I received an email today from Leo Gerard, the Int’l President of the United Steelworkers, the 850,000 person-strong union of men and women employed in Canada and the U.S. who work in the metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service industries. His email simply read: Excellent video celebrating 60th anniversary of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Please watch and […]
On December 12th, the Washington Post reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would not be altering their current stance on the usage of the plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) in food and drug products.  “The agency has been reviewing its risk assessments for bisphenol A, a chemical used to harden plastic that […]
by revere cross-posted at Effect Measure The Holiday Season is upon us so we won’t post daily on the Public Health Conversation series. But you can join in at any time, in two ways. Effect Measure and The Pump Handle, the two blog sites hosting the discussion, have comment threads for each post. You can […]
In late November, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral arguments on the two petitions for review of OSHA’s health standard on hexavalent chromium (CrVI).  The transcript of the proceeding (52-page PDF) reveal that these judges did their homework. They knew the history and content of the final rule.  I was heartened to […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure A couple of ideas are floating around in the comment threads as part of an initial conversation about public health. I’m not surprised they seem to be on different topics and have the feel of talking past each other. We are not used to discussing basic assumptions and have […]
[See update at end of post] The OMB website which lists those rules currently under review by OIRA has a new item today: something from OSHA on Diacetyl.  (See this screenshot for the OMB listing, and this reference to the rule on Regs.gov.) You’ll recall this is the butter-flavoring agent associated with severe respiratory disease in exposed workers, including individuals working in microwave […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure I’m (more than) pleased to say the public health conversation is starting. I assume it was already going on but not where we could all hear what others were saying. So let me continue by responding to a point raised at The Pump Handle (TPH) that was also the subject of offline […]
OSHA issued a good final rule on Friday, Dec 12 designed to clarify employers’ duty to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and train employees on the proper use of the PPE (link here). It will take effect on January 12, 2009. The rule was necessary because of some down-right awful and/or inconsistent OSH Review Commission decisions, and an adverse majority […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Yesterday Flu Wiki founding editor and DailyKos frontpager DemFromCT reviewed three recent report cards on public health, one each by the American Public Health Association (APHA), The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the American College Of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). It was a great a service in two ways. […]
Bloggers react to the news of Obama’s picks for top enviornmental posts: Kate Sheppard at Gristmill gathers reactions from both environmental advocates and business-oriented think tanks. (Myron Ebel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that Carol Browner shares many of Al Gore’s “wildest opinions.”) Frances Beinecke at NRDC’s Switchboard considers Obama’s choices to be proof […]