This week’s MMWR describes cases of bronchiolitis obliterans diagnosed in two individuals who worked— not at a microwave popcorn plant—-at a Texas coffee bean processing company.
Addiction & Substance Abuse
Study: Banning smoking in subsidized housing could save millions in health care costs
Another day, another study that shows investing in public health interventions can make a serious dent in health care spending. A new study has found that banning smoking in all U.S. subsidized housing could yield cost savings of about $521 million every year.
Environmental Health
Will Tom Vilsack’s USDA keep its promise to poultry plant workers about their grueling, disabling work?
The USDA Secretary tells Congress that his agency still plans to implement a new poultry slaughter inspection system that will allow producers to drastically increase line speeds, while a disturbing new report on poultry workers in Alabama explain the harmful effects of the current working conditions.
CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has a special role in the West Fertilizer plant explosion. Its Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program will be investigating the factors that led to the deaths of the 10 volunteer fire fighters.
Environmental Health
Trying to make the unacceptable acceptable: New books by Dan Fagin and Sarah Vogel illuminate our flawed history of controlling chemical hazards
Two new books illustrate how and why the US system for regulating chemicals often fails to adequately protect human health.
Although EPA banned commercially manufactured PCBs in 1979, it still allows PCBs that occur as manufacturing by-products. Recent research has found these by-product PCBs in air and water samples from across the US. Are workers at risk from exposure to these substances?
The Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee called for an urgent acceleration in environmental research on cancer prevention – identifying which chemicals and physical factors cause breast cancer. We agree, and we urge one more step in breast cancer prevention research: figuring out how to wean our economy from dependence on cancer-causing chemicals.
If you’ve followed the link from the New York Times Magazine’s letters page, welcome to The Pump Handle!
Haiti’s cholera epidemic began in late 2010, following the earthquake that devastated the country. Now, the country is requesting international funds for a 10-year-plan that can not only eliminate cholera transmission, but strengthen public health overall.
A new Brookings report finds that intercity rail ridership is growing faster than other travel modes, but Amtrak is essentially two distinct systems — one thriving, the other not.