December 18, 2008 The Pump Handle 4Comment

by revere cross-posted at Effect Measure The Holiday Season is upon us so we won’t post daily on the Public Health Conversation series. But you can join in at any time, in two ways.  Effect Measure and The Pump Handle, the two blog sites hosting the discussion, have comment threads for each post.  You can […]

December 17, 2008 The Pump Handle

In late November, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral arguments on the two petitions for review of OSHA’s health standard on hexavalent chromium (CrVI).   The transcript of the proceeding (52-page PDF) reveal that these judges did their homework.  They knew the history and content of the final rule.  I was heartened to […]

December 17, 2008 The Pump Handle 5Comment

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure A couple of ideas are floating around in the comment threads as part of an initial conversation about public health. I’m not surprised they seem to be on different topics and have the feel of talking past each other.  We are not used to discussing basic assumptions and have […]

December 16, 2008 The Pump Handle 1Comment

[See update at end of post] The OMB website which lists those rules currently under review by OIRA has a new item today: something from OSHA on Diacetyl.   (See this screenshot for the OMB listing, and this reference to the rule on Regs.gov.)  You’ll recall this is the butter-flavoring agent associated with severe respiratory disease in exposed workers, including individuals working in microwave […]

December 16, 2008 The Pump Handle 1Comment

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure I’m (more than) pleased to say the public health conversation is starting. I assume it was already going on but not where we could all hear what others were saying. So let me continue by responding to a point raised at The Pump Handle (TPH) that was also the subject of offline […]

December 15, 2008 The Pump Handle 5Comment

OSHA issued a good final rule on Friday, Dec 12 designed to clarify employers’ duty to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and train employees on the proper use of the PPE (link here).  It will take effect on January 12, 2009.  The rule was necessary because of some down-right awful and/or inconsistent OSH Review Commission decisions, and an adverse majority […]

December 15, 2008 The Pump Handle 6Comment

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Yesterday Flu Wiki founding editor and DailyKos frontpager DemFromCT reviewed three recent report cards on public health, one each by the American Public Health Association (APHA), The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the American College Of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). It was a great a service in two ways. […]

December 12, 2008 The Pump Handle

Bloggers react to the news of Obama’s picks for top enviornmental posts: Kate Sheppard at Gristmill gathers reactions from both environmental advocates and business-oriented think tanks. (Myron Ebel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that Carol Browner shares many of Al Gore’s “wildest opinions.”) Frances Beinecke at NRDC’s Switchboard considers Obama’s choices to be proof […]

December 12, 2008 The Pump Handle 1Comment

The Washington Post obtained a copy of a draft report on mercury that Food and Drug Administration sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget, and reports that it contains advice that alarms scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency. At issue is advice about fish consumption for women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, […]

December 12, 2008 The Pump Handle 3Comment

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Energy may be the topic du jour but it’s been the 800 lb. gorilla in the room for, oh, a couple of centuries. In a sense it’s responsible for one of the greatest occupational health catastrophes of the 20th century, and a new report from CDC demonstrates once again […]