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January 4, 2008
"A thrilling documentary covering the origins and troubles surrounding the severe disease, Brain Freeze [a.k.a. Iceberger's Syndrome]." Link.
January 3, 2008
A coal mine operator in Hazard, Kentucky received a $220,000 penalty from MSHA for flagrantly violating electrical lockout/tagout procedures (such as padlocking an on/off switch to ensure that a machine is not unexpectedly turned-on, plugged in or energized while it is being serviced.)  The…
January 3, 2008
This time next year, the "Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act" will be in effect.  The new law, which amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), was signed into law by President Bush on December 31, 2007 and becomes effective in one year.  The bill, sponsored…
January 2, 2008
As 2007 drew to a close, Occupational Hazards asked a panel of industry leaders to make some predictions about the future of workplace safety. Laura Walter reports: The discussion revealed a variety of emerging trends that could impact the practice of safety in the future. Some were familiar themes…
January 2, 2008
The town of Odessa, Texas had never had a police officer die in the line of duty in its 73-year history. That changed in September 2007, when three Odessa officers, Arlie Jones, 48, Abel Marquez, 32 and Scott Gardner, 30 were gunned down responding to a domestic disturbance complaint.*  These…
January 2, 2008
Over at AlterNet, Grist's David Roberts and Lisa Hymas have compiled a list of the top 15 environmental stories of 2007. Climate change is the dominant theme, with scientists and Al Gore sounding the alarm and politicians responding (not necessarily in a productive way -- see the ethanol item). The…
December 28, 2007
Brain Candy, a film by Toronto's sketch comedy troupe Kids in the Hall, is a satirical take on drug development. A scientist creates an antidepressant (Gleemonex) that evokes the happiest memory of the consumer, recreating that joy in the present. Gleemonex becomes a big success, until it all goes…
December 24, 2007
"Why do those holiday tunes get stuck in your head so much?" I was invited to pose this question to Dr. Robert Zatorre, Co-Director of the BRAMS: Brain Music and Sound lab at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University. Dr. Zatorre is a leading expert in neuroscience research on the…
December 21, 2007
The Pump Handle will be on hiatus for the remainder of the year. We wish all of our readers and friends a healthy, peaceful 2008.
December 21, 2007
OSHA? No.  It's Andrew Schneider and his colleagues at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  In "Flavoring Additive Puts Professional Cooks at Risk," the reporter describes a study commissioned by the newspaper to determine how much of the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl becomes airborne when used…
December 21, 2007
With so much attention focused on the energy bill, itâs easy to forget some of the other important legislation coming out of Congress these days. Revere at Effect Measure reports on the NIH and CDC funding figures in the latest version of the appropriations bill, and Jake Young at Pure Pedantry…
December 21, 2007
The families of the workers killed at the T2 Lab are now planning memorial services instead of holiday celebrations. "With Christmas next week, we're not shopping for gifts--we've got to go look at caskets," said a relative of Parrish Ashley, 36, one of the four men killed in the Wednesday…
December 21, 2007
Since you've all been clamouring to see it, here's my new tattoo, and a video clip of the work in progress. It's an intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell, my favourite type of neuron. The artist was Gordon at Brain Drops, highly recommended. :) Enjoy your holidays!
December 20, 2007
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has denied Californiaâs petition to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucksâagainst the advice of technical and legal staff, reports the Washington Postâs Juliet Eilperin. Governor Schwarzenegger says his state will sue over the decision, and EPA…
December 20, 2007
The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi is one of the Pump Handleâs top book recommendations this year (hereâs an excerpt, to whet your appetite). On Monday January 7th, the bookâs author, Les Leopold of the Labor Institute, will be coming to Washington to…
December 20, 2007
Fortune has announced the year's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, including Prozac for dogs. "Thank God. We've been so worried since Lucky dyed his hair jet black and started listening to the Smiths." "Eli Lilly wins FDA approval to put Prozac into chewable, beef-flavored pills to treat separation…
December 19, 2007
Updated 12/20: See below  Four workers were killed and at least 14 people were injured in a violent explosion at the T2 Labs in Jacksonville, Florida.  The firm manufacturers Ecotane®, the gasoline additive "methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl" (i.e.,  MMT® or MCMT), which…
December 19, 2007
The "Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007" (H.R. 6) has passed the House and Senate, and is making its way to President Bush for a signing ceremony today at DOE headquarters.  Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times reports that the measure is getting mixed reviews from interest groups.…
December 19, 2007
Nurses, construction workers, and cleaning industry employees have some new resources available to them: The American Nurses Association launched a âSafe Staffing Saves Livesâ website to help nurses become advocates for safe levels of staffing in hospital units (via Occupational Health &…
December 18, 2007
The Onion shares news of a drug designed to alleviate distrust of drug manufacturers. "Out of a test group of 180, 172 study participants reported a dramatic rise in their passion for pharmaceutical companies," said Pfizer director of clinical research Suzanne Frost. "And 167 asked their doctors…
December 18, 2007
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivoreâs Dilemma, writes in the latest New York Times Magazine about two stories that âmay point to an imminent breakdown in the way weâre growing food today.â The first is the rise of community-acquired MRSA (thatâs Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a…
December 18, 2007
The journal Epidemiology has just published new evidence that drinking hexavalent chromium -- also called chromium 6 -- increases risk of stomach cancer. The study is important for public health purposes, since many drinking water sources are chromium contaminated (including the water in the…
December 17, 2007
Every few months like clockwork, news stories have been appearing to report a rise in incidence rates for coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP).  The format goes something like this:  Headline: Black lung on the rise! Lead: NIOSH reports sharp increase in black lung cases Body: How can this…
December 17, 2007
Susan Wood (see her past Pump Handle posts here) has an op-ed in today's Boston Globe: "A public health system defeated at the hands of ideology." She focuses on the Bush administration's "failure to staff important health-related positions with qualified individuals willing to provide science-…
December 17, 2007
There are many brain fitness software products available these days so when I was offered a copy of Core Learning's program Mind Builder, I agreed to check it out. It offers a series of test questions similar to America's SAT, while Mind Builder Pro is a fuller package that also incorporates IQ,…
December 14, 2007
As the year is winding down, one question on the minds of many MSHA inspectors, managers and staff has to be: Will Stickler be here in 2008?  The MSHA chief, Richard Stickler, received his job from President G.W. Bush on a "recess appointment," which expires at the end of the current U.S.…
December 14, 2007
The Science Debate 2008 initiative (which we blogged about earlier) has prompted Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock, and Zuska at Thus Spake Zuska to suggest questions to be asked at a presidential science debate. Iâm sure there are many other…
December 14, 2007
In a parody of Make Magazine projects, Austrian group Monochrom demonstrate how to create a brain computer interface, a.k.a. braicin, using household materials like duct tape, old ice skates, a vintage calculator, and onions in alcohol ("preferably Romanian"). Via Boing Boing TV. Link to extended…
December 13, 2007
If you live near a facility that releases between 500 and 2,000 pounds of a toxic chemical each year, you may be about to lose your access to important information about what you and your neighbors are potentially exposed to. Thatâs because EPA has changed its Toxics Release Inventory reporting…
December 13, 2007
December 13 is my birthday! Yippee, you say, how old am I? Old enough to not say... I will shamelessly mention the Amazon wish list linked from my contact page, and remind you that Omni Brain has a tip jar in the sidebar (shared with Steve). But I'm not desperate for anything and there are plenty…