[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 250 (Friday, December 30, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77397-77398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-8102]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-06-05AZ]


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) 639-4766 or send an email to 
[email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC or by fax to (202) 395-6974. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    NCEH/ATSDR Exposure Investigations (EIs)--New--National Center for 
Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry (ATSDR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    This is a brief summary of a joint clearance between the NCEH and 
ATSDR, (hereafter ATSDR will represent both ATSDR and NCEH). 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 in the environment. 
Exposure Investigations (EIs) is 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.
    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 will be 
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 
needed primarily on biomedical investigations to assist with results 
interpretation. General information can account for approximately 28 
questions per investigation. Some of this information is investigation-
specific; not all of this data is collected for every investigation. 
ATSDR is seeking approval for a set of 57 potential general information 
questions.
    ATSDR also collects information on other possible confounding 
sources of chemical(s) exposure such as medicines taken, foods eaten, 
etc. In addition, ATSDR asks questions on recreational or occupational 
activities that could increase exposure potential. This information 
represents an individual's exposure history. To cover these broad 
categories, ATSDR is also seeking approval for the use of sets of 
topical questions. Of these, ATSDR will use approximately 12-15 
questions about the pertinent environmental exposures per 
investigation. This number can vary depending on the number of 
chemicals being investigated, the route of exposure (breathing, eating, 
touching), and number of other sources (e.g., products, jobs) for the 
chemical(s).
    Typically, the number of participants in an individual EI ranges 
from 10 to less than 50. Questionnaires are generally needed in less 
than half of the EIs (approximately 10-15 per year).
    Areas for the complete set of topical questions include the 
following:
    (1) Media specific which includes: air (indoor/outdoor); water 
(water source and plumbing); soil, and food (gardening, fish, game, 
domestic animals).
    (2) Other sources such as: occupation; hobbies; household uses or 
house construction; lifestyle (e.g., smoking); medicines and/or health 
conditions, and foods.
    There are no costs to the respondents other than their time. The 
estimated total burden hours are 375.

                                       Estimate of Annualized Burden Table
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                                                                      No. of       Responses per      Average
                    Respondents per response                        respondents     respondent        burden
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Exposure Investigation Participants.............................             750               1           30/60
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[[Page 77398]]

    Dated: December 23, 2005.
Betsey Dunaway,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. E5-8102 Filed 12-29-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P