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September 3, 2007
For those of us fortunate enough to have Labor Day off from work, itâs a good time to remember all the workers who canât take a day off because we rely so heavily on them: hospital staff, police officers, bus drivers, power-company workers, and many others. Then, there are the retail and restaurant…
September 3, 2007
Read this book.
First and formost for a book review: Storm World is a good
read. You will not find yourself bogged down or forcing yourself to
push through a book that's "good for you." You will keep reading
because you will want to know more.
As for the book itself: Mooney clearly has a point of…
August 31, 2007
by Celeste MonfortonÂ
Yesterday in "MSHA Spokesman Parrots Bob Murray," I wrote about MSHA's rejection of a request by the families of the six trapped Crandall Canyon miners to have the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) serve as the miners' representative during MSHA's investigation of the…
August 31, 2007
Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock alerted me that today is the third annual Blog Day, which âwas created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest.â To participate, bloggers link to five new blogs â and…
August 31, 2007
In recognition of the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum at The Intersection provide a series of posts about the lessons from this disaster. At Gristmill, Joseph Romm explains why Hurricane Katrina busts the myth that humans can adapt to climate change.…
August 31, 2007
by Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
Todayâs Washington Post writes about one more instance where womenâs health and childrenâs health were a lower priority than the interests of a powerful group. In this case, it was breastfeeding vs. the formula industry.
Marc Kaufman and Christopher Lee write:
In an…
August 30, 2007
by Celeste MonfortonÂ
Max Follmer of The Huffington Post reports that MSHA has rebuffed a request from the Crandall Canyon families to designate the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to serve as their representative during MSHA's formal accident investigation.Â
"In a statement e-mailed to…
August 30, 2007
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Here in the U.S., people seem to like the idea of our government ensuring that weâve got clean air, clean water, and healthy workplaces, and that our exposure to toxic substances is limited. However, we also keep electing politicians who make it hard for federal agencies to…
August 30, 2007
By David Michaels
The media has been buzzing (see here and here and here) about the announcement by the Pop Weaver Company that they will soon be marketing a butter flavored microwave popcorn that doesnât use diacetyl in the butter flavor. As readers of this blog know, diacetyl (a component of…
August 29, 2007
The Mountain Eagle's Tom Bethell recounts a 1986 coal mining disaster in Queensland, Australia which involved an explosion in an abandoned, sealed area which caused the death of 12 miners. Its similarities to the 2006 Sago tragedy end there because, as Bethell writes:
In the wake of that…
August 29, 2007
More distressing news related to Ground Zero keeps coming out. A probe has been launched into the Deutsche Bank building fire that killed two firefighters on August 18th; community leaders are criticizing the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for hiring a demolition subcontractor with…
August 28, 2007
During one of Mr. Bob Murray's endless television appearances, he was asked why his underground coal mine in Illinois had received more than 900 safety and health violations last year. In his "I'm just a humble coal miner" kind-of-way, he tried to explain that the public just doesn't understand…
August 27, 2007
 By Susan F. Wood, PhD
 The Journal of Womenâs Health published a special report and an editorial last month on the FDAâs Office of Womenâs Health (FDA OWH) that provide information and insight into the multiple roles of such an office, and the importance of maintaining the scientific research…
August 27, 2007
By Kristen Perosino
Congress is currently considering important legislation to improve drug and medical device safety and strengthen scientific integrity at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both the House (H.R. 2900) and Senate (S. 1082) versions contain provisions that should be adopted…
August 27, 2007
By David Michaels
Tort "reformers" have long contended (with little evidence) that fear of litigation has scared off vaccine manufacturers from developing new vaccines.
It has been more than twenty years since Congress established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The program was…
August 25, 2007
DRM stands for "digital restrictions management". (Those who are in the business of peddling it as something positive will tell you it's "digital rights management," but the former is really a better descriptive name.) It is software that prevents you from using some other software or digital…
August 24, 2007
 by Susan F. Wood, PhD
 The last week of August is full of anniversaries for me, both public and personal. On August 24, it has been one year since the partial approval of Plan B emergency contraception over-the-counter (OTC) for those over 18 years old. Two days later on August 26 is the…
August 24, 2007
Four months ago, Mr. Dale Jones, 51 and Mr. Michael Wilt, 38 were killed in a massive highwall collapse at a surface coal mine near Barton, Maryland. The two miners were buried under 93,000 tons of rock, and it took rescue crews three days to recover the men's bodies. Â
This week, MSHA…
August 24, 2007
There are several issues this week that attracted multiple bloggersâ attention:
It might sound like a good idea for Medicare to stop paying to treat avoidable complications, but Chris Rangel at RangelMD, N=1 at Universal Health, and
Orac at Respectful Insolence have some concerns about the this…
August 24, 2007
If you haven't seen it yet, go read Edward Cody's Washington Post article on a recent Chinese mine disaster. It begins with a description from a survivor:
XINTAI, China, Aug. 23 -- The first sign of trouble was a stream of water that burst from a wall deep in the mine, Wang Kuitao recalled. Within…
August 23, 2007
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Revereâs been keeping us up to date on the latest news about the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences â specifically, the stepping aside of Director Dr. David Schwartz for an NIH investigation, and the letter sent to NIEHS employees with the apparent goal of…
August 22, 2007
I've been fortunate enough to have excellent health, despite poor diet and lack of exercise. I've never really been confronted by my own mortality. In my business, however, I am surrounded by others' tragedies.
I did my training in a large city that attracts lots of young people from my home town.…
August 22, 2007
This time, it's not an Act of God, but instead it just that Big, Bad Mountain. Owner/operator of the Crandall Canyon mine, Mr. Bob Murray said today:
"Had I known that this evil mountain, this alive mountain, would do what it did, I would never have sent the miners in here.  I'll never go…
August 22, 2007
Last April, I received this nice letter from Mark Mathis.
Hello Mr. Myers,
My name is Mark Mathis. I am a Producer for Rampant Films. We are
currently in production of the documentary film, "Crossroads: The
Intersection of Science and Religion."
At your convenience I would like to discuss our…
August 22, 2007
These three men were killed while trying to rescue six miners trapped at Crandall Canyon in Utah:
Dale Ray Black, 48, of Huntington, Utah (read more about him from the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News)
Brandon Kimber, 29, of Price, Utah (read more about him from USA Today and the…
August 22, 2007
The Mountain Eagle's Tom Bethell pulls no punches in today's editorial with an in-your-face critique of the coal industry and their investment (not!) in safety technology. He writes:
"Name five U.S. coal companies that have generously supported research to develop a two-way PED, hardened…
August 21, 2007
Cross-posted by Revere at Effect Measure
You wonder when they will ever learn -- or IF they will ever learn. In the wake of yesterday's announcement that the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. David Schwartz, will step aside while NIH does an inquiry into…
August 21, 2007
Mr. Eleazar Torres-Gomez, 46, was killed at an Oklahoma Cintas laundry plant on March 6, 2007, when he was dragged into an industrial dryer because of an unguarded conveyor. Federal OSHA investigated the fatality and, this week, proposed a $2.78 million penalty for, among other things, 42…
August 21, 2007
In a McClatchy Newspapers article, Kevin G. Hall shows how China and the Bush administration have both undermined efforts to keep lead out of children's products by opposing efforts to police Chinese imports. This description of the Bush administration's role will sound familiar to regular…
August 20, 2007
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Although work has begun on a fifth borehole into the Crandall Canyon mine, officials acknowledged yesterday that the six miners may not be found. This LA Times article describes the anguishing choice between leaving the miners underground â a notion âakin to soldiers leaving…