The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the following meeting

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the

following meeting

Name: Progress and Proposed Future Activities of the NIOSH

Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative--Public meeting.

Time and Date: 10 a.m.-4 p.m., September 22, 1999.

Place: Hyatt Regency Washington, One Capitol Hill, 400 New

Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001, telephone 202/737-1234.

Status: Open to the public, limited by space available. The

meeting room accommodates approximately 50 people.

Purpose: The purpose of the meeting is to seek public comments

on the progress and proposed future activities of the Childhood

Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative implemented by NIOSH in

October 1996.

The problem of children being injured while living, working, or

visiting agricultural work environments (primarily farms) has been

recognized for several decades. The most recent data suggest about

100 youths under the age of 20 die on farms each year and more than

100,000 farm-related injuries occur to the same age group. Many

individuals and groups have advocated for the prevention of

agricultural injuries inflicted upon youths, and media attention has

been generated on the issue, but until recently a national

coordinated effort to address the problem has not existed. In late

1994, a core of 42 individuals from both the public and private

sectors formed the National Committee for Childhood Agricultural

Injury Prevention (NCCAIP). The Committee had broad stakeholder

representation, including researchers, farmers, agricultural groups,

safety and health professionals, and government officials. Over a

16-month period, the members of the committee reviewed relevant

information from previous reports, developed new recommendations

based on current injury data along with other scientific evidence,

and refined and prioritized recommendations to be clearly understood

and acted upon by relevant individuals and agencies.

In April 1996, NCCAIP published a report entitled Children and

Agriculture: Opportunities for Safety and Health, A National Action

Plan to promote the health and safety of children exposed to

agricultural hazards. The National Action Plan recommends

leadership, surveillance, research, education, and public policy.

The plan specifically recommended that NIOSH serve as the lead

federal agency in preventing childhood agricultural injury. Due in

large part to the efforts by NCCAIP to raise awareness and concern

about childhood agricultural injury issues, in October 1996, NIOSH

began implementing a Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention

Initiative. To date, NIOSH has undertaken a number of activities,

both intramurally and extramurally, to address the recommendations

in the National Action Plan.

Matters to be Discussed: The agenda for the meeting includes an

overview of progress to date and proposed future activities to be

implemented by NIOSH, and time for individuals to provide oral

comments to NIOSH on the initiative.

Contact Persons for Additional Information: Technical

information may be obtained from David Hard, Ph.D., NIOSH, CDC, 1095

Willowdale Road, M/S P-1133, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26505,

telephone 304/285-6068, e-mail address: [email protected].

Persons wishing to attend or make a presentation at the meeting

(limited to 10 minutes), should respond by August 27, 1999 to Diane

Miller, NIOSH Docket Office, Education and Information Division,

4676 Columbia Parkway, M/S C-34, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45226. A copy of

the document which includes a summary of progress to date and

proposed future activities for the initiative will be available

after July 15, 1999 through the NIOSH web site at http://

www.cdc.gov/niosh or by written or e-mail request to the NIOSH

docket office.

Persons interested in providing written comments on this

document should submit comments by August 27, 1999 to Diane Miller

at the above address. Comments or presentation requests may also be

submitted by e-mail to: [email protected] as WordPerfect 6.0/6.1,

8.0, or ASCII files.

The Director, Management Analysis and Services office has been

delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices pertaining

to announcements of meetings and other committee management

activities, for both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Dated: June 29, 1999.

Carolyn J. Russell,

Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

[FR Doc. 99-17125 Filed 7-6-99; 8:45 am]

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