Environmental health
sb admin | March 9, 2009by 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 part recently when it declared the Bush EPA's standards for air particulates âcontrary to law and unsupported by adequately reasoned decisionmaking." The language doesn't get much stronger than that. Just a few days before the Supremes refused to hear a challenge to a lower court decision striking down…
revere | March 9, 2009I'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 part recently when it declared the Bush EPA's standards for air particulates “contrary to law and unsupported by adequately reasoned decisionmaking." The language doesn't get much stronger than that. Just a few days before the Supremes refused to hear a challenge to a lower court decision striking down Bush EPA mercury standards from coal-fired power…
sb admin | March 4, 2009Or 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 Prize (and other) award winning reporter, who's an integral part of our public health community. Schneider's worked recently for papers in Seattle, St. Louis, Baltimore and back to Seattle, but no matter where his feet land, stellar investigations follow.        Â
Right now, it appears that Schneider is staked out…
sb admin | March 3, 2009As 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 combinations of pesticides often present in Pacific Salmonâs freshwater habitat are more lethal than higher concentrations of single chemicals. (EHP study here; AP article here)
An Oceana study reports that several types of small fish are being overfished and suffering the effects of climate change;…
sb admin | March 2, 2009Cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog Â
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 explosion and fire that killed two Institute plant workers. But a vigorous court fight seems likely, given who Bayer has hired as its lawyer in the matter.Â
Robert C. Gombar is well known for his efforts to help companies that butt heads with OSHA over allegations that they werenât complying with workplace…
sb admin | March 2, 2009Updated 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 after President Obama's January 30 memorandum to department and agency heads (previous post here) announcing his plan to issue a new E.O., noting "...the principles governing regulation in generalâshould be revisited.â You better hurry if you want to share your views with OMB on a new E.O.; the comment…
cmonforton | February 26, 2009By Celeste Monforton
Last August 28, Bill Oxley and Barry Withrow, 45 were working at the Bayer CropScience’s plant in Institute, WV when a massive fireball erupted in an area where methomyl for the carbamate insecticide thiodicarb (Larvin) is produced. Mr. Withrow was killed immediately in the blast, and Mr. Oxley died after 43 days in a Pittsburgh burn center. When I first wrote about this disaster, in "911 operator: “I’m only allowed to tell you we have an emergency," I focused on reporting by the Charleston-Gazette's Ken Ward, who used excerpts from the 911 emergency call transcripts…
sb admin | February 25, 2009A week after President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $10 billion of its funding. The agencyâs press release explains why the speed was possible:
The funding announced today is primarily formula-based, meaning that it is allocated using set program criteria that do not require grantees to apply for the funds, allowing them to be allocated very quickly.
Three-quarters of HUDâs stimulus money has already been allocated using this set program criteria; the remaining quarter will be competitively awarded for projects that…
revere | February 19, 2009Like a lot of people I am more inclined to believe research that is in accord with my prior beliefs. Put another (Bayesian) way, I don't have to change my beliefs much on the basis of evidence. That means I don't question the evidence rigorously. So with that warning, here's a story I instinctively believe because it accords with my prior beliefs -- and preferences. It has to do with washing your hands after using a public bathroom.
To be clear at the outset: I always wash my hands after using the bathroom. I'm not sure what the actual evidence for disease transmission is but I consider it an…
sb admin | February 18, 2009Our regular readers may already be familiar with Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters who investigate the stories behind chemicals used in consumer products. Their series âChemical Falloutâ includes articles on bisphenol A and flame retardants, and in-depth looks at how EPA and FDA are (or arenât) regulating the many chemicals we encounter on a daily basis.
Rust and Kissinger have just won a George Polk Award, which was established by Long Island University in honor of George W. Polk, a CBS correspondent killed while covering civil war in Greece in 1948.…
sb admin | February 12, 2009Linda Reinstein is a mother and grandmother.  Linda Reinstein is an asbestos-disease widow. Her husband Alan Reinstein, 67, died on May 22, 2006 from mesothelioma. Like her husband, Linda Reinstein is a fighter, an organizer, an activist.  Following Alan Reinstein's mesothelioma diagnosis in 2003, they founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) which is now entering its sixth year. The organization strives to serve as the "voice of the victims."
