Occupational Health News Roundup

Manuel Roig-Franzia at the Washington Post reports that over the past six years, more than 30 journalists have been killed in Mexico, and countless more have been kidnapped. Grenades have been thrown into newspaper offices in Cancun, Hermosillo and Nuevo Laredo, and last week, a newspaper in Sonora announced that it was temporarily shutting down because of attacks and threats. The campaign of intimidation is attributed to the countryâs drug cartels, and it has made Mexico the second deadliest country in the world for journalists after Iraq.

In other news:

Orlando Sentinel: Casey Jones of Daytona Beach is testifying before Congress about her husband Clydeâs death in a wastewater treatment plant explosion; sheâs speaking in support of a proposed law that would extend OSHA protection to public employees in states that lack OSHA-approved plans.

HealthDay News: A new study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports that pesticide exposure and head injury can both increase the risk for developing Parkinsonâs disease. 

Reuters Health: Another new study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds that railway workers exposed to low-frequency magnetic fields may have an elevated risk of myeloid leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma.

New York Daily News: Last year, 31 construction workers were killed in New York; off-the-books workers, many of them undocumented immigrants, are easily exploited and often work in unsafe conditions.

Occupational Hazards: A new report from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommends that employers have medical surveillance programs for health care workers exposed to dangerous drugs. (Click here for the NIOSH report.)

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