[Federal Register: April 5, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 64)]
[Notices]
[Page 17250-17251]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05ap05-46]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-05-0617)
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 404-371-5983 or
send comments to Seleda Perryman, CDC Assistant Reports Clearance
Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email
to omb@cdc.gov.
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. Written comments should be received
within 60 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
Willingness to Pay--Extension--Prevention Effectiveness Unit,
Office of Workforce and Career Development, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). The mission of the Prevention Effectiveness Unit
is to provide information and training to build internal and external
capacity in economic and decision sciences.
The project is currently underway as a pilot study. Upon completion
of the pilot the project will be assessed to determine if the full
survey will be completed.
This project will use qualitative and quantitative research to (a)
develop and test informational approaches, (educational materials or
product labeling), (b) educate consumers about food safety issues, (c)
develop and test survey instruments; and (d) test experimental
protocols to be used in the main quantitative data collection. The
project will also provide a nationally-representative estimate of
consumer willingness to pay for (a) publicly-provided reductions in the
probability of contracting food-borne illnesses; (b) reductions in
severity of symptoms associated with food-borne illnesses, and (c)
materials that facilitate private, defensive precautions against food-
borne illness during home food preparation (e.g., meat thermometers,
antibacterial soaps and cutting boards). Furthermore, the project will
estimate the effect of education programs and product labeling on
consumer willingness to pay for the reductions; also to compare the
empirical estimates of the above mentioned consumer willingness to pay
derived from a conjoint analysis instrument and a simulated marketplace
experiment.
Public awareness and stated concern regarding food-borne illnesses
have increased rapidly over the past decade. The general public, while
seemingly well-informed and concerned about some relevant food safety
issues, appear unknowledgeable or ill-informed about emerging issues.
The Food Safety Survey data suggest that information provided to
consumers at the point of purchase may be a helpful means of educating
the public about food safety. Analyses of consumer purchase data
indicate that health-related information provided at the point of
purchase can make significant long-term changes in purchasing behavior.
While providing health-related information about food has been the
focus of major policy initiatives in the last few years, little
empirical economic research has attempted to understand the market and
welfare effects of different health information policies. In addition,
previous research does not address the distribution of effects across
different consumers. Policy makers and food manufacturers cannot
provide labels that satisfy everyone's information desires while
simultaneously catering to consumers' cognitive and time constraints.
As a result, policy makers need to understand how different sectors of
the consumer population will be affected, particularly those members of
the population who face relatively high food safety risks.
The lack of information hinders policy makers from making informed
decisions on the proper allocation of resources in this area since the
benefits of reducing the risk of illness are not well known. Not having
the information readily available makes cost-effectiveness and cost-
benefit analyses difficult to do as well as resource-intensive. This
data collection effort will reduce this burden by making data available
to researchers for use in program and policy evaluation. If this data
collection effort did not take place, agencies would either have to
continue to piece together data when conducting economic analyses of
food safety policies and regulations, or they would need to fund a
large scale effort like the one being proposed. Another large scale
effort would be a waste of public funds. Informing consumers about the
risks and protective measures allows consumers to more accurately
assess how much they would pay for reductions in this risk. More
importantly, this project will inform the consumer as to what the risks
are and how they can protect themselves. This is important since the
consumer is the last line of defense in the campaign against food-borne
illnesses.
[[Page 17251]]
Estimate of Annualized Burden Table
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Average
Number of Number of burden per Total response
Respondents respondents responses per response (in burden hours
respondent hours)
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Survey respondents.............................. 5000 1 30/60 2500
Virtual shopping respondents.................... 1200 1 1 1200
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Total....................................... .............. .............. .............. 3700
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Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 05-6682 Filed 4-4-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P