March 2010 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

Obama Administration FOIA Performance Lags

This week is Sunshine Week, “a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information,” so it’s a great time for the National Security Archive to release its Freedom of Information Act...

Published Wed, Mar 17 2010 5:37 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: FOIA

Strengthening Science in Government

My colleagues and I at the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy have spent the last two years investigating the working environments of federal-agency scientists who address health and environmental issues – and today we’re finally the releasing...

Published Wed, Mar 03 2010 1:20 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Science

Flu “hype,” vaccinations and tin foil hats

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure It really gives me heartburn to see an otherwise sensible article in AOLNews by Katie Drummond with a headline: “Hyping H1N1: Did It Create a Dangerous Flu Fatigue?” I don’t know if that was...

Published Mon, Mar 01 2010 9:52 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza, Preparedness

A Year Later, What’s Happening with the Scientific Integrity Memo?

Exactly one year ago, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity that gave the Office of Science and Technology Policy 120 days to “develop recommendations for Presidential action designed to guarantee scientific integrity throughout...

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 12:54 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Science

Four decades of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act

US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and MSHA chief Joe Main marked the 40th anniversary of the Coal Mine H&S Act this week. The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward offers his perspective on the event in two posts published at Coal Tattoo. Story 1: MSHA...

Published Thu, Mar 25 2010 4:34 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Black Lung, MSHA

Historic Healthcare Legislation

President Obama has just signed a historic piece of legislation that will bring near-universal healthcare coverage to our country within the next few years. It’s most important achievement will be to cover 32 million people are currently uninsured. In...

Published Tue, Mar 23 2010 8:57 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Healthcare

Lights in dark corners: what the new science of epigenetics is revealing about cancer prevention

By Paul Whaley and Dr John Newby, PhD; cross-posted from Health & Environment To understand the importance of the new science of epigenetics for health, we have to visit cell development and the cellular processes which, if they go wrong, lead to...

Published Wed, Mar 17 2010 10:04 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Cancer

The flu pandemic: the last time and the next time

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure We are now almost through the period considered to be the traditional flu season (to the end of March in the temperate northern hemisphere) and so far the amount of documented influenza infection is at a relatively...

Published Wed, Mar 24 2010 5:54 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza, Preparedness

A Best Buy in Public Health

By Anjana Padmanabhan What can 50 cents buy? A pencil? Erasers? Gum? Not really the essentials. What if you found out that with just 50 cents you could save a life? That the change you find under the couch, or in your pockets could vastly improve a child...

Published Thu, Mar 18 2010 6:31 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Health

A Bureaucratic Assault on CalOSHA Staff

By Jack Oudiz Pump Handle readers may recall the “Exit Interview” I posted here in June 2009 upon my retirement from Cal/OSHA after nearly 25 years of service. In that letter, I testified about the many ways that Cal/OSHA was failing to carry out its...

Published Thu, Mar 11 2010 5:04 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Uncategorized

Coal industry, MSHA’s appalling record on emergency equipment

“More than four years after the Sago Mine disaster, fewer than 1 of every 10 underground coal mines in the U.S. has added improved communications and tracking equipment that could help miners escape an explosion or fire.” That’s the...

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 12:28 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Regulation, Mining, MSHA

OSHA Listens

Today, OSHA is holding “a public meeting to solicit comments and suggestions from OSHA stakeholders on key issues facing the agency.” Judging by the event web page, OSHA thinks one of the key problems to address is the inexcusable fact that...

Published Thu, Mar 04 2010 7:39 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: OSHA

Agenda available for Latino Action Summit on Worker Health and Safety

Earlier this week, I wrote about the countdown on OSHA’s website to the National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety (April 14-15) but noted the paucity of information about the what will actually occur at the event. I’m pleased...

Published Fri, Mar 05 2010 3:33 PM by The Pump Handle

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

Systematising the evidence base: a key strategy for bringing more environmental health science into clinical practice and public health policy

By Paul Whaley As a society we could do much better at incorporating environmental health science into clinical advice and policy recommendations. Take formaldehyde: In the early 1980s multiple studies in rats were showing that exposure to formaldehyde...

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 7:18 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Research, Environmental Health

UCLA (employer) vs Cal-OSHA

On the heels of Ben Elgin’s Business Week story yesterday about employers failing to comply with rules for reporting worker injuries, it appears large public sector employers have trouble obeying the law as well. The LA Times is reporting that the...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 1:55 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety, Chemicals Policy, OSHA

March 2010 - The Pump Handle

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