[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 38 (Monday, February 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9827-9828]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-2710]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-06-0463]


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 e-mail 
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

    Longitudinal Surveillance for Beryllium Disease Prevention--0920-
0463--Extension--National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH)--Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 
through research and prevention. The Occupational Safety and Health 
Act, Public Law 91-596 (section 20[a][1]) authorizes the National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct 
research to advance the health and safety of workers. NIOSH is 
conducting a study of beryllium workers. Beryllium is a lightweight 
metal with many applications. Exposed workers may be found in the 
primary production, nuclear power and weapons, aerospace, scrap metal 
reclamation, specialty ceramics, and electronics industries, among 
others. The size of the U.S. workforce at risk of chronic beryllium 
disease (CBD), from either current or past work-related exposure to the 
metal, may be as high as one million. Demand for beryllium is growing 
worldwide, which means that increasing numbers of workers are likely to 
be exposed.
    CBD is a chronic granulomatous lung disease mediated through an 
immunologic mechanism in workers who become sensitized to the metal. 
Sensitization can be detected with a blood test called the beryllium 
lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT), which is used by the industry as 
a surveillance tool. Use of this test for surveillance was first 
reported in 1989. Sensitized workers, identified through workplace 
surveillance programs, undergo clinical diagnostic tests to determine 
whether they have CBD. Research has indicated certain genetic 
determinants in the risk of CBD; follow-up studies will be invaluable 
for further characterizing the genetic contribution to sensitization 
and disease.
    NIOSH is in a unique position to accomplish this research for a 
number of reasons: (a) It has a successful collaboration with the 
leading manufacturer of beryllium in the US. This has allowed us to 
establish well-characterized worker cohorts within the beryllium 
industry. (b) It is conducting industrial hygiene research that should 
significantly improve workplace-based exposure assessment methods. This 
research will allow characterization of jobs and tasks by 
physicochemical characteristics, leading to an estimation of dose 
rather than mass concentration-based exposure. (c) It has pioneered the 
evaluation of the dermal exposure route in the beryllium sensitization 
process. (d) It has developed and improved genetic research that will 
contribute to the understanding of risk variability in sensitization 
and disease, as well as discerning the underlying mechanisms. (e) NIOSH 
has the institutional stability to continue longitudinal evaluations of 
health outcomes in relation to exposure and genetic risk factors.
    NIOSH has been conducting this survey of beryllium workers for 
three years and this extension will allow for completion of the data 
collection on former workers. Workers are asked to complete an 
interviewer administered medical and work history questionnaire and to 
give a blood sample. Without medical and work history data on former 
workers, NIOSH staff will be unable to conduct the necessary research 
to make recommendations for preventing beryllium sensitization and 
disease. Follow-up on this cohort will provide invaluable information 
on the natural history of disease, gene-gene, and gene-environment 
interactions, which can become the basis for prevention policy at both 
company and government levels.
    There are no costs to the respondents other than their time. The 
only change to this previously approved project is a decrease in the 
burden hours because the proposed data collection is almost complete. 
The total estimated annualized burden hours are 50.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                   Number of     Average  burden
                         Respondents                              Number of      responses per    per  response
                                                                 respondents       respondent       (in hours)
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Former Workers...............................................             100                1            30/60
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[[Page 9828]]

    Dated: February 21, 2006.
Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.1
 [FR Doc. E6-2710 Filed 2-24-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P