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July 24, 2007
Crosspost from Effect Measure, by Revere
At 3:50 am EDST I received the welcome news, via Declan Butler, that the Tripoli 6 were free and on the tarmac in Sofia, Bulgaria. All are Bulgarian citizens and were released by the Libyan prison authorities as part of an extradition arrangement. Their life…
July 24, 2007
You may have heard about the amendment proposed to a Higher Education act by Harry Reid that would make colleges responsible for enforcing RIAA and MPAA policy. The text of the amendment is absolutely every bit as scary as the Inside Higher Ed article makes it sound. And, as one commenter (…
July 23, 2007
By Myra L. Karstadt, Ph.D
On June 13, a team of which I was part received EPAâs highest award: The Administratorâs Gold Medal for Exceptional Service. According to the citation, the award was given to us âFor successful conclusion of the largest administrative penalty action in history which…
July 23, 2007
By David Michaels
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director R. David Paulison needs to pursue disciplinary charges against the attorneys who advised the agency to ignore its responsibility to take care of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Last week, we reported on the revelations…
July 22, 2007
Congress has given significant attention over the last 18 months to the dangers facing US coal miners, but many fatal hazards claim the lives of other miners, such as those working at sand and gravel quarries, limestone and salt mines. This year, nearly twice as many miners have died at US metal…
July 21, 2007
Because, unlike what happens with copyright violation, students at Kansas University would at least be given due process and the right to a trial in which they could defend themselves if accused of murder.
Oh, and P.S., just like Josh's blog, if you're at KU and just read this, well, you're worse…
July 20, 2007
Promoting public health depends on having good information. Much of the information we rely on comes from studies published in journals, but we often learn of these studies from news outlets that present distorted pictures of the findings. Going straight to the source limits that distortion but can…
July 20, 2007
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
In the latest issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Joseph Plaster explores how the system for trucking imported goods from the Port of Oakland keeps both truckers and residents struggling. Truckers scrape by on meager earnings and can only afford the oldest, most polluting…
July 19, 2007
This week, OSHA posted on its website a case study designed to show the benefits of implementing a comprehensive workplace safety and health program. In announcing the case study, Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke, Jr said the report âis a good example of what can happen when management and…
July 19, 2007
By David Michaels
More sickening revelations about FEMAâs lack of concern for the health of Americans, this time concerning their actions months after Hurricane Katrina. Spencer S. Hsu of the Washington Post reports that
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suppressed warnings from its own…
July 19, 2007
Last night, the Barton Amendment to the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill was defeated by a vote of 181-249. All the Democrats, along with 19 Republicans, voted against the amendment. If it had been enacted, it would have resulted in a cut of more than 20% of NIOSHâs budget, and would have killed the…
July 18, 2007
According to an American Road and Transportation Builders Association analysis, roadway construction workers are killed at a rate nearly three times higher than other construction workers. Tom Demeropolis at the Cincinnati Post reports that roadway construction workers safety is on officialsâ minds…
July 18, 2007
Yesterday the Libyan Supreme Council commuted the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian-Bulgarian doctor to life in prison. The Tripoli 6 became a cause célèbre in the scientific and diplomatic communities when Libyan courts, after holding them in prison for eight years,…
July 18, 2007
You will frequently hear certain anti-religion science bloggers and
commenters on these boards saying that the only way for a
non-atheist to be a good scientist is to "compartmentalize"— to
wall off a part of his mind while doing science, and likewise to wall
off the scientific part of his mind…
July 18, 2007
By David Michaels
Weâve gotten news that Republicans in the House are planning to introduce a very destructive amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill, probably later today. This amendment will have a devastating impact on NIOSH's research program, and it is important that we act…
July 18, 2007
By David Michaels
Yesterday, we wrote about the efforts by Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to extend the prohibition on OSHA from fully enforcing its respiratory protection standard to protect health care workers and first responders from tuberculosis. Wicker successfully added this prohibition to…
July 17, 2007
You may already have read about a series of chemical explosions that occurred this morning at the Barton Solvents plant near Wichita, Kansas. An estimated 650,000 gallons of an âarray of chemicalsâ were on fire, sending flames up to 150 feet high and a steady stream of thick black smoke into the…
July 17, 2007
By David Michaels
How to not stop the spread of drug resistant tuberculosis? Give health care workers and first responders respirators that donât fit correctly.
It is hard to believe, but the House of Representatives will very soon (perhaps later today) be voting on an amendment to the Labor-HHS-…
July 17, 2007
This is really cool. Several years ago, the Gruber Foundation established a prize in cosmology. Last year (2006) the award went to John Mather and the COBE team; you may recall that Mather was one of the two winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. This year the award is being split four…
July 16, 2007
In Canada, asbestos is so sacred that the Canadian Cancer Society struggled with a decision about whether to call for a ban on a substance thatâs internationally recognized as a carcinogen. Martin Mittelstaedt reports in the Globe and Mail:
The cancer society had initially considered an asbestos…
July 16, 2007
So that people don't feel the need to threadcrap in other threads, I open this thread here for people to make their flames, comments, insults, dismissals, expressions of support, and so forth.
I have said before that I'm a Christian. I had my three-part (one, two, three) set of posts in the past…
July 16, 2007
Loved the teaching. Loved the science. Couldn't take the politics. Couldn't take the tenure stress. That about sums it up.
I am sending off today a signed offer letter for employment with Linden Lab, the folks who create and run Second Life. I will be an engineer or ops/developer or something…
July 16, 2007
By David Michaels
Gretchen Morgenson, the terrific New York Times reporter, has a disturbing piece that describes how the toothless Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has little ability to force hazardous consumer products of the shelves of toy stores.
The focus of her report is on super…
July 15, 2007
The Louisville-Courier Journal's (LCJ) David Hawpe tells it like he sees it: "Coal is an outlaw industry." When criticized for degrading the industry and asked when he would stop calling it names, Hawpe replied when the industry started "behaving like something other than a bunch of outlaws." …
July 13, 2007
...said Melissa Lee, widow of coal miner Jimmy Lee, 33 who died at a Harlan County, KY mine.  At least 17 other families are probably feeling the same way about the improperly constructed seals at the Sago and Darby coal mines where their loved ones perished.Â
The Mine Safety and…
July 13, 2007
Bloggers have been focusing much of their attention on the federal government this week. The testimony of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona about White House pressure to remain silent on stem cell research, sex education, and other topics spurred lots of reactions: Revere at Effect…
July 13, 2007
It wasn't doing anybody any good, and it was only causing uproar and unhappiness.
I did have one or two positive comments (amidst 150, mind you), and one or two private e-mails appreciating that somebody else has the same reaction as I. In the end, though, it was a mistake to publish it. Those…
July 12, 2007
A music video, a crowdsourced homecast cultural expression ... Brain Tamer by Peter Johnson.
Brain Tamer
July 12, 2007
John F. Martonik, 58, former deputy director of OSHA's Health Standards Program passed away on July 11 at his home in Annandale, Virginia. John retired from OSHA in 2002 and since then used his industrial hygiene expertise to assist workers in compensation and liability cases. He was…
July 12, 2007
The Kaiser Family Foundation has launched the website health08.org âto provide a central hub for resources and information about health policy issues in the 2008 election.â In a Boston Globe editorial, KFF president and CEO Drew Altman observes, âIn a short period of time health has gone from an…