Attach 16 - Privacy Act Memo

Attachment 16: NIH Privacy Act Officer's Letter

DATE: May 15, 2009

TO: Frances E. Thompson, Ph.D.

Applied Research Program

Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences

National Cancer Institute

FROM: NIH Privacy Act Officer

SUBJECT: Applicability of the Privacy Act: “24-Hour Dietary Recall Method Comparison Study and NCI Observational Feeding Study”

I have reviewed the NCI/DCCPS submission to OMB requesting approval for the use of the new web-based dietary assessment tool. I have determined that the Privacy Act will apply to this data collection which involves the collection of personal characteristics, date of birth, race, gender, home mailing address and other personally identifiable information necessary to allow project related materials to be mailed and for follow-up purposes.

At the completion of the data collection, data will be recorded and stored to prevent individual research subjects from being identified directly or through identifiers. Each questionnaire will include a unique ID number linked to each respondent but no identifying information will be recorded in the data file. The data collection is covered by NIH Privacy Act Systems of Record 09-25-0156, “Records of Participants in Programs and Respondents in Surveys Used to Evaluate Programs of the Public Health Service, HHS/PHS/NIH/OD.”

If you have any questions, please contact my office at (301) 402-6201.

Karen M. Plá

Attachment

cc: V. Horovitch-Kelley, NCI OMB Project Clearance Liaison Office