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September 9, 2009
A Washington Post editorial entitled "Down and Out" (9/8/09) alerted me to a new report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) on working conditions experienced by low-wage workers in the U.S.  The 72-page report "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers:  Violations of Employment and Labor Laws…
September 9, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure One of the most feared outcomes of infection with influenza is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS; in less severe form it mahy be called Acute Lung Injury, ALI). For reasons we still do not understand, cells deep in the lung that are involved in…
September 9, 2009
Wyoming has had the highest rate of workplace deaths in recent years â 15.6 fatalities per 100,000 workers from 2005-2007. Oil field workers, or roughnecks, are at particular risk, and some of them are pushing the state to make it easier for injured workers and dead workersâ survivors to sue oil…
September 8, 2009
The New York Times editorial page draws attention to a new report that provides details about just how badly our system of workplace protections is failing workers in low-wage industries. Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in Americaâs Cities provides the…
September 4, 2009
As I get ready to take in the 3-day Labor Day weekend, I have to remind myself that this national holiday has deep roots in the trade union movement and struggles (sometimes violent) for workers to secure basic human rights.   In 1948, some of the fundamental protections sought by our…
September 4, 2009
by Ruth Long Yesterday, a friend and neighbor told me that she was chastised for nursing her daughter in a DC public library.  She had placed herself in a discreet corner and covered herself and her child who was nursing, while she read a book to her older child.  The librarian then confronted…
September 3, 2009
We've just learned that Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be announcing later this afternoon that John Howard, MD has been selected to lead the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Howard headed NIOSH for six years during George W. Bush's…
September 3, 2009
A lot of the media coverage of the healthcare debate lately has focused on the politics, probably because journalists feel like they've already spent several months explaining the various aspects of proposed reform. But there are a few things that bear repeating, because not everyone seems to…
September 2, 2009
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts) compiles an inventory of nanotech-enabled consumer products, and they recently announced that they've identified 1,000 nano products. Given the many…
September 1, 2009
CNNâs Elizabeth Landau reported yesterday on new research suggesting that online psychotherapy is an effective way to treat depression. The original study, published August 22 in the Lancet by Dr. David Kessler and colleagues in the UK, examined the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (…
September 1, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure It's not Labor Day yet, but I guess the Reveres have to consider their vacation over. We're all back at our respective home stations. We admit that not watching flu evolve daily was a relief, although we did sneak peeks when we weren't supposed to. But…
August 31, 2009
In a two-page notice in today's Federal Register, the Department of Labor's acting assistant secretary for policy has officially withdrawn the so-called "secret rule" on occupational health risk assessment.  It was exactly this time last summer that the G.W. Bush Administration's Labor Department…
August 28, 2009
by Kas Universities nation-wide welcome students to their campuses for the start of a new academic year.  With âsustainabilityâ on the lips of many university administrators and faculty, it comes as no surprise that new student orientations and university move-in programs have âgone green.â  Some…
August 28, 2009
High Country News investigated worker deaths in dairy operations in Western states, and found that at least 18 people died between 2003 and 2009. (See their list of injuries and deaths for details.) Rebecca Claren explains: They were killed in tractor accidents, suffocated by falling hay bales,…
August 27, 2009
by Kas In August 2006, the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program (NVMSRP) was established by the USEPA in a cooperative effort with auto manufacturers, steelmakers, dismantlers, shredders, State governments, environmentalists, and trade associations.  The NVMSRP was designed to recover…
August 26, 2009
As the nation mourns the loss of Senator Edward Kennedy, it's worth reading a Newsweek piece he wrote just last month on why the struggle for universal healthcare has been the cause of his life. He writes about the many times in his life when he and his family members have needed healthcare,…
August 25, 2009
One of the most e-mailed articles on the New York Times website today is Dickson D. Despommierâs op-ed âA Farm on Every Floor.â He has an intriguing proposal: grow crops inside tall buildings, a practice known as vertical farming. Since climate disruption is altering rainfall patterns and causing…
August 24, 2009
As evidence about the health risks associated with smoking accumulated, the tobacco industry responded by funding its own research, which concluded that cigarettes aren't so bad after all. They recruited spokespeople who'd proclaim tobacco's safety without revealing that they were being paid…
August 21, 2009
by Richard Denison, PhD  cross-posted from blogs.edf In June, EPA published a Federal Register notice that included Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) for two carbon nanotubes (as well as 21 other chemicals).  That notice certainly got the attention of lawyers in town (see here, here and here). …
August 21, 2009
Three physicians and researchers from the Capital University of Medical Sciences (Beijing, China) have published a case report in the European Respiratory Journal describing severe lung disease in seven female workers employed at a shop where they applied polyacrylic coatings to polystyrene…
August 20, 2009
An Institute of Medicine task force responsible for recommending protections for healthcare workers from the swine flu/H1N1 virus held a meeting last week, and CIDRAP reporters were there. Robert Roos reports that the first day focused on the efficacy of surgical masks and N95 respirators in…
August 19, 2009
Our colleague Mark Catlin (SEIU and APHA OHS Section) has done it again, finding another amazing collection of historical films with worker safety themes.  The latest were produced by the U.S. Federal Security Agency's Office of Education in 1944, entitled "Problems in Supervision: Instructing…
August 18, 2009
Last year, FDA disappointed us by insisting that there was no cause for concern about the presence of the chemical bisphenol A in food and beverage containers. An expert panel charged with evaluating the FDAâs draft assessment strongly criticized the agency for its severely limited exposure…
August 14, 2009
The Washington Postâs Sholnn Freeman, noting that the last six fatal airplane accidents in the US involved regional airlines, investigated the conditions of regional air crewmembers and found that they struggle to get adequate sleep near the airports from which they fly: At first sight, the…
August 13, 2009
For a lot of us, summer means sitting in air-conditioned offices and complaining to our co-workers about how hot it is outside. For farmworkers, summers mean hours of toil under a hot sun, in conditions that can be fatal. Working in the heat doesnât have to mean death, as long as workers can rest…
August 12, 2009
I'm reading a wonderful collection of public health success stories, in the collection assembled by John W. Ward and Christian Warren entitled "Silent Victories: The History and Practice of Public Health in 20th Century America"  (Oxford, 2007.)  Our colleagues Tony Robbins and Phil Landrigan…
August 12, 2009
In May, the Government Accountability Office issued a critical report assessing OSHA's program for monitoring its designated Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) sites.  There are about 2,200 of these VPP site across the country which have met the written program and on-site evaluation…
August 11, 2009
In a national survey by the Emergency Nurses Association, more than half of emergency-department nurses reported that theyâve been physically assaulted on the job. For many nurses, being assaulted is a recurring problem: Approximately one-fourth of the 3,465 respondents reported experiencing…
August 10, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Things have been quiet at CDC but apparently they have been changing. First, Dr. Richard Besser, who acquitted himself ably as Acting Director after January 20 until early June when Obama's new appointment, Dr. Thomas Frieden took over, has decided to…
August 10, 2009
In the U.S. Senate last week, between the debate and the vote on judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced  S. 1580, on behalf of Senator Edward Kennedy, a bill to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.  As far as…