January 2010 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

WHO prepares to don a hair shirt

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure The finger pointing and the told-you-so-ers are out in force these days and WHO seems to be one of their targets. In the face of wealthy European countries cutting their swine flu vaccine orders because of limited...

Published Wed, Jan 13 2010 6:48 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza, Preparedness

Perils of butter flavorings, diacetyl substitutes

The sentinel cases of the debilitating lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans were among workers at a microwave popcorn facility. It wasn’t too long before NIOSH researchers suspected the illnesses were related to workers’ exposure to the butter...

Published Tue, Jan 05 2010 11:06 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Food, Research, Regulation, Flavoring Workers' Lung (Popcorn/Diacetyl)

Something missing from NIOSH-Toyota agreement??

Last month, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Toyota Motors’ Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, pledging to: “to improve the assessment, management, analysis...

Published Fri, Jan 15 2010 11:57 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Research

BPA’s Safety Question an Opportunity for Reform

by Sarah Vogel Last Friday, January 15, 2010, senior officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) held a press conference to detail the FDA’s next steps on the...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 1:13 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Lisa Jackson and the Power of the Executive Branch

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints recently about Obama’s failure to achieve legislation on healthcare or climate change during his first year in office, despite the fact that Congress is to blame for both these failures. What Obama does have more...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 1:13 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Global warming, Environmental Protection Agency

FDA’s Joshua Sharfstein to Speak at GW

Our DC-area readers interested in food and drug safety may want to attend this event. Next Tuesday (1/12) at noon, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner for the FDA, will present, “Public Health and the FDA” here at the GW...

Published Wed, Jan 06 2010 11:23 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Food, Drug Safety

Bargaining Away Worker Safety?

“Is the state agency charged with enforcing job safety failing to do its job?” is the question posed by KCET’s (Los Angeles) SoCal Connected in a special investigation airing on Thursday, January 14. The full program will be posted on...

Published Wed, Jan 13 2010 12:23 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Safety, OSHA

Better Guidelines for Funding Transit Projects

Yesterday, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed new guidelines that would make it easier for worthwhile new public transit projects to receive federal funding. Back in 2005, the Bush administration issued budget restrictions requiring that...

Published Thu, Jan 14 2010 7:51 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Obama’s spending freeze and OSHA

Today’s Washington Post headline, “Obama to propose freeze on government spending,” likely sent a chill down the spines of officials in charge of many federal agencies. In tomorrow night’s State of the Union address the President...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 1:16 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, OSHA

Challenges Mount in Haiti

Of the many wrenching stories coming out of Haiti, two stories about the public-health challenges facing earthquake survivors do a particularly good job encapsulating just how daunting the weeks ahead will be. In the Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan reports...

Published Thu, Jan 21 2010 6:54 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Infectious diseases, Health, Water

Well the world may go, when I’m far away

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Every two years the US National Science Board does an analysis of how the country is doing on research and development (R&D). While an important measure of the ability to innovate and compete in a highly...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 7:06 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Research, Science, Funding

Ozone from China

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure It used to be my job to teach the environmental health survey course for public health students and air pollution was a topic I spent a lot of time on because it interested me and intersected some of my research...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2010 7:33 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

EPA Fights Smog

Back in 2008, the EPA went against the advice of its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and set the limit for ground-level ozone at 75ppb. Today, the agency has announced it will set the primary standard at between 60 and 70 ppb measured over eight...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 2:36 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Environmental Protection Agency

EPA Takes on Chemical Confidentiality

Although the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act requires chemical manufacturers to alert the government about new chemicals they plan to market, companies can keep that information a secret from the public by claiming that disclosure could harm their business...

Published Mon, Jan 11 2010 6:57 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Protection Agency, Chemicals Policy

Rita Arditti – Remembering an inspiring cancer activist

By Richard Clapp and Genevieve Howe The women’s movement and the environmental movement lost a champion on Christmas Day, 2009. Rita Arditti of Cambridge, MA died, at age 75, after a phenomenally productive and inspiring life and a decades-long battle...

Published Tue, Jan 12 2010 6:36 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Cancer

January 2010 - The Pump Handle

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WHO prepares to don a hair shirt

Perils of butter flavorings, diacetyl substitutes

Something missing from NIOSH-Toyota agreement??

BPA’s Safety Question an Opportunity for Reform

Lisa Jackson and the Power of the Executive Branch

FDA’s Joshua Sharfstein to Speak at GW

Bargaining Away Worker Safety?

Better Guidelines for Funding Transit Projects

Obama’s spending freeze and OSHA

Challenges Mount in Haiti

Well the world may go, when I’m far away

Ozone from China

EPA Fights Smog

EPA Takes on Chemical Confidentiality

Rita Arditti – Remembering an inspiring cancer activist