45350 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 147 / Tuesday, July 31, 2012 / Notices 

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Dated: July 25, 2012. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–18612 Filed 7–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

Notice of Availability of Microbial Risk 

Assessment Guideline: Pathogenic 

Microorganisms With Focus on Food 

and Water 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food 

Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture are 

announcing the availability of the 

Microbial Risk Assessment Guideline: 

Pathogenic Microorganisms with Focus 

on Food and Water (MRA Guideline). 

The MRA Guideline will improve 

transparency in the way that the two 

federal agencies conduct microbial risk 

assessment and also promote 

consistency in approaches and methods. 

The MRA Guideline can be applied to 

similar scenarios involving microbial 

contamination, and it will serve a 

resource for federal government risk 

assessors, their agents, contractors, and 

for other members of the risk assessment 

community. When appropriate, the EPA 

intends to use the guidance 

prospectively when conducting risk 

assessments. 

DATES: The document, Microbial Risk 

Assessment Guideline: Pathogenic 

Microorganisms with Focus on Food 

and Water will be available on July 31, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: A downloadable version 

and supporting materials are available 

on-line at http://www.epa.gov/raf/ 

microbial.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Michael W. Broder, Risk Assessment 

Forum, Office of the Science Advisor 

(8105R), U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 

Washington, DC 20460. His telephone 

number is (202) 564–3393. His email 

address is broder.michael@epa.gov. 

Internet: The document can be 

downloaded on-line at http:// 

www.epa.gov/raf/microbial.htm. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Risk 

assessment is used by federal agencies 

and other entities as a systematic way to 

prepare, organize, and analyze 

information to help make informed 

regulatory decisions, establish 

programs, and prioritize research. 

In 1983, Risk Assessment in the 

Federal Government; Managing the 

Process was published by the National 

Research Council (NRC) of the National 

Academy of Science to formalize the 

risk assessment process for chemicals in 

the environment and provide a basic 

framework that federal agencies could 

apply when conducting risk 

assessments. As the use of risk 

assessment as a tool to assist the federal 

government in its decision-making 

process has grown, it became apparent 

that the 1983 NRC framework 

document, which was designed to 

address chemical contaminants, was not 

as useful for microbial risk assessment. 

Agencies conducting quantitative 

microbial risk assessment had to 

individually modify the 1983 

framework to meet their specific needs. 

As a result, there existed no consistent 

approach to conducting microbial risk 

assessment among federal agencies. 

The EPA initiated the process of 

developing a microbial risk assessment 

guideline and engaged FSIS to co-lead 

the project. They were joined by 

scientists from other federal agencies in 

establishing a collaborative effort to 

develop this guideline. Clear and 

credible microbial risk assessment 

methods will leverage limited resources, 

promote efficiencies, improve 

transparency with stakeholders, and 

encourage joint interaction among 

agencies. 

The MRA Guideline facilitates the 

systematic and transparent 

consideration of all relevant factors that 

impact the risk assessment, and also 

facilitates reproducible risk evaluation. 

Using this guideline, agencies assessing 

a similar microbial medium or pathogen 

are able to more readily compare and 

contrast the details and assumptions of 

their assessment to another agency’s 

assessment. Although the focus of this 

guideline is microbial contamination of 

water and food, it will also be useful for 

microbial risk assessment in a wide 

range of media and scenarios. The MRA 

Guideline applies to viruses, bacteria, 

protozoa, and fungi that are or maybe 

pathogenic to humans. 

EPA released a draft of the document 

for public comment in July, 2011(76 FR 

44586). EPA received two public 

comments—one from a member of the 

public and another from a foreign 

government authority responsible for 

the assessment of similar health risks in 

their country. All comments received by 

the comment period closing date were 

shared with an external peer review 

panel for their consideration and 

considered when revising the 

document. The MRA Guideline is 

available at: http://www.epa.gov/raf/ 

microbial.htm; the peer review panel’s 

comments and EPA’s response to 

comments can also be found at the same 

link. 

Dated: July 13, 2012. 

Glenn Paulson, 

Science Advisor. 

[FR Doc. 2012–18543 Filed 7–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

Information Collection Being 

Submitted for Review and Approval to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Communications 

Commission (FCC), as part of its 

continuing effort to reduce paperwork 

burdens, invites the general public and 

other Federal agencies to take this 

opportunity to comment on the 

following information collection, as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (PRA) of 1995. An agency may not 

conduct or sponsor a collection of 

information unless it displays a 

currently valid control number. No 

person shall be subject to any penalty 

for failing to comply with a collection 

of information subject to the PRA that 

does not display a valid control number. 

Comments are requested concerning 

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