Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH
of Lecturer, Texas State University & Professorial Lecturer Milken Institute School of Public Health.
cmonforton
Posts by this author
November 2, 2012
I was eight years old on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. "Give a hoot, don't pollute!" was the slogan for us kids. When we'd see a newscast with factory stacks spewing thick gray smoke we'd say "yuck." We'd hold our noses when tailpipes of junker cars belched exhaust. In our minds, air…
October 29, 2012
"Never say where you're calling from" is one lesson learned by journalist Andrew Marantz during his summer working at a Delhi, India call center. Before getting the job, Marantz and the estimated million job seekers in India's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry complete weeks of training…
October 23, 2012
The pediatrician suspected that something wasn't quite right with the youngster. He'd met the teen as part of his North Philadelphia community health center's psychiatry outreach program. "He was a very nice kid...[but] he had trouble with words, with propositions and ideas," the pediatrician…
October 16, 2012
For some reason the news story stuck in my memory. The headline read:
"Oil rig explosion near Marshall in north central Oklahoma was caused by blowout, company attorney said."
Maybe it was because I'd been reading so many stories about the natural gas boom, that a news story about an oil rig…
October 10, 2012
Planning a conference is a pain in the neck. There are loads of details to attend to and the only time you get a little relief is when you can cross tasks off that long, long to-do list. Now imagine learning that clergy, women's groups, labor organizations, immigrants' rights networks and others…
October 2, 2012
The Pump Handle is launching a new "Public Health Classics" series exploring some of the classic studies and reports that have shaped the field of public health. If you have a favorite Public Health Classic to recommend, let us know in the comments. And if you're interested in contributing a post…
September 26, 2012
Mayor Rudolph Guiliani called them "horrible" and "frightening" (NYTimes July 11, 2000.) The current Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said they are "repulsive" and announced in 2003 that his administration had "zero tolerance" for them (NYTimes, Aug 15, 2003.) I'm sure their predecessors used equally…
September 24, 2012
[Update below, 9/26/2012]
When Secretary of Agricultural Tom Vilsack announced in January the USDA's proposal to modernize the poultry slaughter inspection system, he promised several things. He said the new system would save taxpayers and poultry producers money while improving food safety. (In…
September 17, 2012
When the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (P.L. 111-347) was signed into law in January 2011, among its aims was providing screening and medical treatment for the fire fighters, police officers, emergency responders and certain other survivors. More than $4 billion was authorized by…
September 12, 2012
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the number of major regulatory actions taken by OSHA during the Presidential election years 1984 to 2012. I was exploring the popular notion that OSHA's regulatory activities always slow down during a Presidential election year. I learned that the number of…
September 11, 2012
Let's say you're curious to know whether there's evidence that a particular compound is carcinogenic to laboratory animals or to humans. Maybe you're wondering about UV radiation from tanning beds, or wood dust, or the drug tamoxifen. Do you want to rely solely on the opinion of the compound's…
September 7, 2012
"Going to work sick or losing pay" is not a choice that Seattle workers should be forced to make. That's how Seattle City Council member Nick Licata why he sponsored the City's paid sick leave legislation. The new law took effect September 1. It is just one of the new State and local laws…
September 6, 2012
As Liz Borkowski noted on Tuesday, we started a new tradition this year to mark Labor Day in the U.S. We published The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety: Fall 2011 - Summer 2012. The 42-page report highlights some of the key research and activities in the U.S. on worker health and…
August 28, 2012
I'll be the first to admit I've criticized the Obama Administration's OSHA for failing to issue or even propose many new worker safety and health standards. As I wrote earlier this month, under President Obama and Secretary Solis, OSHA has only issued three new worker safety rules, two of which…
August 22, 2012
As first reported yesterday by Chris Hamby at the Center for Public Integrity's IWatch, an internal report on the agency's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), submitted in November 2011 to OSHA chief David Michaels is now public.
