October 31, 2008 The Pump Handle

Celeste and other bloggers have noted that the Bush administration seems to be ignoring the Bolten memo, which told agency heads not to engage in the traditional end-of-administration rush to regulate. Now, a front-page story in today’s Washington Post confirms that this administration is racing to enact several new regulations before Bush’s term ends – […]

October 31, 2008 The Pump Handle

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Wyeth v. Levine, the case that will decide whether FDA approval shields drug manufacturers from liability claims under state laws. (Read more about this idea of preemption here.) Bloggers have a lot to say about the case and this concept of preemption: Niko Karvounis at […]

October 30, 2008 The Pump Handle

By Sarah Vogel The Science Board Subcommittee on Food Contact Applications of BPA (Bisphenol A), the expert panel assigned to evaluate the FDA’s Draft Assessment on BPA, released a report Wednesday, October 29, 2008, highlighting a number of severe limitations of the agency’s assessment.  Although judiciously written, the Subcommittee unequivocally gave the agency failing marks […]

October 29, 2008 The Pump Handle 2Comment

With concerns growing about a nursing shortage, hospitals are looking at ways to improve retention of the nurses they have on staff. Susan Meyers at Nurse.com (via RWJF) reports on an initiative at Los Angeles’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital to improve physician-nurse communication in order to boost morale: With nearly a nine-year jump on the [MD-RN Collaborative], […]

October 28, 2008 The Pump Handle

The Rotterdam Convention is an agreement addressing international movement of hazardous substances, but of course there’s a great deal of debate about what qualifies as a hazardous substance. As convention parties met this week, several developing nations spoke up against adding asbestos to this list – and, according to one Canadian MP who attended the […]

October 28, 2008 The Pump Handle

The American Public Health Association is holding its annual meeting this week in San Diego (check out their conference blog here), and members of the occupational health section will be gathering today to congratulate the winners of this year’s awards. (Read about last year’s awards here.) Here are some of the outstanding individuals who are […]

October 27, 2008 The Pump Handle

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Earaches, respiratory infections and diarrhea are the bane of existence for young parents. All are potentially the result of contagious agents. The most common agent for diarrhea in infants and children is rotavirus, a double-stranded DNA virus, that CDC estimates causes 400,000 doctor visits, 200,000 emergency room visits and […]

October 27, 2008 The Pump Handle

Remember back in early May, when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten sent a memorandum to all agency heads warning them: “to resist the historical tendency of administrations to increase regulatory activity in their final months” and directed, except in extraordinary circumstances, that regulations needed to be proposed by 6/1/08.  Well it seems that pretty much […]

October 24, 2008 The Pump Handle

Once again, bloggers turn their keyboards to the economic crisis: Merrill Goozner at GoozNews explores how the stock market’s collapse may affect health-insurance premiums. Chris Mooney at Science Progress looks at the grim prospects for increased science funding. Kate Sheppard at Gristmill brings us an interview with Van Jones, who explains how the recommendations in his […]

October 24, 2008 The Pump Handle

The UK’s Health and Safety Executive reports that 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases every week, and that number will likely increase. In an effort to reduce asbestos exposure among plumbers, joiners, electricians, and other maintenance workers, HSE has launched the campaign Asbestos: The Hidden Killer. Campaign materials and activities are designed to alert workers […]