[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 102 (Friday, May 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34159-34161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11327]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[Docket No. CDC-2023-0040; NIOSH 248-K]


World Trade Center Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory 
Committee

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice of meeting and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with regulatory provisions, the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the following meeting 
for the World Trade Center Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory 
Committee (WTCHP-STAC). This virtual meeting is open to the public. 
Time will be available for public comment.

DATES: The meeting will be held on June 21, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 4 
p.m., EDT, and June 22, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., EDT.
    Written public comments must be received by June 22, 2023. Members 
of the public who wish to address the WTCHP-STAC during the oral public 
comment session must sign up to speak by June 14, 2023, at the email 
address provided in the Procedure for Oral Public Comment section 
below.

ADDRESSES: This is a virtual meeting conducted via Zoom. The public is 
welcome to follow the proceedings via live webcast at the following 
link: https://www.ustream.tv/channel/QyXBRzYjVCS. No registration is 
required. For additional information, please visit the World Trade 
Center Health Program website at https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/stac_meeting.html.
    You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2023-0040; 
NIOSH 248-K by either of the methods listed below. CDC does not accept 
comments by email.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Ms. Sherri Diana, NIOSH Docket Office, National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, Mailstop C-34, 
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226. Attn: Docket No. CDC-2023-0040; NIOSH 248-K.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Agency name 
and docket number (CDC-2023-0040; NIOSH 248-K). The docket will close 
on June 22, 2023. All relevant comments, including any personal 
information provided, will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tania Carre[oacute]n-Valencia, Ph.D., 
M.S., Designated Federal Officer, World Trade Center Health Program 
Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee, National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop R-12, Atlanta, Georgia 
30329-4027. Telephone: (513) 841-4515; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, including 
the World Trade Center Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory 
Committee (WTCHP-STAC), was established by Title I of the James Zadroga 
9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, Public Law 111-347, as

[[Page 34160]]

amended by Public Law 114-113, Public Law 116-59, and Public Law 117-
328 (December 23, 2022), adding title XXXIII to the Public Health 
Service (PHS) Act (codified at 42 U.S.C. 300mm to 300mm-62). Title 
XXXIII of the PHS Act established the WTC Health Program within the 
Department of Health and Human Services. The WTC Health Program 
provides medical monitoring and treatment benefits to eligible 
firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and 
rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers who responded to the September 
11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in 
Shanksville, Pennsylvania (responders), and to eligible persons who 
were present in the dust or dust cloud on September 11, 2001, or who 
worked, resided, or attended school, childcare, or adult daycare in the 
New York City disaster area (survivors).
    All references to the Administrator in this document mean the 
Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 
or his or her designee.
    Purpose: The purpose of the WTCHP-STAC is to review scientific and 
medical evidence and to make recommendations to the Administrator of 
the WTC Health Program regarding additional WTC Health Program 
eligibility criteria, potential additions to the List of WTC-Related 
Health Conditions (List), and research regarding certain health 
conditions related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 
accordance with section 3312(a)(6)(G)(i)(II), the Administrator must 
ask the WTCHP-STAC to review and evaluate any substantive amendment to 
any existing WTC Health Program policy or procedure used to determine 
whether sufficient evidence exists to support adding a health condition 
to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions.
    The Administrator is responsible for the administration of the 
WTCHP-STAC. CDC and NIOSH provide funding, staffing, and administrative 
support services for the WTCHP-STAC. The WTCHP-STAC's charter was 
reissued on May 12, 2023, and will expire on May 12, 2025.
    Matters To Be Considered: In December 2022, the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2023 amended section 3341 of the PHS Act to direct 
the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to 
establish a new research cohort to conduct future research studies on 
the health and educational impacts of ``exposure to airborne toxins, or 
any other hazard or adverse condition, resulting from the September 11, 
2001, terrorist attacks, including on the population of individuals who 
were 21 years of age or younger at the time of exposure, including such 
individuals who are screening-eligible WTC survivors or certified-
eligible WTC survivors.'' The main focus of the WTC Health Program STAC 
meeting will be a discussion of the new youth research cohort being 
established by the WTC Health Program. The meeting agenda will include 
a presentation on establishing the cohort and the Program's 
perspectives, as well as an overview of young survivors. In addition, 
the WTC Survivors Steering Committee will lead presentations on young 
survivors' views and community-based participatory research.
    The meeting will also include a presentation and discussion about 
substantive amendments to the existing Policy and Procedures for Adding 
Non-Cancer Health Conditions to the List of WTC-Related Health 
Conditions. Proposed revisions to the Policy and Procedures were 
initially presented to the STAC at its meeting on February 9, 2023; the 
presentation will detail further revisions made to the Policy and 
Procedures in response to recommendations of the STAC at its previous 
meeting.
    Background documents as well as the agenda for this meeting are 
available on the WTC Health Program website at https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/stac_meeting.html. Agenda items are subject to change as priorities 
dictate.

Public Participation

    Interested parties may participate by submitting written views, 
opinions, recommendations, and data. You may submit comments on any 
topic related to the matters to be discussed by the Committee. Comments 
received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are 
part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Do not 
include any information in your comment or supporting materials that 
you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure. If 
you include your name, contact information, or other information that 
identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be 
on public display. CDC will review all submissions and may choose to 
redact, or withhold, submissions containing private or proprietary 
information such as Social Security numbers, medical information, 
inappropriate language, or duplicate/near-duplicate examples of a mass-
mail campaign. CDC will carefully consider all comments submitted into 
the docket.
    Oral Public Comment: The public is welcome to participate, via 
Zoom, during the public comment periods on June 21, 2023, from 1:20 
p.m. to 1:50 p.m., EDT, and on June 22, 2023, from 11:05 a.m. to 11:35 
a.m., EDT. Each commenter will be provided up to five minutes for 
comment. A limited number of time slots are available and will be 
assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
    Procedure for Oral Public Comment: Members of the public who wish 
to address the WTCHP-STAC during the oral public comment sessions at 
the June 21-22, 2023, WTCHP-STAC meeting must sign up to speak by 
providing their name to Ms. Mia Wallace, Committee Management 
Specialist, via email at [email protected], by June 14, 2023. Zoom 
instructions and participation details will follow.
    Written Public Comment: Written comments will also be accepted per 
the instructions provided in the Addresses section above. Written 
public comments received prior to the meeting will be part of the 
official record of the meeting. The docket will close on June 22, 2023.
    Policy on Redaction of Committee Meeting Transcripts (Public 
Comment): Transcripts will be prepared and posted to https://www.regulations.gov within 60 days after the meeting. If individuals 
making a comment give their name, no attempt will be made to redact the 
name. NIOSH will take reasonable steps to ensure that individuals 
making public comments are aware that their comments (including their 
names, if provided) will appear in a transcript of the meeting posted 
on a public website. Such reasonable steps include a statement read at 
the start of the meeting stating that transcripts will be posted, and 
names of speakers will not be redacted. If individuals in making a 
statement reveal personal information (e.g., medical information) about 
themselves, that information will not usually be redacted. The CDC 
Freedom of Information Act coordinator will, however, review such 
revelations in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act and, if 
deemed appropriate, will redact such information. Disclosures of 
information concerning third-party medical information will be 
redacted.
    The Director, Strategic Business Initiatives Unit, Office of the 
Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
has been delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices 
pertaining to announcements of meetings and other

[[Page 34161]]

committee management activities, for both the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 
Registry.

Kalwant Smagh,
Director, Strategic Business Initiatives Unit, Office of the Chief 
Operating Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2023-11327 Filed 5-25-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P