[Federal Register: November 26, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 228)]
[Notices]
[Page 66437-66438]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26no03-60]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-04-09]


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 the CDC Reports
Clearance Officer on (404)498-1210.
    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; 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. Send comments to Seleda Perryman, CDC
Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D24,
Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should be received within 60 days
of this notice.
    Proposed Project: Thyroid Disease in Persons Exposed to Radioactive
Fallout from Atomic Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site: Phase III
(OMB No. 0920-0504)--Extension--National Center for Environmental
Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
    In 1997, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a report
entitled, Estimated Exposures and Thyroid Doses Received by the
American People from I-131 in Fallout Following Nevada Nuclear Bomb
Test. This report provided county-level estimates of the potential
radiation doses to the thyroid gland of American citizens resulting
from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS)
in the 1950s and 1960s. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a
formal peer review of the report at the request of the Department of
Health and Human Services. In the review, IOM noted that the public
might desire an assessment of the potential health impact of nuclear
weapons testing on American populations. The IOM also suggested that
further studies of the Utah residents who have participated in previous
studies of radiation exposure and thyroid disease might provide this
information.
    CDC, National Center for Environmental Health proposes to conduct a
study of the relation between exposure to radioactive fallout from
atomic weapons testing and the occurrence of thyroid disease on an
extension of a cohort study previously conducted by the University of
Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. This study is designed as a follow-up to a
retrospective cohort study begun in 1965. This is the third examination
(hence Phase III) of a cohort of individuals comprised of persons who
were children living in Washington County, Utah, and Lincoln County,
Nevada, in 1965 (Phase I) and who were presumably exposed to fallout
from above-ground nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site in
the 1950s. The cohort also includes a control group comprised of
persons who were children living in Graham County, Arizona, in 1966 and
presumably unexposed to fallout.
    The study headquarters will be at the University of Utah in Salt
Lake City, Utah. The field teams will spend the majority of their time
in the urban areas nearest the original counties if the same pattern of
migration holds that was found in Phase II. These urban areas include
St. George, Utah; the Wasatch Front in Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada;
Phoenix/Tucson, Arizona; and Denver, Colorado. In addition, some time
will be spent in California as a number of subjects had relocated there
at the time of Phase II. The purposes of Phase III are three fold.
First, the participants in Phase II will be reexamined for occurrence
of thyroid neoplasia and other diseases since 1986, and residents of
the three counties who moved before they could be included in the
original cohort will be located and examined. Second, disease incidence
will be analyzed in addition to period prevalence as used in the Phase
II analysis, incidence analysis will allow for greater power to detect
increased

[[Page 66438]]

risk of disease in the exposed population through the use of person-
time. Third, disease specific mortality rates for Washington County,
Utah, and a control county, Cache County, Utah, will be compared for
people who lived in these two counties during the time of above-ground
testing. This comparison will determine if the risk of mortality in
Washington County (the exposed group) is significantly greater than
Cache County (the control group). CDC, NCEH is requesting a three-year
clearance. There is no cost to respondents.

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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Respondents                       Number of      responses/     per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telephone Location Script.......................            3700               1            5/60             308
Telephone Location Script (Return Letter).......             200               1            5/60              17
Refusal Telephone Script........................             150               1            5/60              13
Recruitment Next of Kin Telephone Script........             225               1            5/60              19
Recruitment & Appointment Script................            3700               1            5/60             308
Broken Appointment Telephone Script.............             120               1            5/60              10
Exposure Questionnaire..........................             500               1           90/60             750
Questionnaire Preparation Booklet...............            3700               1           30/60            1850
Group Member Information........................            3700               1            5/60             308
Consent Forms...................................            3700               1           10/60             617
Interview Booklet...............................             500               1           30/60             250
Medical History Questionnaire (male)............            1800               1           45/60            1350
Medical Records Release Telephone Script........             120               1            5/60              10
Medical History Questionnaire (female)..........            1900               1           45/60            1425
Travel Form.....................................             240               1           20/60              80
Residence History...............................             500               1            5/60              42
Refusal Questionnaire...........................              24               1            5/60               2
                                                 -----------------
    Total hours in burden.......................           24779  ..............  ..............            7359
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    Dated: November 18, 2003.
Laura Yerdon Martin,
Acting Director, Executive Secretariat, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 03-29522 Filed 11-25-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163-18-P