[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 32 (Thursday, February 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8201-8202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03305]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-16-16PJ; Docket No. ATSDR-2016-0002]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), as 
part of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on ``Collections 
Related to Synthetic Turf Fields with Crumb Rubber Infill.'' The 
purpose of the proposed studies is to evaluate and characterize the 
chemical composition and use of synthetic turf with crumb rubber infill 
and exposure potential to constituents in crumb rubber infill.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before April 18, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. ATSDR-
2016-0002 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov. For this docket, ATSDR is 
only accepting comments on the proposed studies' data collections 
referenced in this notice.

    Please note:  All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    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; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

    Collections Related to Synthetic Turf Fields with Crumb Rubber 
Infill--New--Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

Background and Brief Description

    Currently in the United States, there are more than 12,000 
synthetic turf fields in use. While the Synthetic Turf Council has set 
guidelines for the content of crumb rubber used as infill in synthetic 
turf fields, manufacturing processes result in differences among types 
of crumb rubber. Additionally, the chemical composition may vary highly 
between different processes and source materials and may vary even 
within granules from the same origin.
    Due to the limited information, the Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (USEPA) propose to conduct two studies to investigate the 
chemical composition and use of crumb rubber infill in synthetic turf 
and the potential for exposure to environmental constituents that may 
result from contact with crumb rubber infill.
    Prior to study initiation, outreach and engagement efforts may be 
undertaken among stakeholders, including but not limited to industry 
representatives, state or local partners, and sports coaches. These 
efforts will inform the design and implementation of the proposed 
studies and will involve less than ten respondents per stakeholder 
groups. The outreach and engagement efforts will allow us to better 
understand the manufacturing process for synthetic turf and crumb 
rubber infill and allow us to obtain first-hand perspectives on 
activities conducted on synthetic turf leading to potential exposures. 
Additionally, outreach efforts will involve discussions and 
coordination with state partners to identify their current and future 
research studies on synthetic turf.
    The first study, titled ``Determination of Field Operating 
Procedures, Use Conditions, and Chemical Composition of Crumb Rubber 
Infill in Synthetic Turf

[[Page 8202]]

Fields,'' will characterize field use procedures and conditions. The 
respondents will include facility representatives who are knowledgeable 
about the standard operating procedures for synthetic turf fields with 
crumb rubber infill. We aim to enroll an estimate of ten facilities in 
each of the four US census regions. The questionnaire will focus on key 
questions to characterize activity use patterns, field maintenance 
(e.g., redistribution of crumb rubber material), and other procedures 
and facility characteristics potentially affecting exposure to any 
chemicals of potential concern. Also, these facilities may be asked to 
supply samples from their synthetic turf fields with crumb rubber 
infill. The samples will be used to characterize the chemical 
constituents of the crumb rubber infill, including semi-volatile 
organic compounds (SVOC), metal content, and measurements of volatile 
organic compounds (VOC) and SVOC emission levels.
    The second study, titled ``Characterization of Exposure Potential 
during Activities Conducted on Synthetic Turf with Crumb Rubber 
Infill,'' will be the first assessment of activities conducted on 
synthetic turf for the purpose of characterizing potential exposure 
patterns. The study will include persons who use synthetic turf with 
crumb rubber infill (e.g., facility users) and who routinely perform 
activities that would result in a high level of contact to crumb 
rubber. This will allow for evaluation of potential high-end exposures 
to constituents in synthetic turf among this group of users. The 
respondents will be administered a detailed questionnaire on activity 
patterns on synthetic turf with crumb rubber infill. This instrument, 
along with extant videography of persons engaged in activities of 
interest, will be used to characterize exposure scenarios, including 
the nature and duration of potential exposures.
    Furthermore, if time and resources allow, we will conduct a full 
exposure characterization sub-study among a subset of the respondents. 
If possible, we will use the facilities sampled in the first study to 
conduct activities for the full exposure characterization of facility 
users. The exposure characterization sub-study will likely include but 
is not limited to field environment and material sampling, personal air 
monitoring, dermal sampling, and urine collection. It is likely that 
some of the collection items will not be analyzed in the current 
project time frame but will be archived for future analysis.
    The burden hours for the research study of crumb rubber infill 
composition and field operating procedures is 76 hours among 40 
respondents; the burden hours requested for the research study of 
activity levels in persons playing on synthetic turf with crumb rubber 
infill is 216 hours among 60 respondents. The total estimated annual 
time burden requested for these studies equals 292 hours. There is no 
cost to the respondents other than their time in the study.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

    ``Determination of Field Operating Procedures, Use Conditions, and 
Chemical Composition of Crumb Rubber Infill in Synthetic Turf Fields''

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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)       (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facilities....................  Facility                      70               1            5/60               6
                                 Eligibility
                                 Screening.
                                Synthetic Turf                40               1           45/60              30
                                 Fields
                                 Questionnaire.
                                Field Sampling                40               1               1              40
                                 Collection Form.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              76
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``Characterization of Exposure Potential during Activities Conducted on 
Synthetic Turf with Crumb Rubber Infill''

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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)       (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facility Users................  Facility User                 75               1            5/60               6
                                 Eligibility
                                 Screening.
                                Facility User                 60               1           30/60              30
                                 Questionnaire.
                                Full Exposure                 45               1               4             180
                                 Characterizatio
                                 n Form.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             216
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Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2016-03305 Filed 2-17-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P