[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17250-17251]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6682]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-05-0617)


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, call 404-371-5983 or 
send comments to Seleda Perryman, CDC Assistant Reports Clearance 
Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email 
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

    Willingness to Pay--Extension--Prevention Effectiveness Unit, 
Office of Workforce and Career Development, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC). The mission of the Prevention Effectiveness Unit 
is to provide information and training to build internal and external 
capacity in economic and decision sciences.
    The project is currently underway as a pilot study. Upon completion 
of the pilot the project will be assessed to determine if the full 
survey will be completed.
    This project will use qualitative and quantitative research to (a) 
develop and test informational approaches, (educational materials or 
product labeling), (b) educate consumers about food safety issues, (c) 
develop and test survey instruments; and (d) test experimental 
protocols to be used in the main quantitative data collection. The 
project will also provide a nationally-representative estimate of 
consumer willingness to pay for (a) publicly-provided reductions in the 
probability of contracting food-borne illnesses; (b) reductions in 
severity of symptoms associated with food-borne illnesses, and (c) 
materials that facilitate private, defensive precautions against food-
borne illness during home food preparation (e.g., meat thermometers, 
antibacterial soaps and cutting boards). Furthermore, the project will 
estimate the effect of education programs and product labeling on 
consumer willingness to pay for the reductions; also to 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 food-borne 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 helpful means of educating 
the public about food safety. 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 of 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 did not take place, agencies would either have to 
continue to piece together data when conducting economic analyses of 
food safety policies and regulations, or they would need to fund a 
large scale effort like the one being proposed. Another large scale 
effort would be a waste of public funds. Informing consumers about the 
risks and protective measures allows consumers to more accurately 
assess how much they would pay for reductions in this risk. More 
importantly, this project will inform the consumer as to what the risks 
are and how they can protect themselves. This is important since the 
consumer is the last line of defense in the campaign against food-borne 
illnesses.

[[Page 17251]]



                                       Estimate of Annualized Burden Table
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden  per   Total response
                   Respondents                      respondents   responses  per   response  (in   burden hours
                                                                     respondent       hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Survey respondents..............................            5000               1           30/60            2500
Virtual shopping respondents....................            1200               1               1            1200
                                                 -----------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............            3700
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Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 05-6682 Filed 4-4-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P