As I skimmed through my RSS feeds and Above the Fold this morning, I noticed several stories about fish and the marine environment. Most of itâs bad news, as usual, but thereâs a glimmer of promise mixed in there, too: Researchers from NOAA and Washington State University have found that some combinations of pesticides often […]
New awards for 2008 books are coming out, and we’re proud to announce that David Michaels’ Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health has won recognition from both the Library Journal and the American Association of Publishers. Library Journal’s Gregg Sapp has selected Doubt is Their Product as one of […]
Cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog  by Ken Ward, Jr. Bayer CropScience hasnât said yet if it will challenge $143,000 in fines issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 13 serious and 2 repeat violations related to the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Institute plant workers. But […]
Updated below (3/17/09) OMB Director Peter Orszag announced in a Federal Register notice last week that his office is interested in hearing your views on the federal regulatory process. The Request for Comments on new Executive Order on Federal Regulatory Review comes 4-weeks after President Obama’s January 30 memorandum to department and agency heads (previous post here) announcing his plan […]
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure The scientific literature is full of specialized papers that on their face would seem to be of little interest. Here’s a title like that: “Prevalence and seasonality of influenza-like illness in children, Nicaragua, 2005-2007” (Gordon et al., Emerging Infectious Diseases 2009 Mar). Over 4000 Nicaraguan children, aged 2 to […]
Bloggers have lots of thoughts on Obamaâs budget: Merrill Goozner at GoozNews gives us the big picture Maggie Mahar at Health Beat explores the challenges of the budgetâs approach to healthcare Ezra Klein explains how it addresses the question of an individual mandate for health insurance Sarah Rubenstein at WSJâs Health Blog highlights proposed spending […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision this week on legal challenges to OSHA’s 2006 rule to protect workers from exposure to hexavalent chromium. In the simpliest terms, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and the Steelworkers argued that OSHA’s rule was not protective enough, while the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) argued that they […]
The latest piece from Rick Weiss at Science Progress is a must-read for anyone concerned about the safety of nanotechnology. Weiss attended a conference sponsored by the Food and Drug Law Institute where lawyers provided advice about avoiding nanotech-related lawsuits, and learned this: In short, if you are a nanotech company you need to start developing a […]
By Celeste Monforton Last August 28, Bill Oxley and Barry Withrow, 45 were working at the Bayer CropScience’s plant in Institute, WV when a massive fireball erupted in an area where methomyl for the carbamate insecticide thiodicarb (Larvin) is produced. Mr. Withrow was killed immediately in the blast, and Mr. Oxley died after 43 days in a Pittsburgh burn center. When I first wrote about this disaster, […]
By a vote of 80-17, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Hilda Solis as the 25th Secretary of Labor. The Department of Laborâs website has posted photos of her arrival at agency headquarters. Solis served in Congress from 2001-2009, representing Californiaâs 32nd Congressional District. DOLâs press release notes that she authored the Green Jobs Act, which […]