Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 124 / Wednesday, June 27, 2001 / Notices 34203

information and to request an

application kit, call 1–888–GRANTS4

(1–888–472–6874). You will be asked to

leave your name and address and will

be instructed to identify the

Announcement number of interest.

If you have questions after reviewing

the contents of all the documents,

business management technical

assistance may be obtained from: Nelda

Y. Godfrey, Grants Management

Specialist, Grants Management Branch,

Procurement and Grants Office, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention,

2920 Brandywine Road, Room 3000,

Atlanta, GA 30341–4146, Telephone

number: (770) 488–2722, email address:

nag9@cdc.gov.

For program technical assistance,

contact: Juan Reyes, Director, Office of

Regional Operations, Agency for Toxic

Substances and Disease Registry, 1600

Clifton Rd., NE, MS–E42, Atlanta, GA

30329, Telephone number: (404) 498–

0537, email address: jur2@cdc.gov.

Dated: June 20, 2001.

Georgi Jones,

Director, Office of Policy and External Affairs,

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry.

[FR Doc. 01–16042 Filed 6–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163–70–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry

[Program Announcement 01165]

Thimerosal Pharmacokinetics:

Assessment of the Distribution,

Metabolism and Excretion; Notice of

Availability of Funds

A. Purpose

The Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry (ATSDR) announces

the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2001

funds for a grant program for

Thimerosal Studies as part of the

applied research program. This program

addresses the ‘‘Healthy People 2010’’

focus area(s) of Environmental Health.

The purpose of this program is to

define and characterize the appropriate

pharmacokinetics of both methyl

mercury and thimerosal distribution,

metabolism, and elimination that are

needed to accurately characterize the

comparative neurotoxicity of these

substances and develop

recommendations for future

extrapolation of these results to possible

human exposure scenarios.

B. Eligible Applicants

Applications may be submitted by

official public health agencies of the

States, or their bonafide agents. This

includes the District of Columbia,

American Samoa, Guam, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

Islands, the Federated States of

Micronesia, the Virgin Islands, the

Federated States of Marshall Island, the

Republic of Palau, federally-recognized

Indian tribal governments, public and

private non-profit universities and

colleges.

C. Availability of Funds

Approximately $130,000 is available

in FY 2001 to fund one award. It is

expected that the award will begin on or

about September 30, 2001, and will be

made for a 12-month budget period

within a project period of one year.

Funding estimates may change.

Continuation awards within an

approved project period will be made

on the basis of satisfactory progress as

evidenced by required reports and the

availability of funds.

Use of Funds

Funds may be expended for

reasonable program purposes, such as

personnel, travel, supplies and services.

Funds for contractual services may be

requested; however, the grantee, as the

direct and primary recipient of ATSDR

grant funds, must perform a substantive

role in carrying out project activities

and not merely serve as a conduit for an

award to another party or provide funds

to an ineligible party. Equipment may

be purchased with grant funds.

However, the equipment proposed

should be appropriate and reasonable

for the research activity to be

conducted. Property may be acquired

only when authorized in the grant. The

grantee, as part of the application

process, should provide a justification

of need to acquire property, the

description, and the cost of purchase

versus lease. At the completion of the

project, the equipment must be returned

to ATSDR.

D. Program Requirements

The objectives of this program are to

conduct research studies to achieve the

following: (1) Animal Model and Dose

Selection studies including literature

search, determine appropriate in vitro

tests, animal model and doses; (2)

Thimerosal cleavage kinetics including

investigating in vitro (serum or blood)

reaction, determine the role of liver in

metabolism of thimerosal; (3) Model

dependent kinetic parameters including

tissue partition coefficients of

thimerosal and ethyl mercury, time

course studies for levels of thimerosal

and ethyl mercury in blood, brain, fat,

liver and muscle; (4) Model

development and analysis including

development of a pharmacokinetic

model for thimerosal; and (5) Develop

recommendations for extrapolating

these results to human exposure

scenarios.

In conducting activities to achieve the

purpose of this program, the recipient

will be responsible for the following

activities:

1. Identification and description of

specific parameters that are necessary to

accurately characterize the distribution,

metabolism, and elimination associated

with methyl mercury toxicity;

2. Identification and characterization

of the metabolic pathways and

sequences associated with conversion of

thimerosal to the toxic inorganic

mercury species (Hg∂∂);

3. Characterization of tissue levels

and time-course for thimerosal, ethyl

mercury, and Hg∂∂ following

parenteral exposure to thimerosal; and

4. Publish the findings and results as

journal article(s).

E. Application Content

Use the information in the Program

Requirements, Other Requirements, and

Evaluation Criteria sections to develop

the application content. Your

application will be evaluated on the

criteria listed, so it is important to

follow them in laying out your program

plan.

F. Submission and Deadline

Submit the original and five copies of

PHS 398 (OMB Number 0937–0189) on

or before August 15, 2001. Submit the

application to the Grants Management

Specialist identified in the ‘‘Where to

Obtain Additional Information’’ section

of this announcement.

Deadline: Applications shall be

considered as meeting the deadline if

they are either:

1. Received on or before the deadline

date; or

2. Sent on or before the deadline date

and received in time for submission to

the independent objective review

group. (Applicants must request a

legibly dated U.S. Postal Service

postmark or obtain a legibly dated

receipt from a commercial carrier or

U.S. Postal Service. Private metered

postmarks shall not be acceptable as

proof of timely mailing.)

Late Applications: Applications

which do not meet the criteria in 1. or

2. above are considered late

applications, will not be considered,

and will be returned to the applicant.

