Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 198 / Thursday, October 14, 2004 / Notices 61019

Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, rm. 

12A–16, Rockville, MD 20857, 

approximately 15 working days after the 

meeting at a cost of 10 cents per page. 

Transcripts of the public meeting will 

also be available for review at the 

Division of Dockets Managment (HFA–

305), Food and Drug Administration, 

5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, 

MD 20852.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

During the past decade, an increased 

awareness of medical technology 

innovation and its promise and progress 

has revealed critical problems in the 

path from discovery through 

development to delivery. This spring, 

Secretary of Health and Human Services 

Tommy G. Thompson appointed a toplevel task force to present new ideas on 

how HHS can coordinate its efforts to 

help stimulate medical innovation. The 

task force members include: Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 

Director, Julie Gerberding; Centers for 

Medicare and Medicaid, Administrator, 

Mark B. McClellan; Acting 

Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Lester 

M. Crawford; and National Institutes of 

Health, Director, Elias A. Zerhouni. 

Commissioner Crawford will serve as 

the task force’s Chair.

Secretary Thompson asked the task 

force to look for opportunities across 

HHS to promote speedier access to new 

innovative medical technologies that 

can improve people’s health and save 

lives. He asked the task force to report 

to him by the end of the year on ways 

that better coordination across HHS 

could streamline the way we do 

business and make safe, effective 

medical technologies more quickly and 

readily available to Americans.

On May 24, 2004, a Federal Register

notice (69 FR 29544) was published 

asking for comments on how to 

stimulate innovation in medical 

technologies, such as drug and 

biological products and medical 

devices.

Comments have been received and are 

being evaluated and condensed into 

material suitable for a report. On 

November 8, 2004, we will not only 

focus on opportunities presented at the 

public meeting, but those promising 

ideas that HHS has already received and 

plans to highlight. The ideas will be 

posted 1 week before the public meeting 

in the electronic docket (Docket No. 

2004S–0233) located at http://

www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/

04S-0233.htm.

II. Registration and Presentations

Registration is required to attend the 

meeting. Seating is limited to 120 

people and will be on a first come, first 

served basis. If you need special 

accommodations due to a disability, 

please inform Nancy L. Stanisic by 

October 29, 2004.

If you wish to present information at 

the public meeting, submit your 

electronic request and an abstract of 

your presentation by close of business 

on October 29, 2004, to Nancy Stanisic 

(see Contact).

The request to participate should 

contain the following information: (1) 

Presenter’s name; (2) address; (3) 

telephone number; (4) e-mail address; 

(5) affiliation, if any; (6) abstract of the 

presentation; and (7) approximate 

amount of time requested for the 

presentation.

We request that persons and groups 

having similar interests consolidate 

their comments and present them 

through a single representative. We will 

allocate the time available for the 

meeting among the persons who request 

to present. Because of limited time, we 

will accept only one presenter per 

organization. We reserve the right to 

deny requests if the proposed topic is 

not germane. After reviewing the 

requests to present and the abstracts, we 

will schedule each appearance and 

notify each participant by e-mail or 

telephone of the time allotted to the 

person and the approximate time the 

person’s presentation is scheduled to 

begin. Presenters planning to use 

electronic presentation in Microsoft 

PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, or Adobe 

Acrobat (pdf) must send them to us by 

close of business on November 4, 2004. 

Presenters who do not meet this 

deadline may provide handouts of their 

presentations at the meeting.

After the meeting, the schedule and 

presentations will be placed on file in 

the Division of Dockets Management 

(see Addresses) under the docket 

number listed in the heading of this 

document.

III. Comments

Interested persons may submit written 

or electronic comments to the Division 

of Dockets Management (see Addresses). 

You must submit two copies of 

comments identified with the docket 

number found in brackets in the 

heading of this document. The received 

comments may be seen in the Division 

of Dockets Management Monday 

through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 

p.m.

IV. Transcript

Approximately 30 days after the 

public meeting, you can examine a 

transcript of the meeting on the Internet 

at http://www.fda.gov./ohrms/dockets/

default.htm or at the Division of Dockets 

Management (see Addresses) Monday 

through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 

p.m. You may also request a copy of the 

transcript from the Freedom of 

Information Office (HFI–35), Food and 

Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers 

Lane, rm. 12A–16, Rockville, MD 20857, 

at a cost of 10 cents per page or on CD 

at a cost of $14.25 each.

Dated: October 8, 2004.

Jeffrey Shuren,

Assistant Commissioner for Policy.

[FR Doc. 04–23064 Filed 10–8–04; 2:23 pm]

BILLING CODE 4160–01–S

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[30Day–04–0415X] 

Proposed Data Collections Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

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 (404) 498–1210 or send an email to omb@cdc.gov. Send written 

comments to CDC Desk Officer, Human 

Resources and Housing Branch, New 

Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 

Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 

395–6974. Written comments should be 

received within 30 days of this notice. 

