Occupational Health & Safety
sb admin | December 15, 2006Earlier this week, the Bush Administration released its semi-annual regulatory plan (71 Federal Register 72725, Dec 11, 2006). The 473-page document describes the Presidentâs regulatory priorities, with the âaim of implementing an effective and results-oriented regulatory system.â The document, prepared by the Office of Management and Budgetâs (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), provides plenty of fodder for the blogosphere, but Iâll focus here on just one absurd statement in the Department of Laborâs section (beginning on page 72828) describing its 19 high-priority…
sb admin | December 8, 2006Health and environmental bloggers have covered a wide array of topics this week. Some highlights:
Steve at Omni Brain (don't click the link while eating) displays graphic warnings from Belgian and Thai cigarette packs
Merrill Goozner at GoonzNews posts an excerpt from his just-published article (cover story of The Scientist, for those with subscriptions) on treating malaria on the Thai-Burmese border.
Revere at Effect Measure challenged those who inveigh against alternative medicine to respond to a study that found chicken soup to inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis, and a lively discussion ensued…
sb admin | December 7, 2006Earlier this year, President Bush nominated Susan E. Dudley of the Mercatus Center to replace John Graham, PhD, as the head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The office oversees all of the Administrationâs regulatory policies, including public health and environmental rules, and is often the last major hurdle faced by agencies like OSHA or EPA before a new regulation can be proposed. As Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) noted at Ms. Dudleyâs November 13 confirmation hearing, OIRA lacks name recognition among the public, but its work has tremendous âimpact on the lives of all…
sb admin | December 5, 2006By David Michaels
In my post Monday, I wrote that breathing diacetyl, the chemical in artificial butter flavor, is killing and crippling workers around the country. It is now more than six years since the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was first notified that workers in a popcorn plant in Missouri had developed the terrible and sometimes fatal lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans.
In response, the agency did send an inspector to the facility, but OSHA's Area Director concluded that OSHA could not issue a citation since the agency had no standards on the chemicals in…
sb admin | December 4, 2006By David Michaels
Every year, Marion Ohio (nickname: âpopcorn capital of the worldâ) hosts the largest popcorn festival in the world, with 250,000 attendees. The Orville Redenbacher Parade is one of the festivalsâ highlights. Redenbacher, who developed the hybrid corn strain that pops so uniformly, was actually from Indiana, but ConAgra Foods manufactures the best selling microwave popcorn brand âOrville Redenbacherâsâ (along with Act II brand) at its factory in Marion.
Americans like their popcorn to taste like it has butter on it. So workers at the Marion plant apply a mix of chemicals that…
sb admin | December 1, 2006Today is World AIDS Day, and thereâs no shortage of coverage in the blogosphere. Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake combines links to news stories with her own reflections, and Izzy at Unbossed remembers 1982, before they called it AIDS. Michael Bernstein and Nandini Oomman of Global Health Policy report from the World AIDS Day Event in Nairobi, and Christine Gorman of TIMEâs Global Health Update links to photos and stories of people living with AIDS.
On other topics:
Mike the Mad Biologist warns against focusing on water and sanitation improvement to the exclusion of cholera vaccination…
sb admin | December 1, 2006by OSHAL
It is worthwhile reading the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (report PDF here; Jordan Barabâs take here) that recommends a review of the effectiveness of current strategies for workplace safety and health. Of particular interest to me is the attitude and direction of this Administrationâs OSHA, in particular for those workplaces with the dirtiest jobs, where the lowest wages prevail, where many do not speak English, and where there is no union to defend their rights or speak for them.
Where are these âforgotten workersâ? They are in meatpacking and poultry plants, at…
sb admin | November 28, 2006By David Michaels
Meat factories continue to be among the most dangerous places to work in America. According to a devastating article in the Dallas Morning News, âthousands of illegal immigrants gravitate toward meatpacking plants in places like Cactus, Texasâ where each year more than one out of every ten workers gets injured carving meat on fast moving conveyer belts. The line speed requires exhausted workers wielding the sharpest of knives or hooks to make hundred of cuts an hour. OSHA inspectors are rarely seen in these factories.
One worker at the Swift & Co's Cactus, Texas plant…
sb admin | November 27, 2006by Dick Clapp
The publication of my article on mortality among IBM workers was the culmination of a two and a half year process. I obtained the data, which included information on the deaths of nearly 32,000 former workers who had died between 1969 and 2001, when I served as an expert witness in a lawsuit brought against IBM on behalf of employees who had developed cancer after working at the companyâs San Jose facility. I found that among the workers, the death rates from several cancersâincluding cancers of some digestive organs, kidneys, brain and central nervous system, melanoma of the…
cmonforton | November 20, 2006by Celeste Monforton
From the Ground Zero construction site to an expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport, the tide seems to be turning for cleaner diesel engines, particulate filters and low-sulfur fuels. As Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Alex Frangos writes: âInstead of belching black smoke, the bucket loaders, cranes and other diesel-power behemothsâ are being replaced with less-polluting equipment in order to win community support for massive construction projects in populated areas. Lawmakers are backing these measures, too. On November 1, Governor Pataki signed a…
cmonforton | November 17, 2006by Celeste MonfortonÂ
Who was the most compelling speaker at last weekâs 134th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association? It wasnât a scholarly epidemiologist warning about pandemic flu, or an emeritus professor presenting research on health disparities. No, the superstar speaker was a petite grandmother, wearing a red âHotel Workers Rising!â t-shirt.
Isabella (not her real name) has worked as a hotel housekeeper for more than 30 years. Through her short talk (thankfully, sans PowerPoint) before a gathering of APHA attendees, Isabella brought us face-to-face with…