By Aman Cross-posted with permission from Technology, Health & Development Tomorrow is World AIDS Day and instead of âbarraging you with [another set of] statistics, gruesome photos, or heart-wrenching storiesâ (quote credit to Mr. Casnocaha), I want to alert you to something we prefer here – solutions, problem solving, technology, and creative thinking. Piya Sorcar, a […]
Nanotechnology is getting some attention these days. Revere at Effect Measure (which just celebrated its third blogiversary!) gauges the level of alarm about nanotechnology; at Science Progress, Michael Peroski looks at the current regulatory framework for nanotechnology, while Justin Masterman highlights the promise of nanotubes for cancer therapy; and Matt Madia at Reg Watch critiques […]
It’s that time of year—time for the Secretary of Labor to issue her semi-annual regulatory agenda.  Look for its publication in the Federal Register around the second week of December. I’ll be curious to see OSHA’s timetable for action on diacetyl, the butter-flavoring agent associated with severe lung disease in exposed workers. Will OSHA list diacetyl on its reg agenda? Will it provide a target date […]
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, a group created by asbestos victims and their families, bought products from national retailers and had them tested at independent labs. One of the most disturbing findings was high levels of asbestos in powder from a toy CSI fingerprint kit. The powder is intended to be sprinkled on surfaces and […]
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, has a powerful op ed in todayâs New York Times on Burger Kingâs role in ensuring that migrant farm workers receive sub-minimum wages. The migrant farm workers who harvest tomatoes in South Florida have one of the nationâs most backbreaking jobs. For 10 to 12 hours a day, […]
Last month, BP and the Department of Justice reached a settlement agreement under which BP will pay $50 million for Clean Air Act violations associated with the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured many more. Celeste Monforton noted at the time that this amount is more than […]
In today’s Federal Register, OSHA published a proposed rule to protect construction workers from the hazards of working in confined spaces. This proposal–just a proposed rule at this point—has been 14 years in the making. It is something that OSHA promised to do as part of a 1994 settlement agreement with the Steelworkers. A rule has […]
The chairman of the University of Kentucky’s (UK) mining engineering department wrote in a recent op-ed of his strong oppposition to a new mine safety bill (HR 2768) which is making its way through Congress. The legislation will address long-standing health and safety hazards faced by miners such as disease-causing coal dust and silica, belt-air ventilation, flammable conveyor belts, […]
By David Egilman Jack Kevorkian was tried several times for second degree murder for assisting at suicide. He was finally convicted of second degree murder for one such “assist.” The state never asserted that the person who was killed was uninformed or had not participated in the decision to hire Kevorkian to assist in their […]
Dr. Lynn Goldman, former EPA Assistant Administrator For Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances and current Chair of Johns Hopkins’s Indepartmental Program in Applied Public Health, will be at George Washington University tomorrow (Tuesday, 11/27) to give a talk entitled “Chemicals: Making Public Health Policy in the Face of Uncertainty.” The event will run from noon until 1:30pm […]