[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46543-46544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17614]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-04-0008]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, or to send comments 
contact Seleda Perryman, CDC Assistant

[[Page 46544]]

Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-E11, Atlanta, GA 30333 
or send an e-mail to [email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (0923-0008)--
Extension--Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is 
mandated pursuant to the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response 
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and its 1986 Amendments, the 
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), to prevent or 
mitigate adverse human health effects and diminished quality of life 
resulting from the exposure to hazardous substances into the 
environment. The primary purpose of this activity, which ATSDR has 
supported since 1992, is to develop, implement, and maintain a state-
based surveillance system for hazardous substances emergency events 
which can be used to: (1) Describe the distribution of the hazardous 
substances releases; (2) describe the public health consequences 
(morbidity, mortality, and evacuations) associated with the events; (3) 
identify risk factors associated with the public health consequences; 
and (4) develop strategies to reduce future public health consequences. 
The study population will consist of all hazardous substance non-
permitted acute releases within the 15 states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, 
Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North 
Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin) participating 
in the surveillance system.
    Until this system was developed and implemented, there was no 
national public health-based surveillance system to coordinate the 
collation, analysis, and distribution of hazardous substances emergency 
release data to public health practitioners. It was necessary to 
establish this national surveillance system which describes the public 
health impact of hazardous substances emergencies on the health of the 
population of the United States. The data collection form will be 
completed by the state health department Hazardous Substances Emergency 
Events Surveillance (HSEES) coordinator using a variety of sources 
including written and oral reports from environmental protection 
agencies, police, firefighters, emergency response personnel; or 
researched by the HSEES coordinator using material safety data sheets, 
and chemical handbooks. There is a slight reduction in the average 
burden hours per response because of enhancements made to the data 
entry screens. The data entry program now automatically populates the 
fields for geographic coordinates, surrounding population data, and 
surrounding areas of interest.
    Additionally, an HSEES public use data set will be made available 
on the ATSDR HSEES Web site. Interested parties will need to complete a 
brief description of who will be using the data and for what purpose to 
be able to download the data. This will allow ATSDR to widely 
distribute the data and track its usefulness. There are no costs to 
respondents.

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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
                   Respondents                      respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                    respondent        hours)
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Participating State Health Department HSEES                   15             600           40/60           6,000
 Coordinators...................................
Persons interested in HSEES data through Web                 500               1            6/60              50
 site...........................................
                                                 -----------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           6,050
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    Dated: July 27, 2004.
Alvin Hall,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 04-17614 Filed 8-2-04; 8:45 am]
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