Over the months, I'd made my own inquiries to OSHA's public affairs…
August 15, 2012
[Udated below (Sept 5, 2013)]
Jay Van Buskirk, 47, was employed less than a year at the ConAgra Foods flour mill in Alton, Illinois, before falling to his death on August 4, 2012. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:
"Van Buskirk was standing on a man lift platform and moving between the fourth…
August 14, 2012
In a New York Times story reporting on the resignation of Cass Sunstein, President Obama's director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the paper missed an opportunity to take readers beyond the rhetoric to reality. One sentence in the article said this:
"Business lobbies…
August 8, 2012
The NBC News affiliate in California's Bay Area released last week a multi-part investigative series entitled "Children in the field: American kids pick your food." The anchorwoman introducing the first segment said:
"They are too young to drive, work in an office, or even a local fast food joint…
August 7, 2012
I feel dense for not knowing this important public health fact: women with extremely dense breast tissue are at least four times more likely to develop breast cancer.
Over the years, I've had my routine screening mammograms with stellar results. No evidence of cancer in my two mammary glands. I'…
July 31, 2012
A few weeks ago, the editors of my local Austin American-Statesman admitted they were wrong. In "Tort reform's slight impact no shock," the editors recalled their support for a 2003 proposition on the Texas ballot to put a $750,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. The…
July 30, 2012
[7/30/2012 Update below]
Just hours before a granite memorial was unveiled for the 29 men who were killed in the Upper Big Branch (UBB) coal mine on April 5, 2010, another West Virginia coal miner was killed on-the-job. Johnny Mack Bryant II, 35, died at the Coal River Mining Fork Creek #10 mine…
July 26, 2012
The New York Times headline read "Fire Ravages a Doll Factory In Southern China, Killing 81." It was November 1993, the city was Shenzhen and the location was the Zhili toy factory. Ms. Yuying Chen, 17, was one of 250 workers in the factory. Like many others, she had traveled from her rural…
July 23, 2012
A night out for the midnight premiere of the summer blockbuster "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" turned deadly. Twelve people are dead and at least 59 were wounded. The victims will be mourned, the suspect studied, and the incident relegated to our criminal justice system. In my circle, however,…
July 19, 2012
I wonder sometimes if House Republicans have the same reading list as former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. They obviously didn't read the series of articles about black lung disease in U.S. coal miners prepared by Chris Hamby and Jim Morris of the Center for Public Integrity, and Ken Ward Jr., of…
July 18, 2012
Patty and Gary Quarles lost their only child on April 5, 2010. Gary Wayne Quarles, 33, was part of the crew operating the longwall mining machine at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine. He died that day in a massive coal dust explosion along with 28 other men. Patty's and Gary's life…
July 17, 2012
You'd think the chemical giants Dow, DuPont, and the 160 other firms who are members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) would expect the association's lobbyists to get their facts straight when moaning to Congress about federal regulations. Last week the ACC claimed that the Labor Department'…
July 11, 2012
When the deal was made five years ago, officials were proud to announce it was the first refinery expansion project in the U.S. in 30 years. Motiva Enterprises' CEO Bill Welte called it a "momentous occasion" for his firm and its owners Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco. The final product would…
July 9, 2012
If it wasn't such a terrible disgrace, an example of our malfunctioning regulatory system, and a public health failure, I'd have to pinch myself that three of my favorite investigative reporters have worked together to expose it. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston (WV) Gazette, Jim Morris of the…
July 5, 2012
"Regulation in an uncertain world," was the title of a speech that President Obama's regulatory czar Cass Sunstein delivered on June 20, 2012 at a National Academy of Science's government-university-industry research roundtable on "Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty." Mr. Sunstein's speech…
July 3, 2012
[Updated (July 5, 2012) below]
"We're still in the dark," explained one family whose son was killed 27 months ago at Alpha Natural Resources (formerly Massey Energy's) Upper Big Branch mine (UBB). That comment came two weeks ago after learning that Alpha, one of the world's largest coal companies…