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February 26, 2007
This week, two Senate Committees will focus attention on worker safety and health topics. On Wednesday, February 28, Senator Tom Harkin's Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education will receive testimony on "Improving Mine Safety: One Year after Sago and Alma." On Thursday, March 1…
February 23, 2007
Dr. Tony Robbins recent response to my draft on OSHA at 35 makes the important point that economic developments are often more powerful than public health initiatives as determinants of environmental and occupational illness. I agree with his thought that predictive models of exposure might…
February 23, 2007
Christopher Thomas needed to make some extra money. The 51-year old welderâalso a husband and father of twoâhad begun work in the GMD Shipyard in Brooklyn Navy Yard about a week before. It was mid-morning on a Saturdayâhis day offâbut Thomas had come into work anyway.
He and some colleagues were…
February 23, 2007
Pharmaceuticals seem to be a big topic in the blogosphere this week. Roy M. Poses MD at Health Care Renewal has more on the Zyprexa memos â which, if you havenât been following this issue, reportedly show that manufacturer Eli Lilly suppressed information about this schizophrenia drugâs harmful…
February 23, 2007
By David Michaels
In the issue of Science Magazine on your virtual newsstand today, Don Kennedy has written a powerful editorial entitled âScience, Information, and Power.â (sub required) Dr. Kennedy observes that the confrontation between Congress and the White House over the production and…
February 23, 2007
In the tradition of "Friday Cat Blogging" (in which I will doubtlessly indulge at some point, what with being a nutty cat person), I intend to establish my own tradition of putting up some pretty picture or another of a galaxy each Friday. Today is barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365.
The spiral arms…
February 22, 2007
MSHAâs Assistant Secretary Richard Stickler revealed yesterday the agencyâs new procedures for determining whether a work-related death âis to be counted as a reportable death in MSHAâs official statistics.â In my post âCounting (or Not) of Workersâ Deaths,â I pushed Mr. Stickler to share the…
February 22, 2007
A week ago, a colleague pointed me to this New York Times article about Marcus Ross. Ross is an individual whom I personally have a hard time respecting, given what he's done. He's a Young-Earth Creationist who has managed to get a PhD in geosciences studying a species that vanished 65 million…
February 21, 2007
The state of Kentucky has been in the spotlight lately as legislation to protect social workers and mineworkers has failed to live up expectations. The stateâs House of Representatives stripped funding from the Boni Bill, named after social worker Boni Frederick, who was killed when she took a…
February 21, 2007
By David Michaels
Sometimes reviewing records of past exposures to toxic materials can be pretty dangerous itself. AP carried the story:
Records buried in a landfill used for radioactive waste may be dug up to determine whether cancer-stricken workers from a defunct nuclear-weapons plant qualify…
February 20, 2007
Hello everybody! This is the new home of Galactic Interactions. To those of you who have not heard of me before, you can find older posts at my blog's former location.
I'm an assistant professor of Physics & Astronomy at Vanderbilt University who is still learning how to keep his mouth shut…
February 20, 2007
The Washington Monthlyâs February issue features âShaftedâ by Ken Ward, Jr., an article critiquing the Bush Administrationâs mine safety policies. The Charleston Gazette reporter provides some interesting historical mine safety facts, such as the 1891 federal law prohibiting the employment of…
February 20, 2007
By Anthony Robbins
It has been many years, 26 in fact, since I left NIOSH, victim of the Reagan landslide of 1980. It is fair to say that I have spent little time engaged in worker health issues since then. Yet Michael Silversteinâs future oriented document offered surprisingly few new or…
February 17, 2007
By David Michaels
How did the Congress pass legislation that not only cut EPA out of chemical plant safety, but also ensured that the job would be given to the Department of Homeland Security, which has neither the authority nor the commitment to do it right?
The job was done by Philip Perry,…
February 16, 2007
By David Michaels
The changes President Bush made last month to Executive Order 13422, requiring, among other things, that certain agency guidance documents be reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), within the Office of Management and Budget, has caused a great deal of…
February 16, 2007
By Dick Clapp
This week, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued preliminary health-based guidance to local water companies on levels of perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA) in drinking water (PDF). Based on current knowledge of cancer and non-cancer effects of this chemical, they…
February 16, 2007
Matt Madia at Reg Watch and Ian Hart at Integrity of Science report on the two House hearings held last week on how the new executive order will affect regulatory agencies. (See our take on the Science & Technology Committeeâs hearing here.)
In climate change blogging, Jim Hoggan at DeSmogBlog…
February 14, 2007
By David Michaels
Here at the Pump Handle, weâve been trying to follow up some of the issues that Confined Space covered better than anyone else. One of these is chemical plant security. Many chemical plants are filled with explosive or toxic substances, making them appealing targets for terrorists…
February 14, 2007
Since today is Valentine's Day, it's worth remembering the conditions that floral workers have to deal with. The Associated Press reports on the Colombian flower industry, where workers are exposed to heavy doses of pesticides, and current efforts to reduce those hazards.
In other recent…
February 14, 2007
by Susan F. WoodÂ
Yesterday's hearing (Feb 13, 2007) before the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee was amazing in several ways. What struck me was the willingness of senior FDA physician-scientists (who have recently left FDA) to speak publicly about their…
February 14, 2007
The Charleston Gazetteâs Ken Ward Jr. reports that the State of West Virginia has added another worker's name to the list of 2006 workplace fatality victims.  In the Stateâs coal mining industry alone, 25 workers lost their lives last year.Â
The new addition to West Virginiaâs count is Mr.…
February 13, 2007
By Liz Borkowski
Earlier today, the House of Respresentatives Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing on President Bushâs amendements to Executive Order 12866, and three of the witnesses painted a dismal picture of regulation under these new rules. (The fourth, William Kovacs of the U.S…
February 12, 2007
By David Michaels
âSunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.â - Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (1914)
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, Lisa B. Jackson, Commissioner of New Jerseyâs Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has…
February 12, 2007
By Celeste MonfortonÂ
Last month, David Michaels wrote about a newly amended executive order from President Bush that gives the executive branch (through the Office of Management & Budget) more control over the work of federal agencies. This order seems designed to constrain the regulatory…
February 9, 2007
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled today in favor of the United Steelworkers and MSHA in their efforts to protect underground miners from diesel particulate matter (DPM). The mining industry plaintiffs have claimed for years that MSHAâs 2001 DPM health standard was neither…
February 9, 2007
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) announced today that deceased Montana miner Les Skramstad has been selected as this year's recipient of the Alan Reinstein Memorial Award in honor of his "unwavering commitment to justice and asbestos disease awareness." In spite of his own…
February 9, 2007
In addition to writing about the IPCC report itself, bloggers are dissecting the media and public responses to it. RealClimate wonders why the Wall Street Journalâs editorial board still has its head buried in the sand; Matthew C. Nisbet at Framing Science thought the report should have made more…
February 8, 2007
 by Susan F. Wood, PhD
On Wednesday Feb 21 at 3:00, the project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy at GWU School of Public Health and Health Services is hosting what hopefully will be a very exciting afternoon. Former Commissioners of the FDA will gather to discuss the future of FDA,…
February 8, 2007
By David A. Sonnenfeld
It is rare that public health professionals, labor advocates, community activists, and university scholars come together at one place and time to discuss the past, present, and future of health and environmental challenges of a major industrial sector. It is even rarer that…
February 8, 2007
Facing growing public concern about global warming, the US Chamber of Commerce is setting up another yet front group to oppose regulations that will limit greenhouse gases. The Chamber has tentatively named the new group the Institute for Energy Security, Competitiveness and American Jobs. It will…