[Federal Register: December 7, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 234)]
[Notices]
[Page 70680-70682]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07de04-82]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[ORD-2004-0019; FRL-7845-5]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Detroit Children's Health Study: Health Effects of
Environmental Exposures Among Children Living in the Detroit, Michigan
Area, EPA ICR Number 2167.01
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 notice announces that EPA is planning to submit a
proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request for a new collection.
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 7, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number ORD-2004-
0019, to EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to
oei.docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information Docket, Mail
Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Auby, Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Information Collection, Office of Environmental
Information, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Mail Code 28221T, Washington,
DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-1672; fax number: (202) 566-1753;
e-mail address: auby.susan@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has established a public docket for this
ICR under Docket ID number ORD-2004-0019, which is available for public
viewing at the Office of Research and Development Docket in the EPA
Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open
[[Page 70681]]
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744,
and the telephone number for the Office of Research and Development
Docket is (202) 566-1752. An electronic version of the public docket is
available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Use EDOCKET to obtain a copy of the draft collection of information,
submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the
contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the
public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system,
select ``search,'' then key in the docket ID number identified above.
Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA within
60 days of this notice. EPA's policy is that public comments, whether
submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public
viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the
comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose
public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a
comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference
to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in
EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted
material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified
as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose
disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the
official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in
EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's
Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102
(May 31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov./edocket.
Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are
school officials, parents and children in the Detroit and Dearborn
Public Schools.
Title: Detroit Children's Health Study: Health Effects of
Environmental Exposures among Children Living in the Detroit, Michigan
Area.
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 in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9. 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, U.S. EPA. The purpose
of this study is to examine the respiratory health effects in school-
age children of mobile and point 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. The Detroit Children's Health Study will contribute
to our understanding of whether long-term, early-life exposures to
mobile source emissions, particularly diesel exhaust particles, play a
key role in the initiation of allergic asthma in schoolchildren.
A similar NHEERL research project, the El Paso Children's Health
Study, was conducted among nearly 9,000 schoolchildren with a
collaboration on exposure assessment with scientists from EPA's
National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). The border cities of
Detroit, Michigan and El Paso, Texas share common characteristics such
as major diesel truck routes and vehicle idling at international
borders, but the two areas have great climatic differences. The ORD
Multi-Year Plan for Particulate Matter includes the Detroit Children's
Health Study as an integral component of ORD's research on the adverse
health effects of long-term air pollutant exposures in susceptible
populations.
The parents of children enrolled in fourth and fifth grades of
selected Detroit and Dearborn Public Schools will receive a twenty-page
respiratory health questionnaire 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. One parent from each family 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-five elementary
schools in the Detroit metropolitan area. These twenty-five schools
were selected to represent areas close to and far away from Detroit
roadways 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 and an
exhaled nitric oxide (NO) exam. The pulmonary function exam consists of
blowing three to eight times into a tube connected to a spirometer.
During the pulmonary function examination, a field technician will
record each child's height and weight, and coach the child to perform
the breathing tests. A new, sterile, disposable mouthpiece will be used
for each child in each test. 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 exhaled nitric oxide exam consists of exhaling into a
bag made of clear polyvinyl film, fitting the child's nostrils with a
stopper attached to an NO sampling line, and measuring the NO emitted
through the nostrils and from the mouth. Neither exam is any more
stressful than blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.
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: The public reporting and recordkeeping burden for
this collection of information is
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estimated to average 33 minutes per response or to range from 0.4-1.5
hours per respondent annually. This survey will not be repeated. 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 information;
search data sources; complete and review the collection of information;
and transmit or otherwise disclose the information. 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.
To comment on the Agency's need for this information, the accuracy
of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for
minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection
techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under
Docket ID No. ORD-2004-0019, which is available for public viewing at
the Office of Research and Development Docket in the EPA Docket Center
(EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington,
DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the
telephone number for the Office of Research and Development Docket is
(202) 566-2426. An electronic version of the public docket is available
through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use
EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of
the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the
public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system,
select ``search,'' then key in the docket ID number identified above.
Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Office for EPA. Please include
the EPA Docket ID No. ORD-2004-0019 and OMB control number (20XX-XXXX)
[insert the appropriate OMB ] in any correspondence.
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Estimated
Type of respondent Respondent activities number of Burden hours Frequency Total burden Total burden
respondents hours cost
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Adult.................................... Complete Questionnaire....... 15,000 0.40 1 6000 a $88,320
Child.................................... Perform Pulmonary Function 3,500 0.50 1 1750 b 9,013
Exam.
Child.................................... Perform Exhaled NO Exam...... 2,000 0.25 1 500 2,575
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
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a $14.72/hour.
b $5.15/hour (minimum wage).
There are no direct respondent costs for this data collection.
No Annual Record Keeping Burden: 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.
Dated: November 30, 2004.
John Creason,
Acting Director, Human Studies Division.
[FR Doc. 04-26816 Filed 12-6-04; 8:45 am]
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