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Sequestered Science: Oil Cleanup Workers’ Health
Posted by Liz Borkowski on May 15, 2010 Elizabeth Weise’s USA Today article about potential health effects of the Gulf oil disaster and its cleanup notes that we don’t have a whole lot of research to draw on about this kind of exposure. Residents and cleanup workers alike will be exposed both to the oil itself and to cleanup agents, particularly the chemical…
Posted by It’s long past time to breathe some fresh air into the Department of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office (SOL). I was hopeful when President Obama nominated M. Patricia Smith in April to serve as the Solicitor of Labor, but since her May 7 confirmation hearing, her appointment is languishing in the Senate HELP committee. The Solicitor’s Office has about 600 employees,…
Last fall, we warned that a Supreme Court decision on medical device companies’ liability would remove a powerful incentive for device manufacturers to ensure their products’ safety. In that case, Riegel v. Medtronic, the Court ruled that as long as devices are FDA-approved, consumers injured by the devices can’t sue the manufacturers for liability in state…
Or is it: what wouldn’t we know without investigative journalist Andrew Schneider??? Would the town Libby, Montana mean anything? How about the words Zonolite, Diacetyl, or GRAS? These terms and places are familiar because of Andy Schneider, the Pulitzer Prize (and other) award winning reporter, who’s an integral part of our public health community. Schneider’s worked recently for papers in Seattle, St. Louis,…
Cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog by Ken Ward, Jr. Bayer CropScience hasn’t said yet if it will challenge $143,000 in fines issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 13 serious and 2 repeat violations related to the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Institute plant workers. But…
In late November, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral arguments on the two petitions for review of OSHA’s health standard on hexavalent chromium (CrVI). The transcript of the proceeding (52-page PDF) reveal that these judges did their homework. They knew the history and content of the final rule. I was heartened to…
by Bob Snashall, retired Labor Dept employee (Op-Ed Charleston Gazette, Nov 7, 2008) George W. Bush & Company did one thing well – it bagged a lot of public information and taxidermied it into secrets. The shroud of secrecy even spread over mine safety. Mine safety? The law envisions everybody chipping in to protect miners from the perils of…
On the eve of the election, The Nation reminds us that the next president will play a crucial role in determining the makeup of the Supreme Court. Herman Schwartz describes the Court’s current makeup and rattles off current rulings that would be threatened by the appointment of another conserviative justice. Then, other contributors explain how…
The State of Rhode Island’s efforts, which began in 1999, to force lead-paint manufacturers to clean-up contaminated homes received a mortal blow when the State’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s 2006 decision. (Full decision from 7/1/2008) This early ruling was a result of the longest civil jury trial in Rhode Island history, with the decision going against the…
Today’s Washington Post includes a great article by Lyndsey Layton that contrasts European Union and U.S. chemical laws and explores how EU actions might affect products on U.S. shelves. Here’s Layton’s explanation of EU law and the philosophy that guides it: