[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 240 (Thursday, December 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64434-64435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30760]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30 DAY-02-02]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 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 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-7090. Send written 
comments to CDC, Desk Officer, Human Resources and Housing Branch, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.
    Proposed Project: Willingness to Pay Project--NEW--Epidemiology 
Program Office (EPO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
The mission of the Prevention Effectiveness Branch is to provide 
information and training to build internal and external capacity in 
economic and decision sciences.
    This project will use qualitative and quantitative research to 
develop and test informational approaches (educational materials or 
product labeling) to educate consumers about food safety issues, 
develop and test survey instruments and test experimental protocols to 
be used in the main quantitative data collection; provide a nationally-
representative estimate of consumer willingness to pay for (a) 
Publicly-provided reductions in the probability of contracting 
foodborne illnesses; (b) reductions in severity of symptoms associated 
with foodborne illnesses, and (c) materials that facilitate private, 
defensive precautions against foodborne illness during home food 
preparation (e.g., meat thermometers, antibacterial soaps and cutting 
boards). Estimate the effect of education programs and product labeling 
on willingness to pay for the reductions; compare the empirical 
estimates of the above mentioned consumer willingness to pay derived 
from a conjoint analysis instrument and a simulated marketplace 
experiment.
    Public awareness and stated concern regarding foodborne illnesses 
have increased rapidly over the past decade. The general public, while 
seemingly well-informed and concerned about some relevant food safety 
issues, appear unknowledgeable or ill-informed about emerging issues. 
The Food Safety Survey data suggest that information provided to 
consumers at the point of purchase may be a fruitful means of educating 
the public about food safety, and analyses of consumer purchase data 
indicate that health-related information provided at the point of 
purchase can make significant long-term changes in purchasing behavior.
    While providing health-related information about food has been the 
focus of major policy initiatives in the last few years, little 
empirical economic research has attempted to understand the market and 
welfare effects of different health information policies. In addition, 
previous research does not address the distribution of effects across 
different consumers. Policy makers and food manufacturers cannot 
provide labels that satisfy everyone's information desires while 
simultaneously catering to consumers' cognitive and time constraints. 
As a result, policy makers need to understand how different sectors of 
the consumer population will be affected, particularly those members of 
the population who face relatively high food safety risks.
    The lack of information hinders policy makers from making informed 
decisions on the proper allocation of resources in this area since the 
benefits or reducing the risk of illness are not well known. Not having 
the information readily available makes cost-effectiveness and cost-
benefit analyses difficult to do as well as resource-intensive. This 
data collection effort will reduce this burden by making data available 
to researchers for use in program and policy evaluation. If this data 
collection effort were not to take place, agencies will either have to 
continue to piece together data when conducting economic analyses of 
food safety policies and regulations, or they will fund a large-scale 
effort like the one being proposed. Another large-scale effort would be 
a waste of public funds. Providing consumers information about the 
risks and about protective measures allows consumers to more accurately 
assess how much they would pay for reductions in this risk, but more 
importantly, it also informs the consumer as to what the risks are and 
how they can protect themselves. This information is important since 
the consumer is the last line of defense in the campaign against 
foodborne illnesses. The total estimated burden is 1500 hours.

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                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                           Respondents                               Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
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Survey respondents..............................................            3300               1           20/60
Virtual shopping respondents....................................             600               1           40/60
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[[Page 64435]]

    Dated: December 5, 2001.
Nancy E. Cheal,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 01-30760 Filed 12-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P