Bloggers turn their attention to the floods in the Midwest: Tara C. Smith of Aetiology is in the thick of the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids floods. She reminds us that preparedness can pay off for floods as well as flu, and that residents need to consider several health issues as the flood waters recede. We wish […]
On Saturday June 21st, Iâll be the guest on the Firedoglake Book Salon, talking about my new book âDoubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.â Please join me from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Eastern time, for what promises to be an interesting conversation. Doubt continues to get rave reviews. […]
Weâve written before about how important it is for the presidential candidates to let the public know where they stand on science issues. Now, the Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund, in partnership with 15 prominent scientific and engineering societies, is asking Congressional candidates where they stand on science-related issues, including climate change, water, […]
Salmonella-tainted tomatoes have sickened at least 277, although the Seattle PIâs Andrew Schneider cites a CDC estimate of 8,600 people whoâve become ill during this outbreak. Congress has reacted to this and other food and drug safety problems by forcing additional funding on the FDA, which isnât allowed to ask for more money than the […]
Updated (6/19/08) below Just before last year’s holiday season, Charles Budds Bolchoz, 48; best friends Karey Renard Henry, 35, and Parish Lamar Ashley, 36; and company owner Robert Scott Gallagher, 49, lost their lives in a violent explosion at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Florida (previous posts here, here). The firm manufacturered Ecotane®, a gasoline additive âmethylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonylâ (i.e., […]
Mr. Robert Carey, 45, an athracite coal miner from Shamokin, Pennsylvania was killed on Monday by falling rock/coal at the Harmony Mine. So far this year, 26 workers at U.S. mining operations have died on-the-job. Just this past Sunday, former MSHA chief J. Davitt McAteer had an Op-Ed in the Charleston Gazette entitled: “Enough: No More Mining Deaths.”   He wrote: […]
The New York Times reports this week that Charles M. Smith, the Army official responsible for overseeing the Pentagonâs multi-billion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years after the Iraq invasion, says he was removed from his job for refusing to pay the company more than $1 billion in charges for which it lacked […]
Back in April, a Government Accountability Office report explained how the White House Office of Management and Budget was holding up EPAâs IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) assessments. OMB had started requiring an âinteragency reviewâ process allowing agencies that might be affected by the IRIS assessments to provide comments on the documents â and as […]
Ever been frustrated by an industrial hygienist who just didn’t seem to get it? The dude comes in with his air tubes, calibrators, gizmos and gadgets, but barely says a peep to the workers.  I’m not talking about the talented IH’s out there—who understand that talking to the exposed workers is an integral part of their job. No, I’m talking about […]
Updated below ( 6/18/08 ) Earlier this month I wrote in “Crashing Cranes, Deaths and the White House’s Edict” about the inexcusable inaction by the US Department of Labor and OSHA to address the decades-old problem of crane-related deaths. I am not alone in my disgust at this regulatory system, which yet again is failing to protect our nation’s […]