It’s probably no surprise that people who experienced foreclosures during the Great Recession may have also experienced symptoms of depression. However, researchers have found that the mental health effects of foreclosure go beyond the individual to the community at-large.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Poultry workers appeal to White House, USDA must abandon new poultry slaughter rule
The Obama Administration still has time to abandon its ill-conceived new regulation on poultry inspection. We’ll see if the Administration decides to treat poultry workers better than the firms that employ them.
A new report from Save the Children calculates that improving the distribution of skilled birth attendants worldwide could prevent nearly one million newborn deaths each year.
Environmental Health
Stopping chemical catastrophes: Can we do better than calling for stronger storage tanks?
More than a month after the Freedom Industries chemical spill in West Virginia, it remains unclear if Charleston’s water is truly safe to drink and what the health consequences of exposure to these chemicals may be. Legislation has been introduced that calls for more inspections, better tank construction, overflow containment and emergency response. But why not go beyond and also call for safer chemistry?
Government
Industry has abandoned the dangerous practice; let’s seal the deal with an OSHA regulation
OSHA says that the power-generation industry has abandoned a deadly practice that led to the February 2010 death of six Connecticut workers. It’s not a heavy lift for OSHA to prohibit the practice once and for all.
Child Labor
Texas’ Workers Defense Project launches biggest campaign to date in support of construction workers
Last weekend, construction worker Jose Perez stood up and spoke about life as a construction worker in one of then nation’s most prosperous cities. In front of him were hundreds of supporters who had gathered in downtown Austin, Texas, to call on a local developer to treat its workers better. Looming behind him was the new Gables Park Tower, an unfinished luxury apartment complex where construction workers have reported dangerous working conditions and frequent wage violations.
Anniversaries of two deadly workplace disasters remind us of the hazards of combustible dust and gas blows; a former Cal/OSHA employee warns that the agency is dangerously understaffed; and CDC uses sugar-industry money to fund studies into the epidemic of chronic kidney disease striking Central American sugarcane workers.
The New York Times editorial page warns that genocide looms in the Central African Republic. It’s worth re-reading a Commentary from Elihu Richter in the Journal of Public Health Policy, which focuses on the Rwandan genocide but is relevant today.
The quality of public housing is a key determinant of health among low-income populations, but much of the public housing in the United States is in disrepair – unhealthy, unsafe, even uninhabitable. A health impact assessment of San Francisco’s Rental Assistance Demonstration project highlights some of the considerations for local governments working to assure safe, well-maintained housing for their most vulnerable residents.
Government
When employers are reckless with workers’ lives, they have no right to remain in business
A 32 year old worker was killed because a machine safeguard had been disabled. His employer had a pattern of reckless behavior, and should not have a license to kill.