Next month, the ADAO will host its 5th annual Asbestos Awareness Day conference (March 27-29, Manhattan Beach,…
sb admin | February 10, 2009Cross-posted from CPR Blog, by Rena Steinzor
Weâve written a great deal about Cass Sunstein, the Harvard law professor who is expected to get the nod to be the âregulatory czarâ for the Obama Administration.  In a nutshell, our concern is that Sunstein will stifle the efforts of health, safety, and environmental protection agencies to struggle to their feet after eight long years of evisceration by the Bush Administrationâs regulatory czars, John Graham, and his protégé, Susan Dudley.
But, we got to thinking. Just because the 30-year tradition of regulatory czars is to kill regulations…
sb admin | February 3, 2009President Obama issued an order on Jan 30 signaling his desire to improve the manner in which the Office of Management and Budget reviews federal agencies' regulatory initiatives. In his Memorandum to Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, the President noted:
"For well over two decades, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the OMB has reviewed Federal regulations. ...The fundamental principles and structures governing contemporary regulatory review were set out in Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993.  A great deal has been learned since that time.…
revere | January 28, 2009Even as the the peanut cum salmonella recall spreads (sorry, couldn't resist), we learn that the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia thought to be its source has a history of "problems":
The plant in Georgia that produced peanut butter tainted by salmonella has a history of sanitation lapses and was cited repeatedly in 2006 and 2007 for having dirty surfaces and grease residue and dirt buildup throughout the plant, according to health inspection reports. Inspection reports from 2008 found the plant repeatedly in violation of cleanliness standards.
Inspections of the plant…
sb admin | January 26, 2009Legal scholars with the Center for Progressive Reform issued today "The Choices Facing Cass Sunstein," an assessment of the writings of President Obama's nominee for the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The authors reviewed Prof. Sunstein's writing and report specifically on his staunch support for cost-benefit analysis and the "centralization of authority over regulatory decisionmaking in OIRA." They conclude:
"The Obama Administration has a unique opportunity to fix the [regulatory] system, by recognizing the failings of cost-benefit. But Cass Sunstein…
sb admin | January 22, 2009Last week The Pump Handle featured an article by Carole Bass entitled Why is Black Lung back? In response, a former coal miner offers his views on why coal miners in the U.S. continue to develop and suffer from this occupational lung disease that is 100% preventable. He writes:
Thank you for your article on the resurrection of black lung disease. As a former coal miner and someone who has worked in the field of workplace health and safety most of my life, I have a few insights that you should consider:
1. NIOSHâs Dr. Petsnok and team have identified a sentinel event regarding the…
sb admin | January 19, 2009Tomorrowâs Inauguration events are the main attraction this week, but thousands of people also turned out along train tracks over the past several days to cheer President-Elect Obama as he made his way from Chicago to Washington in a historic rail car. The journey was noteworthy not only because it symbolically repeated the trip Lincoln made on his way to assume the presidency, but because it suggests that our soon-to-be president appreciates public transportation. (And Vice President-Elect Joe Biden is assumed to be even more pro-train, having ridden Amtrak between DC and his home in…
sb admin | January 16, 2009The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward reports:
"Less than a week before leaving office, the Bush administration is preparing to issue an emergency health advisory for drinking water polluted with the toxic chemical C8. ...EPA plans to recommend reducing consumption of water that contains more than 0.4 parts per billion of C8, according to a draft of the agency advisory [6-page PDF] obtained by the Charleston Gazette. ...The [new] advisory level is tighter [and] a guideline in effect for residents near a DuPont Parkersburg [WV chemical] plant...are both 10 times weaker than a similar C8…
revere | January 14, 2009One of the triumphs of 19th and 20th century public health was the provision of piped water into cities and towns. With the use of modern methods of disinfection (primarily chlorination) water as a source of mass distributed poisons rapidly receded, and with it the preponderance of infectious diseases that were the scourge of urban life. Urban water supplied were an efficient means to provide a healthy required substance, water, to the whole population and once. But of course it is also an efficient means to distribute unhealthy stuff -- not just microbes but chemicals. I've worked on the…
revere | January 9, 2009You may be surprised to learn (I was) that the US is having a large (almost 400 people) multistate (42) salmonella outbreak (S. typhimurium, often but not always associated with poultry and dairy products). So far 67 hospitalizations, with patients spanning the age spectrum (ages 1 to 103).DNA fingerprinting has established all cases are related (a common source or sources). Oh, and one more thing. It didn't just begin. Apparently it's been going on since sometime in September.
Like the plat du jour, this is the salmonella outbreak du jour. Last summer we were treated to the tomatoes-cilantro…