Over at the Weekly Toll blog, Tammy says farewell to Carolyn Merritt, whose five-year term as chair of the Chemical Safety Board is coming to an end. She writes: Carolyn is a strong, compassionate leader who has been in politics but hasn’t let it pilot her ethics. Carolyn has done a terrific job of letting the families […]
In a post last week entitled Mining Professors Oppose Mine Safety Bill, I invited the signatories of a letter opposing new mine safety legislation to disclose their financial ties to the mining industry (if any) or other related conflicts of interest.  A couple of days later, one of the letter’s signers, Larry Grayson, PhD of Penn State University, responded thoughtfully […]
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
Diseases Cross Borders? Administration Official Doesnât Want to Hear It
By Liz Borkowski After former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona testified that White House officials tried to weaken or suppress important health reports for political purposes, Washington Post reporters Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman followed up on the case of a 2006 surgeon generalâs report on global health (draft here) whose publication was blocked. Carmonaâs […]
(Since Iâve actually been away from the computer all week, these links are all to posts from the previous week. Feel free to add some of this weekâs must-read blog posts in the comments.) Several bloggers are keeping us up to speed on health policy and its implications. Rachel Gold and Elizabeth Nash at RH […]
Does anyone need to worry about asbestos fibers released into the air following the explosion of an 83-year old Manhattan steam pipe last Wednesday? Hopefully not! So far, officials are saying that while asbestos fibers were detected in solid material near the site, they were not found in air samples collected on-site. Still, with the […]
By David Michaels We are pleased that the Washington Post has come to the same conclusion we have here at the Pump Handle (see here and here): something needs to be done to shake up the attorneys at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an editorial today entitled FEMA’s Toxic Environment, the Post tells FEMA […]
A group of 11 “academic experts in mine safety and health” sent a letter today to the leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee urging them to withdraw legislation (HR 2768 and HR 2769) on miners’ safety and health. The authors of the letter say that “now is not the right time to pursue” […]
By David Michaels In the continuing post-Hurricane Katrina debacle, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is facing two daunting tasks: Cleaning up some of the 56,000 trailers that are off-gassing formaldehyde, a toxic chemical; and Cleaning up the FEMA Office of General Counsel, which is evidently staffed with unethical attorneys. One recommended that the agency […]
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 sentences were immediately pardoned […]
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 will significantly improve reporting of TSCA toxic chemical […]