02-19252. Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a list of information collection requests under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at [phone]. Send written comments to CDC, Desk Officer, Human Resources and Housing Branch, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503. Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

National Survey for Laboratory Containment of Wild Polioviruses—New—National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Global polio eradication is anticipated within the next few years. The only sources of wild poliovirus will be in biomedical laboratories. Prevention of inadvertent transmission of polioviruses from the laboratory to the community is crucial.

The first step toward laboratory containment is a national survey of all biomedical laboratories. The survey will alert laboratories to the impending eradication of polio, encourage the disposition of all unneeded wild poliovirus infectious and potential infectious materials, and establish a national inventory of laboratories retaining such materials. Laboratories on the inventory will be kept informed of polio eradication progress and notified, when necessary, to implement biosafety requirements appropriate for the risk of working with such materials.

In June 2001, the Secretary for Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, declared in a letter to the Regional Director of the Pan American Health Organization that:

The United States is fully committed to PAHO's Executive Committee Resolution CE126.R4 urging Member States “to initiate activities related to the containment of any laboratory material that may harbor specimens of wild poliovirus.”

The Department of Health and Human Services proposes a national survey of all biomedical laboratories that may possess wild poliovirus infectious or potential infectious materials. An estimated 15,000 biomedical laboratories, in six categories of institutions: academic, federal government, hospital, industry, private, and state and local government facilities, will be included in the national survey.

The national survey instruments and logistics will be tested during the OMB approved Pilot Survey (OMB Number: 0920-0545), scheduled to begin May 2002. The survey instruments ask laboratories to indicate whether or not they possess wild poliovirus infectious and/or potential infectious materials. If such materials are present, respondents are asked to indicate the types of materials and estimated numbers retained. Survey instruments will be available on the NVPO Web page, and institutions will be encouraged to submit completed survey forms electronically. The annual burden for this data collection is 6,969 hours.

Respondents	Number of respondents	Responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)
Laboratories	9,292	1	45/60

Dated: July 24, 2002.

Nancy E. Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.