34204 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 124 / Wednesday, June 27, 2001 / Notices

G. Evaluation Criteria

Each application will be evaluated

individually against the following

criteria by an independent review group

appointed by ATSDR:

1. Proposed Research—50 percent

The extent to which the applicant’s

project addresses:

a. The scientific merit of the hypothesis

of the proposed project, including the

originality of the approach and the

feasibility, adequacy, and rationale of

the design (the design of the study

should ensure statistical validity for

comparison with other research

projects)(25 percent);

b. The technical merit of the methods

and procedures (analytic procedures

should be state of the art), including

the degree to which the project can be

expected to yield results that meet the

program objective as described in the

purpose section of this announcement

(15 percent);

c. The proposed project schedule,

including clearly established

obtainable project objectives for

which progress toward attainment can

and will be measured including plans

for publishing research results in peer

reviewed journals (10 percent); and

2. Program Personnel—45 percent

Because of the importance and

potential impact of the outcome of this

project on a number of public health

programs:

a. The Principal Investigator must be a

recognized expert on organic and

inorganic mercury (20 percent); and

b. The Principal Investigator must have

experience, validated by publication,

in working with Thimerosal (10

percent); and

c. Commitment and ability of the

Principal Investigator and his/her

Associates to devote adequate time

and effort to provide effective

leadership (15 percent).

3. Institutional Resources and

Commitment—5 percent

Description of the adequacy and

commitment of the institutional

resources to administer the program and

the adequacy of the facilities as they

impact on performance of the proposed

study.

4. Program Budget—(NOT SCORED)

The extent to which the budget is

reasonable, clearly justified, and

consistent with intended use of grant

funds.

5. Human Subjects—(NOT SCORED)

Does the application adequately

address the requirements of Title 45

CFR Part 46 for the protection of human

subjects?

H. Other Requirements

Technical Reporting Requirements

Provide CDC with original plus two

copies of

1. annual progress reports;

2. financial status report, no more than

90 days after the end of the budget

period; and

3. final financial and performance

reports, no more than 90 days after

the end of the project period.

Send all reports to the Grants

Management Specialist identified in the

‘‘Where to Obtain Additional

Information’’ section of this

announcement.

The following additional

requirements are applicable to this

program. For a complete description of

each, see Attachment I in the

application kit.

AR–3 Animal Subjects Requirements

AR–7 Executive Order 12372 Review

AR–10 Smoke-Free Workplace

Requirements

AR–11 Healthy People 2010

AR–12 Lobby Restrictions

AR–17 Peer and Technical Reviews of

Final Reports of Health Studies—

ATSDR

AR–18 Cost Recovery—ATSDR

AR–19 Third Party Agreements—

ATSDR

AR–22 Research Integrity

I. Authority and Catalog of Federal

Domestic Assistance Number

This program is authorized in

Sections 104(i)(5)(A) and (15) of the

Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability

Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended by

the Superfund Amendments and

Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) [42

U.S.C. 9604(i)(5)(A) and (15)]; and

section 106, subsection 118(e) of the

Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of

1990 [33 U.S.C. 1268(e)]. The Catalog of

Federal Domestic Assistance number is

93.161.

J. Where To Obtain Additional

Information

This and other ATSDR

announcements can be found on the

CDC home page Internet address—http:/

/www.cdc.gov. Click on ‘‘Funding’’ then

‘‘Grants and Cooperative Agreements.’’

To receive additional written

information and to request an

application kit, call 1–888–GRANTS4

(1–888–472–6874). You will be asked to

leave your name and address and will

be instructed to identify the

Announcement number of interest.

If you have questions after reviewing

the contents of all the documents,

business management technical

assistance may be obtained from: Ms.

Nelda Godfrey, Grants Management

Specialist, Grants Management Branch,

Procurement and Grants Office, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention,

Room 3000, 2920 Brandywine Road,

Atlanta, GA 30341–4146, Telephone

number: 770–488–2722, Email address:

nag9@cdc.gov.

For program technical assistance,

contact(s): Dr. Dennis Jones, Division of

Toxicology, ATSDR, 1600 Clifton Road,

N.E., Mail Stop E–29, Atlanta, Georgia

30333, Telephone number: 404–498–

0160, Email address: dej2@cdc.gov or

Dr. Moiz Mumtaz, Division of

Toxicology, 1600 Clifton Road, N.E.,

Mail Stop E–29, Atlanta, Georgia 30333,

Telephone number: 404–498–0727,

Email address: mgm4@cdc.gov.

Dated: June 20, 2001.

Georgi Jones,

Director, Office of Policy and External Affairs,

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry.

[FR Doc. 01–16043 Filed 6–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163–70–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry

Public Meeting of the Inter-tribal

Council on Hanford Health Projects

(ICHHP) in Association With the

Citizens Advisory Committee on Public

Health Service (PHS) Activities and

Research at Department of Energy

(DOE) Sites: Hanford Health Effects

Subcommittee

Name: Public meeting of the Intertribal Council on Hanford Health

Projects (ICHHP) in association with the

Citizens Advisory Committee on PHS

Activities and Research at DOE Sites:

Hanford Health Effects Subcommittee

(HHES).

Time and Date: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., July

25, 2001.

Place:: Tamastslikt Cultural Institute,

72789 Highway 331, Pendleton, OR.

Telephone: (541) 276–2323.

Status: Open to the public, limited

only by the space available. The meeting

room accommodates approximately 50

people.

Background: A Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU), signed in

October 1990 and renewed in

September 2000, between ATSDR and

DOE delineates the responsibilities and

procedures for ATSDR’s public health