José Herrera, a contract worker at a Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi, was working on equipment when a pipe ruptured and scorched one-third of his body with 550-degree oil. Herrera is now disabled and in constant pain, even in his sleep. Workersâ compensation insurance covers his extensive medical costs, but his lost-wages compensation equals only […]
By Mary Carol Jennings In the setting of the upcoming elections, my Senator, Jim DeMint, recently wrote a letter of opinion to the Washington Times opposing a global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria bill that will provide life-saving medications and prevention against infectious disease in the developing world. Though the White House and a broad bipartisan […]
The Seattle Post-Intelligencerâs Andrew Schneider reports on another lawsuit from a consumer who says his lungs have been damaged by years of microwave popcorn consumption. The most famous microwave-popcorn consumer, Wayne Watson of Denver, filed suit earlier this year. Watson drew national attention after he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease previously found only […]
Our post on preventing falls among the elderly has been included in the latest edition of Hourglass, a monthly blog carnival devoted to the biology of aging. Alvaro at SharpBrains has assembled recent aging-related posts in a creative format; for more, check out Ouroboros for the Hourglass archive, submission info, and upcoming schedule. Blog carnivals are […]
The recent issues of Newsweek and TIME both carried sobering articles about the state of cancer research. Newsweekâs Sharon Begley reports that cancer is on track to claim 565,650 lives in the U.S. this year, and that number isnât a whole lot better than it was in 1971, when President Nixon signed the National Cancer […]
Last month, David Michaels spoke to Google employees about his book Doubt is Their Product: How Industryâs Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, and Google has now posted the video on YouTube as part of their Authors@Google series. The Google employees asked astute questions (starting around the 31-minute mark), touching on freedom of speech issues; what industry […]
“This happens. We live with that.” These are the words of ironworker Luis Guzman, who was working at the site of a new Manhattan skyscraper Tuesday when his fellow worker, Anthony Espito, 43, fell 40 stories (roughly 400 feet) to the ground. He was killed instantly. It appeared Mr. Espito was in fact wearing a […]
Given all the recent problems with contaminated food, itâs not surprising that food labeling is a hot topic these days: Revere at Effect Measure thinks itâs ridiculous that the USDA is denying a meatpacker permission to test all of its cattle for mad cow disease. Andrew Schneider at Secret Ingredients updates us on progress toward […]
On Labor Day, Matthew D. LaPlante reported in the Salt Lake Tribune: On a day purportedly dedicated to America’s laborers, much of the nation’s labor force remained out in force. According to Development Dimensions International, a human resource consulting firm, about 40 percent of Americans work on Labor Day. Some work because they want to. […]
Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette has been following closely and reporting on the deadly blast on Aug 28 at the multinational Bayer CropScience’s plant in Institute, WV. His first story (here) indicated that witnesses saw a red fireball at about 10:25 pm, and that thousands of residents were told to shelter in place, and his next story reported on […]