By Liz Borkowski Hundreds of nurses are on strike in Kentucky and West Virginia after contract negotiations with Appalachian Regional Healthcare failed. The nurses refused to accept a package that reduced their holiday pay and increased their insurance premiums (canceling out the proposed wage increase) and that failed to add staffing that would offset mandatory […]
In an article in the 10/8 issue of The Nation, Virginia Sole-Smith reports that many U.S. nail salon workers are concerned about the health effects of the products they use â but gaps in research and regulatory agency responsibilities make it hard for the workers to protect themselves. The vast majority of the U.S.âs 380,000 […]
The Senate HELP Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 2 on “Current Mine Safety Disasters: Issues and Challenges.” The witness list includes the same familiar faces from MSHA, NIOSH, the UMWA and National Mining Association, but the Committee has also invited two “newcomers” to these mine safety hearings. One is former MSHA engineer Robert Ferriter (now with the Colorado […]
While the House of Representatives was voting Wednesday to approve the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act (here), OSHA’s Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke had just mailed a letter rejecting a petition from a group of workersâ who’d asked for emergency protection from the respiratory hazards caused by butter-flavoring agents.  Mr. Foulkeâs response is not only tardy—it took them 14 […]
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) explaining his opposition to H.R. 2693, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act, which would require OSHA to protect workers from breathing toxic chemicals used in artificial butter flavor: “If there’s something wrong with popcorn, how did Orville Redenbacher live so long?”
The big news is that the House passed the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act, as David reports below. In other occupational health and safety news:
By David Michaels Updated Below By a vote of 260 to 154, the US House of Representatives has passed H.R. 2693, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act. This was not a pure party line vote – over the objections of the White House and the Chamber of Congress, 47 Republicans voted with the majority, […]
By Liz Borkowski Yesterday, the White House and the OSHA Fairness Coalition (which includes members like the International Food Distributors Association, National Association of Manufacturers, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce) wrote to members of the House of Representatives to express their strong opposition to H.R. 2693, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act. No one whoâs […]
By David Michaels Days before the House will vote on legislation to force OSHA to regulate diacetyl (the artificial butter flavor chemical that causes bronchiolitis obliterans), the agency has apparently decided that perhaps it is finally time to begin the rulemaking process for this substance. Yesterday, fourteen months after we petitioned OSHA for an emergency […]
By Liz Borkowski As David Michaels reported yesterday, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act will come up for a vote in the House some time this week. The legislation will force OSHA to issue a standard that will minimize workersâ exposure to diacetyl, the butter flavoring chemical thatâs been causing severe, irreversible lung disease […]