This is probably too much to hope: the water contamination emergency in WV be recognized as the latest example of the inadequacies in our nation’s policies on toxic chemicals.
ProPublica investigates the hazards of temporary work, while the death of a temp worker at an Amazon warehouse underscores the severity of the problem; three California counties are recognizing nail salons with worker-friendly practices; and Bangladesh charges the owners of Tazreen Fashions factory, where 112 workers died in a fire, with culpable homicide.
It’s time for public institutions to set a high bar in selecting firms to provide them with goods and services. Off limits should be companies with repeat or willful violations of OSHA regulations.
With so much pressure on the Affordable Care Act to immediately live up to high expectations, and with opponents who seem gleeful at the news that Americans are having a hard time signing up for affordable health care, it’s reassuring to read that the health reform law can readily take a few blows and keep moving forward.
I am always just a little skeptical about public health education. Do students learn to apply the principles they learn? Recently, I was able to answer in the affirmative, at least about a single occurrence.
The Obama Administration continues to let proposals to improve worker safety waste away in internal review.
Now that it’s 2014, millions more people in the US have health insurance coverage (either Medicaid or private insurance), thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Two different Medicaid efforts in Oregon hold lessons about what it might take to turn expanded insurance coverage into better health outcomes.
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. (Re-post, by Celeste Monforton)
Denying undocumented immigrants access to the ACA’s main avenues for covering the uninsured has implications for the hospitals and health centers that serve uninsured people. (Re-post, by Liz Borkowski)
Following passage of a Massachusetts law requiring companies to report on their use of toxic chemicals, environmental releases of potentially carcinogenic chemicals declined 93% between 1991 and 2010 while reported use declined 32% between 1990 and 2010. (Re-post, by Elizabeth Grossman)