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The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward posted two items yesterday at Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog concerning records related to the August 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, WV that killed two workers  (previous posts here, here, here…

On Monday, airline passengers were the first to observe the eruption of the just-barely-above-the-water volcano that forms the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, in Tonga. Three days later, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on the Tonga trench. Was the timing of these two events just…

Weâve written before about Alexandra Berzonâs fantastic Las Vegas Sun articles on construction-site dangers, so we were delighted to learn that the paper has won the 2009 Roy W. Howard public service reporting award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for its coverage of Las Vegas construction…

University of California Berkeley's Health Research for Action is calling on OSHA to revise its occupational health standard on lead, which is now 30 years old.  In a report entitled "Indecent Exposure: Lead Puts Workers and Families at Risk," the authors describe the adverse health…

The National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution here in DC, has asbestos in its wall seams â a situation unlikely to pose harm to visitors, but a potential risk to workers who might be cutting or drilling into walls. Seventeen years ago, managers were informed about the…

Alison Bass, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee, will be here at George Washington University tomorrow to speak about why the system of drug research and development in the United States is seriously flawed and what reforms are needed. Wednesday, March 18, 4:30pm GWU-SPHHS…

With an announcement today in the Federal Register, Labor Secretary Solis' OSHA is moving in a new direction to address occupational exposure to diacetyl.  The butter-flavoring agent is associated with respiratory harm, including bronchiolitis obliterans.  Just six…

Updated 3/17 and 3/19 (see below) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's newsroom heard the announcement this morning: The Heart Corporation, which owns the paper, will cease printing after tomorrow's edition. The official word is that the P-I won't be going away, but transitioning to an online-only…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure There is an attitude toward the prospects of an influenza pandemic and what, or what not, to do about it that I have little patience with. We saw examples a couple of years ago with the writings of Wendy Orent and Marc Siegel and now it is surfacing again…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure There is a good summary by Robert Roos at CIDRAP News about the $420 billion spending bill signed by President Obama this week to cover the next six months. The good news edges out the bad news, so the net is positive, a welcome change from…

Bloggers are reacting to the news of major scientific fraud: Massachusetts anesthesiologist Dr. Scott Reuben falsified data in his published studies for more than a decade. Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science explores the effects of Dr. Reubenâs duplicity on anesthesiology and…

The Washington Postâs Juliet Eilperin reports that a âlittle-noticedâ provision in the spending bill signed into law this week will reverse the Bush administrationâs loosening of Toxics Release Inventory reporting requirements. (Check out our past posts on the watered-down requirements and the…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure I'm just getting around to reading the Brief Report by Blachere et al., "Measurement of airborne influenza virus in a hospital emergency department" (Clinical Infectious Diseases 2009:48:483-440) but it's quite interesting. We've noted fairly often here…

Um, hi. Apparently I've been gone for a while. Yeah. Sorry about that. Life's been a bit crazy around here lately, and I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water. I'm not sleeping. I'm not taking care of myself. I'm sick. I'm stressed to the gills. I have way too much to do. I…

Welcome to version 2.0 of Eruptions, the blog on volcanic eruptions and volcano research in general. I've been writing this blog (starting over on Wordpress) over the last year or so, but now it has found a new home here at ScienceBlogs. If you're wondering what to expect if you're new to…

In today's New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof turns his attention to a problem that's been worrying the public health community for the past several years: MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. The bacteria's antibiotic resistance makes it hard to fight, and it's responsible…

A lot of our coverage of bisphenol A, the endocrine-disrupting chemical present in a host of plastic products, has focused on the FDAâs outdated stance. The agency has insisted that BPA is safe at levels currently found in food and liquid containers, even though its own panel of science advisors…

On March 17, OSHA will begin the public hearing phase of its rulemaking to improve workplace safety standards for cranes and derricks used in construction.   More than 30 individuals or organizations have notified OSHA of their intent to give testimony at the hearing,…

In 2007 and 2008, 12 construction workers were killed on the Las Vegas Strip. The Las Vegas Sunâs Alexandra Berzon wrote an excellent series on the breakneck pace of construction in Las Vegas, which creates deadly conditions, and the disappointing response from the stateâs OSHA. Now, a bill has…

Today, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies regarding scientific integrity. It begins: Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure I'm sure it will be years before we have cleaned up all the garbage -- literally and figuratively -- from the Bush administration's Environmental "Protection" Agency. The notoriously conservative DC Appeals Court, in a unanimous decision, did its…

Thereâs been a lot of news about Obama appointees this week: Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority is furious about the secret holds placed on the nominations of John Holdren (for Science Advisor) and Jane Lubchenco (to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and urges…

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…

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…

The escalating drug-cartel violence in Mexico is especially dangerous for those trying to govern and enforce the law. Drug traffickers demanded that Ciudad Juarez Police Chief Chief Roberto Orduña Cruz should resign, and promised to kill a police officer every 48 hours. After Orduñaâs deputy,…

As I skimmed through my RSS feeds and Above the Fold this morning, I noticed several stories about fish and the marine environment. Most of itâs bad news, as usual, but thereâs a glimmer of promise mixed in there, too: Researchers from NOAA and Washington State University have found that some…

New awards for 2008 books are coming out, and we're proud to announce that David Michaels' Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health has won recognition from both the Library Journal and the American Association of Publishers. Library Journal's Gregg Sapp has…

I know it doesn't feel like spring on the East Coast of the US, what with the big snow day yesterday. But it's been in the 60's here for the past three days, and in the 50's before that. At my elevation (6800 feet), the snow is gone except in the shade and on north-facing slopes. It's nice, but…

Cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog   by Ken Ward, Jr. Bayer CropScience hasnât 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…

Updated below (3/17/09) OMB Director Peter Orszag announced in a Federal Register notice last week that his office is interested in hearing your views on the federal regulatory process.  The Request for Comments on new Executive Order on Federal Regulatory Review comes 4-weeks …