67624 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 250 / Monday, December 31, 2001 / Notices

below, grey-top tubes are the only

commercial blood collection tubes

generally available that contain sodium

fluoride in the preferred concentration

and are FRA’s tubes of choice for FRA

post-accident testing.

On each tube, Becton has printed an

expiration date, the date until which it

warrants that the tube has sufficient

vacuum to draw blood. Becton normally

releases its blood tubes in lots which

expire within 18–24 months of

manufacture.

Many of the post-accident kits that

have been distributed to railroads

contain blood tubes that will expire in

the next few months from November

2001 to May 2002. The replacement

blood tube lots that are now available

have only a few months remaining

before their warranted vacuum

capability expires. FRA has therefore

decided to delay tube replacement until

newly prepared 18–24 month blood

tubes become available in early 2002.

Interim Procedures

Until the current inventory of blood

tubes in the field is replaced in early

2002, FRA authorizes railroads to

instruct local medical personnel to

replace the expired tubes with their own

stock of unexpired 10 mL, preferably

grey-top, tubes. Substituted tubes must

be 10 mL, not the 5 mL type, to ensure

sufficient blood for analysis. This action

is requested, but not required, and need

only be considered when expired tubes

are discovered during an actual postaccident collection. Medical facilities

maintain supplies of grey-top and other

color top vacuum tubes for clinical

purposes. Tube replacement is always

preferred to using expired tubes, but, if

tube replacement is not possible,

railroads are authorized to complete the

post-accident collection using the

expired blood tubes.

This procedure will not lead to an

employee being subject to venipuncture

more than once during a post-accident

collection procedure. To draw blood

specimens, a phlebotomist uses a single

needle system that permits filling of

more than one tube from the same

needle unit. Use of an older grey-top

tube may result in collecting a smaller

specimen amount in that particular

tube, but only if the vacuum in the tube,

which is the differential between the

tube’s internal pressure and the

atmospheric pressure, has been

significantly reduced. If this should

happen, the blood collector will simply

replace that blood tube with a new tube;

no new puncture is necessary.

Scientific and Technical Issues

Although FRA’s interim procedures

require railroads to replace expired

blood tubes with unexpired tubes if

possible, the use of an expired blood

tube will not adversely affect employee

rights or impact the validity of postaccident test results. FRA’s postaccident testing program incorporates

testing and analysis protocols designed

to protect employees from unwarranted

accusations of alcohol or drug use.

Discussed below are the two primary

scientific and technical issues

concerning the use of expired tubes: (1)

The integrity of the vacuum present in

the tube to draw blood properly, and (2)

the potency of the chemical additives.

Evacuated blood tubes that have

recently expired (i.e., within the past

several months) are not expected to

show a dramatic decrease in tube

vacuum. Until its expiration date, each

grey-top blood tube is warranted by

Becton to have 90% or more of its

vacuum remaining at an estimated

deterioration rate of no greater than 5%

per year. This loss of vacuum would

affect only the efficiency of the medical

professional’s ability to draw a blood

specimen. If a particular tube draws

inefficiently due to lack of vacuum, a

medical professional would ordinarily

discard it and use another grey-top (or

other color top) tube.

Since they are inorganic compounds,

the preservatives found in the tubes,

sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate,

oxidize very slowly and even in a

vacuum-decreasing environment, are

unlikely to deteriorate significantly for

many years. More importantly, there is

no possibility that a ‘‘false positive’’ for

any drug or its metabolites could occur

because of an expired blood tube either

from vaccum problems or from

deteriorated preservatives.

The presence or absence of the

chemical additives contained in greytop tubes does not affect the detection

of any of the drugs tested for in FRA’s

post-accident testing panel, with the

exception of parent cocaine. Sodium

fluoride in the grey-top tube contributes

to the detectability of parent cocaine in

blood, by helping to stabilize the

spontaneous conversion of the parent

drug in vitro to cocaine metabolites. The

concentration (or absence) of parent

cocaine is helpful principally in

detecting recency of use.

Grey-top tubes are also helpful in

conducting the alcohol analysis.

Sodium fluoride is widely established

as an effective antimicrobial agent in

retarding endogenous alcohol

production. The production of ethyl

alcohol in the body is a well known

phenomenon, especially in post-mortem

samples. In the presence of certain

contaminating microorganisms and

extreme conditions, alcohol identical to

that found in alcoholic beverages may

be created by the body after death,

causing alcohol to appear in certain

body fluids and/or tissues without

having been ingested. Obviously,

endogenous production of alcohol is of

concern in the post-accident alcohol

testing of both surviving and deceased

crew members.

In FRA’s post-accident testing, there

have been several cases where, given

severe trauma and the correct

environmental factors, alcohol was

produced post-mortem in detectable

amounts, even in the presence of fully

potent sodium fluoride. Using greytopped tubes helps in this

determination, but FRA has taken and

will continue to take whatever scientific

and technical steps are necessary to

protect post-accident specimen donors

from an incorrect interpretation of a

positive test result. Among the

procedures used by FRA to rule out an

alcohol positive on a deceased

employee as coming from endogenous

production are: examining other tissues

or fluids (i.e. urine, brain, vitreous)

which may have been protected from

trauma or decomposition; determining

that the distribution of alcohol in the

various body fluids and tissues is

inconsistent with that expected in a

living person; detecting the presence of

other volatiles or physiological

byproducts which can sometimes also

be present during post-mortem

decomposition; repeating analyses of a

specimen kept at room temperature to

determine if the alcohol concentration is

increasing; and determining the identity

of any microorganisms present to assess

whether they have alcohol-producing

capability.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20103, 20107, 20111,

20112, 20113, 20140, 21301, 21304, and 49

CFR 1.49(m).

Issued in Washington, DC on December 21,

2001.

George A. Gavalla,

Associate Administrator for Safety.

[FR Doc. 01–32048 Filed 12–28–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

Docket Number MARAD–2001–

11241Requested Administrative Waiver

of the Coastwise Trade Laws

AGENCY: Maritime Administration,

Department of Transportation.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 250 / Monday, December 31, 2001 / Notices 67625

ACTION: Invitation for public comments

on a requested administrative waiver of

the Coastwise Trade Laws for the vessel

Sovereign of Malahide.

SUMMARY: As authorized by Pub. L. 105–

383, the Secretary of Transportation, as

represented by the Maritime

Administration (MARAD), is authorized

to grant waivers of the U.S.-build

requirement of the coastwise laws under

certain circumstances. A request for

such a waiver has been received by

MARAD. The vessel, and a description

of the proposed service, is listed below.

The vessel currently has permission to

operate in Southeast Alaska under a

small vessel waiver granted pursuant to

actions in Docket MARAD–2001–10780.

The current application involves a new

operating area. Interested parties may

comment on the effect this action may

have on U.S. vessel builders or

businesses in the U.S. that use U.S.-flag

vessels. If MARAD determines that in

accordance with Pub. L. 105–383 and

MARAD’s regulations at 46 CFR Part

388 (65 FR 6905; February 11, 2000) that

the issuance of the waiver will have an

unduly adverse effect on a U.S.-vessel

builder or a business that uses U.S.-flag

vessels, a waiver will not be granted.

DATES: Submit comments on or before

January 30, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to

docket number MARAD–2001–11241.

Written comments may be submitted by

hand or by mail to the Docket Clerk,

U.S. DOT Dockets, Room PL–401,

Department of Transportation, 400 7th

St., SW, Washington, DC 20590–0001.

