[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19016-19017]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-7531]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-12-0040]


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 404-639-7570 
and send comments to Ron Otten, at CDC 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

[[Page 19017]]

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

    NCEH/ATSDR Exposure Investigations (EIs) [OMB NO: 0923-0040, 
Expiration Date 11/30/2012]--Revision--The National Center for 
Environmental Health (NCEH), and the Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the 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. 
EIs are 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.
    ATSDR has been conducting EIs since 1995 throughout the United 
States. 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 is 
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 
also collected primarily on biomedical investigations to assist with 
results interpretation. General information can account for 
approximately 20 questions per investigation. Some of this information 
is investigation-specific; not all of this data is collected for every 
investigation. ATSDR is seeking a revision of our approval for use of a 
set of 61 general information questions.
    ATSDR also collects information on other possible confounding 
sources of chemical(s) exposure such as medicines taken, foods eaten, 
hobbies, jobs, etc. In addition, ATSDR asks questions on recreational 
or occupational activities that could increase a participant's exposure 
potential. That information represents an individual's exposure 
history. To cover those broad categories, ATSDR is also seeking a 
revision to our approval for the use of sets of topical questions. Of 
these, we use approximately 12-20 questions about the pertinent 
environmental exposures per investigation. This number can vary 
depending on the number of chemicals being investigated, the route of 
exposure (e.g., breathing, eating, touching), and number of other 
sources of the chemical(s) (e.g., products used, jobs).
    Typically, the number of participants in an individual EI ranges 
from 10 to 100. Questionnaires are generally needed in less than half 
of the EIs (approximately 7 per year).
    The subject matter for the complete set of topical questions 
includes the following:
    (1) Media specific which includes: Air (indoor/outdoor); water 
(water source and plumbing); soil, and food (gardening, fish, game, 
domestic animals (e.g., chickens).
    (2) Other sources such as: occupations; hobbies; household chemical 
uses and house construction characteristics; lifestyle (e.g., smoking); 
medicines and/or health conditions, and foods. There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Respondents                       Number of     responses per   per  response   Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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Exposure Investigation Participants.............             700               1           30/60             350
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    Dated: March 23, 2012.
Ron A. Otten,
Director, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate 
Director for Science (OADS), Office of the Director, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2012-7531 Filed 3-28-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P