Proposed Project 

Surveillance for Ciguatera Fish 

Poisoning in Recreational Fishers 

Utilizing Texas Gulf Coast Oil Rigs—

New—National Center for 

Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC). 

This public health surveillance 

activity will quantify the scope of 

ciguatera poisonings in the recreational 

fishing community of coastal Texas. The 

Texas Department of Health has 

received reports of ciguatera-toxic fish 

caught around Texas offshore oil rigs, 

but anecdotal reports to researchers at 

the University of Texas suggest that the 

incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning is 

61020 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 198 / Thursday, October 14, 2004 / Notices 

greater than what has been reported to 

the Texas Department of Health. We 

propose to conduct surveillance 

activities to identify the prevalence of 

ciguatera fish poisoning around Texas 

Gulf Coast oil rigs. This study will 

provide critical data in guiding efforts to 

characterize the scope of ciguatera 

poisonings, to identify risk factors, and 

to prevent an emerging illness 

associated with reef ecosystems. 

A questionnaire will be administered 

over a one-year period to recreational 

spear-fishers and to hook-and-line 

anglers who have consumed fish caught 

on the reef ecosystems off the Texas 

Gulf Coast. There are no costs to 

respondents. The annualized burden is 

estimated to be 230 hours.

Respondent No. of

respondents 

No. of

responses/

respondent 

Average burden per

response

(in hours) 

Screening study participants ....................................................................................................... 750 1 5/60 

Texas Saltwater Fishers .............................................................................................................. 500 1 20/60 

Dated: October 7, 2004. 

Alvin Hall, 

Director, Management Analysis and Services 

Office, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention.

[FR Doc. 04–23023 Filed 10–13–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[30 Day–04–0215] 

Proposed Data Collections Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

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 (404) 498–1210 or send an email to omb@cdc.gov. Send written 

comments to CDC Desk Officer, Human 

Resources and Housing Branch, New 

Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 

Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 

395–6974. Written comments should be 

received within 30 days of this notice. 

Proposed Project 

Application Form and Related Forms 

for the Operation of the National Death 

Index, (0920–0215)—Extension—

National Center for Health Statistics 

(NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC). 

Background 

The National Death Index (NDI) is a 

national data base containing 

identifying death record information 

submitted annually to NCHS by all the 

state vital statistics offices, beginning 

with deaths in 1979. Searches against 

the NDI file provide the states with 

dates of death, and the death certificate 

numbers of deceased study subjects. 

Since the implementation of the NDI 

Plus service, researchers have the option 

of also receiving cause of death 

information for deceased subjects, thus 

reducing the need to request copies of 

death certificates from the states. The 

NDI Plus option currently provides the 

ICD codes for the underlying and 

multiple causes of death for the years 

1979–2002. Health researchers must 

complete five administrative forms in 

order to apply for NDI services, and 

submit records of study subjects for 

computer matching against the NDI file. 

While there are five forms, it is rare for 

an NDI user to complete more than one 

of each per year; therefore, the burden 

table addresses respondents and not 

forms. There are no costs to respondents 

except for their time. The estimated 

annualized burden is 228 hours.

Respondents No. of

respondents 

No. of

responses per 

respondents 

Average

burden per

response

(in hrs.) 

Government researchers ............................................................................................................. 48 1 1.9 

University researchers ................................................................................................................. 60 1 1.9 

Private industry researchers ........................................................................................................ 12 1 1.9 

Dated: October 6, 2004. 

Alvin Hall, 

Director, Management Analysis and Services 

Office, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention.

[FR Doc. 04–23024 Filed 10–13–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

Disease, Disability, and Injury 

Prevention and Control Special 

Emphasis Panel: Centers for 

Construction Safety and Health, 

Request for Applications (RFA) OH–

04–002 

In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463), the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC) 

announces the following meeting:

Name: Disease, Disability, and Injury 

Prevention and Control Special Emphasis 

Panel (SEP): Centers for Construction Safety 

and Health, Request for Applications (RFA) 

OH–04–002. 

Times and Dates: 6 p.m.–6:30 p.m., 

November 15, 2004 (open). 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m., 

November 15, 2004 (closed). 8 a.m.–5 p.m., 

November 16 2004 (closed). 

Place: Embassy Suites Hotels, 1900 

Diagonal Road, Alexandria, VA 23114, phone 

703–684–5900. 

Status: Portions of the meeting will be 

closed to the public in accordance with 

provisions set forth in section 552b(c) (4) and 

(6), Title 5 U.S.C., and the Determination of