You may also send comments

electronically via the Internet at http://

dmses.dot.gov/submit/. All comments

will become part of this docket and will

be available for inspection and copying

at the above address between 10 a.m.

and 5 p.m., E.T., Monday through

Friday, except federal holidays. An

electronic version of this document and

all documents entered into this docket

is available on the World Wide Web at

http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kathleen Dunn, U.S. Department of

Transportation, Maritime

Administration, MAR–832 Room 7201,

400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington,

DC 20590. Telephone 202–366–2307.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title V of

Pub. L. 105–383 provides authority to

the Secretary of Transportation to

administratively waive the U.S.-build

requirements of the Jones Act, and other

statutes, for small commercial passenger

vessels (no more than 12 passengers).

This authority has been delegated to the

Maritime Administration per 49 CFR

§ 1.66, Delegations to the Maritime

Administrator, as amended. By this

notice, MARAD is publishing

information on a vessel for which a

request for a U.S.-build waiver has been

received, and for which MARAD

requests comments from interested

parties. Comments should refer to the

docket number of this notice and the

vessel name in order for MARAD to

properly consider the comments.

Comments should also state the

commenter’s interest in the waiver

application, and address the waiver

criteria given in § 388.4 of MARAD’S

regulations at 46 CFR Part 388.

Vessel Proposed for Waiver of the U.S.-

build Requirement

(1) Name of vessel and owner for

which waiver is requested.Name of

vessel: Sovereign of Malahide. Owner:

Timothy B. White.

(2) Size, capacity and tonnage of

vessel. According to the applicant:

‘‘L.O.A. 64 ft; Displacement 80 tons ±

Actual weight’’

(3) Intended use for vessel, including

geographic region of intended operation

and trade. According to the

applicant:‘‘Crewed Charter Vessel.’’

‘‘California and Washington State.’’

(4) Date and Place of construction and

(if applicable) rebuilding. Date of

construction: 1973. Place of

construction: Dublin, Ireland.

(5) A statement on the impact this

waiver will have on other commercial

passenger vessel operators. According to

the applicant: ‘‘It is my opinion if

waiver status granted it will not

significantly impact other operators. In

my extensive research I have not

encountered any opposition and have

been encouraged by numerous charter

companies to obtain proper

documentation due to the significant

demand for vessels such as the subject

vessel. Other operators have expressed

an interest and desire to utilize this

vessel.’’

(6) A statement on the impact this

waiver will have on U.S. shipyards.

According to the applicant: ‘‘The vessel

will not impact U.S. shipyards. The

Vessel has been undergoing extensive

refit, repair and updating over the past

24 months. Much of the work was

performed by Sovereign Marine Services

Inc., located in La Conner WA. Many

other U.S. Subcontractors and suppliers

were also used. The cost of such is in

excess of $1,000,000.00. All

documentation of such work and repairs

is available for review should you

require.’’

Dated: December 26, 2001.

By order of the Maritime Administrator.

Joel C. Richard,

Secretary, Maritime Administration.

[FR Doc. 01–32097 Filed 12–28–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

Child Passenger Protection Education

Grants

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Announcement of grants for

child passenger protection education.

SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA)

announces a grant program under

Section 2003(b) of the Transportation

Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA–

21) to implement child passenger

protection programs that are designed to

prevent deaths and injuries to children,

educate the public concerning the

proper installation of child restraints,

and train child passenger safety

personnel concerning child restraint

use. This notice solicits applications

from the States, the District of

Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S.

Territories and the Indian Tribes

through the Secretary of the Interior.

DATES: Applications must be received

by the office designated below on or

before January 31, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Applications must be

submitted to the appropriate National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Regional Administrator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

program issues contact Ms. Marlene

Markison, State and Community

Services, NSC–01, NHTSA, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590;

telephone (202) 366–2121. For legal

issues contact Mr. John Donaldson,

Office of the Chief Counsel, NCC–30,

NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202)

366–1834.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Motor vehicle crashes remain the

leading cause of unintentional injuryrelated deaths among children for every

age from 4 to 14 years, despite an 11

percent decline in the motor vehicle

occupant death rate for children under

age 15 from 1988 to 2000. During the

same time period, the motor vehicle

occupant nonfatal injury rate among

children under age 15 has increased by

7 percent. Motor vehicle injuries and