Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Health Effects of Particulate Matter and Co-Pollutant
Exposures Near the El Paso/Juarez Border Crossings
[Federal Register: December 13, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 238)]
[Notices]
[Page 69528-69530]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13de99-73]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-6507-4]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Health Effects of Particulate Matter and Co-Pollutant
Exposures Near the El Paso/Juarez Border Crossings
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB): Health Effects of Particulate Matter
and Co-pollutant Exposures near the El Paso/ Juarez Border Crossings;
EPA ICR Number: 1940.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review
and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the
proposed information collection as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 11, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Human Studies Division, Health Effects Research Laboratory,
Environmental Protection Agency, MD-58, Research Triangle Park, NC
27711. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the ICR without charge
by contacting: Dr. Melissa Gonzales, US EPA (MD 58-A), Research
Triangle Park, NC, 27711.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Public comments and inquiries should
be submitted to: Dr. Melissa Gonzales, (919) 966-7549, FAX: (919) 966-
7584, E-mail: gonzales.melissa@epamail.epa.gov; or by mailing a request
to the address above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 69529]]
Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are
school officials, parents and children in the El Paso Independent
School District.
Title: Health Effects of Particulate Matter and Co-pollutant
Exposures near the El Paso/Juarez Border Crossings (EPA ICR Number:
1940.01).
Abstract: An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays
a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's
regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. Before
submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting
comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as
described below.
The proposed study will be conducted by the Epidemiology and
Biomarkers Branch, Human Studies Division, National Health and
Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and
Development, US EPA. The purpose of this study is to examine the
respiratory health effects in school-age children of mobile source air
pollutants. Further knowledge regarding the respiratory health effects
of airborne particulate matter is required to reduce scientific
uncertainties in the development of an Air Quality Criteria for
Particulate Matter under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7403(d)). The
National Academy of Science's Committee on Research Priorities for
Airborne Particulate Matter has identified several issues of scientific
uncertainty in health effects of airborne particulate matter exposures,
including the role of particle size and the role of particulate matter
constituents and co-pollutants. In this study of motor vehicle-related
air pollution and children's health, the respiratory health effects of
ultrafine particles (less than 0.3 microns in diameter), fine
particulate matter (PM2.5; less than 2.5 microns in
diameter), and gaseous co-pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and
volatile organic compounds will be examined.
The El Paso, Texas metropolitan area was selected because of a
combination of environmental features. Heavily traveled interstate
freeways run through the central part of the city and over 18 million
vehicles annually cross three international ports of entry between the
two cities. During the winter months, low-level temperature inversions
routinely trap motor vehicle emissions close to ground level. These
conditions lead to routine violations of National Ambient Air Quality
Standards during the winter months. This combination of heavy traffic
volume and wintertime meteorological conditions in a large metropolitan
area provides an opportunity to investigate the health effects of
mobile source pollutants in children.
The parents of all children enrolled in the fourth and fifth grades
of the El Paso Independent School District will receive an eight-page
respiratory health questionnaire in both English and Spanish along with
a written request for permission for their children to participate in a
pulmonary function examination at their school. Participation in the
study is entirely voluntary. The respiratory health questionnaire
conforms to the ATS/DLD standard respiratory symptom questionnaire and
consists of questions specific to the child such as general demographic
information, childhood respiratory illness and history of asthma, and
current respiratory health conditions. There also are questions
regarding household characteristics and family history of smoking,
asthma, and respiratory illnesses. Each parent will be asked to
complete the questionnaire, seal the completed form in the provided
envelope, and send the envelope back to the teacher with the child.
Ambient air pollutants will be measured at twenty-two elementary
schools in the El Paso metropolitan area. These twenty-two schools were
selected to represent areas close to and far away from central El Paso
and the international border crossings as well as those areas in
between. Once explicit permission has been received from both the
parent and the child, the children from the selected schools will
attempt to perform a routine pulmonary function examination consisting
of blowing three to eight times into a tube connected to a spirometer.
The pulmonary function breathing test is no more stressful than blowing
out the candles on a birthday cake. During the pulmonary function
examination, a field technician will record each child's height and
weight, and coach the child to perform the breathing test. A new,
sterile, disposable mouthpiece will be used for each child. The
pulmonary function examination will be conducted according to
guidelines developed by the American Thoracic Society and will be
conducted in the child's elementary school during normal school hours
with an school nurse on site during the examinations.
The information collected in this study will be used by scientists
within EPA's Office of Research and Development. The data will be used
to:
(i) Provide a better understanding of the association between
exposures to ultrafine particulate matter and co-pollutants and
pulmonary illness in children;
(ii) Assess the classification of children's exposure using data
from the epidemiological study questionnaire, direct air pollutant
measurements and exposure models for refining exposure classification
methods for air pollution health studies;
(iii) Identify key exposure factors for school age children to
particulate matter and co-pollutants;
(iv) Assess the prevalence of pulmonary illness, including reduced
pulmonary function, in school children living in a metropolitan area
along the US-Mexico border.
The information will appear in the form of EPA reports, journal
articles, and will also be made publicly available. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are
listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. The EPA would like to
solicit comments to:
(i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and
(iv) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
Burden Statement
Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time
needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and
disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to
comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements;
train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of
[[Page 69530]]
information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
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Estimated Total
Type of respondent Respondent activities number of Burden Frequency burden Total
respondents hours hours burden cost
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Adult........................................... Complete Questionnaire............ 9,100 0.40 1 3,640 a $53,581
Child........................................... Pulmonary Function Exam........... 4,300 0.35 1 1,505 b 7,751
Total....................................... .................................. 13,400 ........... ........... 5,145 61,332
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a $14.72/hour.
b $5.15/hour (minimum wage).
There are no direct respondent costs for this data collection.
There is no annual recordkeeping burden for this ICR.
Dated: December 1, 1999.
Hillel S. Koren,
Director, Human Studies Division, National Health and Environmental
Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 99-32179 Filed 12-10-99; 8:45 am]
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