Fire suppression experts from a North Carolina firm are providing assistance in Port Wentworth, Georgia at the Imperial Sugar factory. After the devastating explosion five days ago on Thursday evening, February 7, the fire continues to burn.  Two workers remain missing in the fire and debris. Another six perished at the scene and 16 remain in critical condition. Three injured workers […]
This week, North Carolinaâs Charlotte Observer is running an in-depth series, âThe human cost of bringing poultry to your table.â After a 22-month investigation, reporters convey the grim picture: poultry-plant workers suffer high rates of crippling injuries, but fear losing their jobs if they complain, and companies cover up the problem. Observer editor Rick Thames […]
Forbes has created a âMisery Measureâ to rank the countryâs 150 biggest metro areas, and I wasnât surprised to see Detroit awarded the title of Most Miserable City. What did surprise me, though, was one of the factors Forbes considered: number of Superfund sites. Kudos to them for acknowledging that hazardous waste has a way […]
The date is set for the presidential candidatesâ Science Debate 2008 â itâll be April 18th at Philadelphiaâs Franklin Institute â so now the push is to get candidatesâ commitment to participate. Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Barack Obama have been invited, and the fact that the debate is set for four days […]
The tumultuous tenure of Dr. David Schwartz, who directed the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is over. Bob Grant at TheScientist.com reports:
By Francis Hamilton Rammazzocchi For the second time in two months, America has witnessed a catastrophic industrial explosion involving multiple fatalities. On December 19, 2007, the small T2 Chemicals in Jacksonville, FL, detonated in a towering mushroom cloud, killing four workers. And earlier this week, the Imperial Sugar plant outside of Savannah, Georgia, exploded, killing […]
Bloggers react to Bush’s proposed budget: Science Progress has the totals for science-based agencies Heather Taylor at Switchboard thinks it’s lame Gerald Epstein at SEA probes a mystery $2 billion for Homeland Security R&D Climate Progress bemoans its anti-efficiency stance Amie Newman at RH Reality Check looks at its treatment of women’s health Elsewhere:
Pulitzer-winning Seattle P-I reporter Andrew Schneider is already known to many in the public health world: He broke the Libby, Montana story,  and tracked the asbestos problem across the country. With fellow P-I reporter Robert McClure, he revealed the environmental devastation from mining on public lands in the West. He started writing about the dangers of […]
Weâve written before about how the Consumer Product Safety Commission lacks both the authority and the will to come down hard on companies that keep their unsafe products on the market. Now, Public Citizen has tallied up the time that elapsed between the dates when the CPSC learned of several dangerous products and the dates […]
This month’s Environmental Health Perspectives features an informative but disturbing article by Andrea Hricko entitled  “Global Trade Comes Home”. It describes the adverse impact on communities of the “goods movement” system, where imports to the U.S.—electronics, food, toys, furniture— make their way from waterfront ports to trains and trucks, and into warehouses and to our neighborhood stores. Hricko, an […]