Scientific Integrity & Ethics | The Pump Handle

Education ‘An issue that affects all of us’: Young workers center takes on wage theft in the Rio Grande Valley

August 27, 2012 The Pump Handle

For six months, Jorge Rubio worked at a local chain of tortilla bakeries and taquerias in the cities of Brownsville and San Benito, both in the very southern tip of Texas. Rubio, 42, prepared the food, cleaned equipment, served customers. Eventually, he decided to quit after being overworked for months. On his last day of work, his employer refused to pay him the usual $50 for an 11-hour workday.

Drug Safety Medical marijuana progress under Obama not what advocates had hoped; recent crackdown puts patients in the middle

August 17, 2012 The Pump Handle 2Comment

For years, Peter Rosenfeld was looking for an effective way to treat what doctors had diagnosed as severe and intractable migraines. He’d heard of medical marijuana, but thought it was a joke — that it was just a way for people to justify their marijuana use. Today, he’s a passionate advocate for medicinal marijuana and one of many advocates disappointed at recent federal actions.

Injury Control & Violence If former Massey Energy is now “Running Right,” why keep secret its safety progress report?

July 3, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 1Comment

Family members of the April 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster say they are still in the dark. The latest example is Alpha Natural Resources failure to make public a progress report required in its non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Affordable Care Act Public health reacts to Supreme Court’s ACA ruling: ‘Surprised and then ecstatic’

June 28, 2012 The Pump Handle 2Comment

There were few better places to hear about today’s 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act and its individual insurance mandate than at a meeting of the American Public Health Association.

Cancer Trying to avoid the “cancer-causing” label, diesel manufacturers join the club

June 11, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

An expert panel convened by the WHO’s Int’l Agency for Research on Cancer is evaluating the scientific evidence on the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust. In preparation for the meeting, diesel engine manufacturers, oil companies and mining firms hired consultants to re-analyze and critique the epidemiological studies conducted by others to manufacturer doubt about

Injury Control & Violence Government transparency groups ask Labor Dept to restore info scrubbed from website

June 8, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

Open government groups, like the Sunlight Foundation, wrote to Labor Department officials asking them to re-post on its website documents related to a recently withdrawn proposed regulation on child labor.

Scientific Integrity & Ethics The good karma of Judge Louis H. Pollak (1922 – 2012)

May 17, 2012 The Pump Handle

Federal judge Louis H. Pollak is being remembered for his keen legal mind and deep commitment to justice. Personally, I will remember him for his connection to my friend, Alan Berkman, founder of Health GAP.

Drug Safety White House vs. FDA: Plan B decision still reverberates

April 9, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 1Comment

In the New York Times last week, Gardiner Harris reported on tensions between FDA and the White House over FDA decisions that White House officials fear will be politically problematic for President Obama. Harris reminds readers that “The Bush administration repeatedly stopped the agency from issuing rules to prevent contamination of eggs, produce and other […]

Affordable Care Act Broccoli, Coercion, and Severability: Three days of SCOTUS arguments on the Affordable Care Act

March 30, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 1Comment

Unless they’ve deviated from their normal procedure, the Supreme Court justices have now decided on how they’ll rule on the Affordable Care Act – but, as the Washington Post’s Robert Barnes points out, we’ll have to wait until late June to hear their verdict. In the meantime, this is a good opportunity to recap the […]

Environmental Health Remembering Stephen M. Levin, MD, a clinician, scientist, advocate

February 9, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

New Yorkers, the nation and the world lost a dedicated physician and worker advocate this week with the passing of Stephen M. Levin, 70, from cancer. Dr. Levin was a professor of preventative medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and most recently, a prominent figure fighting for a long-term program to identify and treat […]