemical(s) exposure such as medicines taken, foods eaten,
hobbies, jobs, etc. In addition, ATSDR asks questions on recreational
or occupational activities that could increase a participant's exposure
potential. That information represents an individual's exposure
history. To cover those broad categories, ATSDR is also seeking a
revision to our approval for the use of sets of topical questions. Of
these, we use approximately 12-20 questions about the pertinent
environmental exposures per investigation. This number can vary
depending on the number of chemicals being investigated the route of
exposure (e.g., breathing, eating, touching), and number of other
sources of the chemical(s) (e.g., products used, jobs).
Typically, the number of participants in an individual EI ranges
from 10 to 100. Questionnaires are generally needed in less than half
of the EIs (approximately 7 per year).
The subject matter for the complete set of topical questions
includes the following:
(1) Media specific which includes: Air (indoor/outdoor); water
(water source and plumbing); soil, and food gardening, fish, game,
domestic animals (e.g., chickens).
(2) Other sources such as: occupations; hobbies; household chemical
uses and house construction
[[Page 43287]]
characteristics; lifestyle (e.g., smoking); medicines and/or health
conditions, and foods. There are no costs to respondents other than
their time.
ATSDR is requesting approval to conduct this information collection
for three years. The estimated annualized burden hours are 350.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden
Type of respondent Form name Number of responses per per response
respondents respondent (in hours)
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Exposure Investigation Participants... Chemical Exposure 700 1 30/60
Questions.
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Kimberly S. Lane,
Deputy Director, Office of Science Integrity, Office of the Associate
Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2012-17961 Filed 7-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P