44-year-old Iraq veteran Tim Wymore suffers from brain lesions, a blood disorder, and other health problems that leave him unable to walk unassisted. His wife, Shanna, quit her job to be his full-time caregiver. Wymore is one of several hundred veterans who’ve fired lawsuits related to exposure to open-air burn pits at US miliatry installations. […]
September 22nd is World Car-Free Day, when people everywhere are encouraged to get out of their cars and try different modes of getting around. The Metro DC Car-Free Day is also encouraging people to try “Car-Lite” options like carpooling, or to eliminate the need for a trip to the office by working from home. They’re […]
MSHA announced today that it will be issuing on September 23 an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to improve a practice to prevent coal dust explosions. The rule addresses “rock dusting”—-the decades old practice of generously applying pulverized limestone dust throughout a coal mine to dilute the potential power of a coal dust explosion. As NIOSH’s […]
At today’s 2nd annual Distracted Driving Summit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood laid out the U.S. statistics: “thousands of people are killed or injured every year in accidents caused by distracted drivers” and 500,000 more are injured. Distractions while driving can be new age, such as using a Blackberry or IPhone, or classic like looking at […]
If you’re working on a major global problem like poverty, it’s important to have goals to work towards. Back in 2000, world leaders came together and adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which commits to reducing extreme poverty and sets out a series of goals to be reached by 2015. Each of the eight Millennium […]
In the words of Myron Levin at Fair Warning: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) once again has ripped the whistleblower protection program. ….[It] blames glaring weaknesses on chronic inattention from OSHA leaders.” This latest GAO assessment, “Sustained management attention needed to address long-standing program weaknesses,” is an update on a more comprehensive review the oversight […]
Earlier this week, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg presented Frances Kelsey with the first in what will be a series of awards bearing Kelsey’s name. Fifty years ago, as a new medical officer with the FDA, Kelsey refused to approve US sale of Kevadon, a drug widely recognized by its generic name, thalidomide. The drug was […]
Environmental Health
“From Ship to Shore” – Reforming the National Contingency Plan to protect oil spill response workers, Center for Progressive Reform weighs in
by Elizabeth Grossman In mid-June, while reporting from the Gulf Coast, I asked the Deepwater Horizon Incident’s Joint Information Center (JIC) who the federal on-scene coordinator had appointed to serve as site safety officer, and for a copy of the Regional Contingency Plan’s health and safety plan. Both are requirements under the National Contingency Plan […]
Cancer
Rohm and Haas rejects link between vinyl chloride and brain cancer, victims disagree, see you in court on Sept 20
The Center for Public Integrity’s Jim Morris reports this week on a civil lawsuit between the chemical manufacturer Rohm and Haas, and the family of Franklin Branham, 63, who died just a month after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor. The Branham family is the first of 31 victims who lived in McCullom Lake, […]
Following the suffocation death of Wyatt Whitebread, 14 and Alex Pacas, 19, in Haasbach, Inc.’s grain elevator in Mount Carroll, Illinois, OSHA asst. secretary David Michaels sent a personal letter to more than 3,300 grain storage operators. He sternly reminded them of their legal duty under OSHA’s safety standards related to grain handling, including prohibitions […]