An article in yesterday’s Financial Times reveals that prior to the deadly explosion at its Texas City refinery, BP successfully lobbied against environmental regulations that could have mitigated– if not prevented– the catastrophe from having taken place in the first place.
In continuation of the tradition begun at Jordan Barabâs Confined Space blog, Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups on 81 workplace deaths, including the following: Eric Jones, a 34-year-old Burlington, Wisconsin resident who fell 90 feet from the […]
By David Michaels Marla Cone, in the Los Angeles Times, reports on a complaint raised by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that the National Toxicology Programâs Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR) is being run not by federal scientists but by a consulting firm that also works for manufacturers of chemicals […]
Scientific Integrity & Ethics
More Consequences of Undisclosed Science: Pennsylvania Sues Drug Makers
By David Michaels The state of Pennsylvania has filed lawsuits against three drug manufacturers, claiming the firms fraudulently marketed antipsychotic drugs. According to Bloomberg News, the state alleges that Eli Lilly & Co. âhid the risks and exaggerated the benefits of its antipsychotic medication Zyprexa while persuading doctors to prescribe it for unapproved uses.â AstraZeneca […]
It looks like we’re not the only ones scrutinizing the FDA. Merrill Goozner at GoozNews takes on the agency’s prescription drug user fees, conflicted advisory committee members, and guidance for manufacturers, while Revere examines food safety and an experimental bird flu vaccine. Also on the topic of pharmaceuticals, Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata reported that […]
At today’s Senate hearing on Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) proposal to ban asbestos in the U.S., Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) said some very interesting things. (Audio here) His opening statement began predictably: There is no debate that certain forms of asbestos are toxic and deadly. (Oh yeah, I know where this is going. It’s the same old debate […]
As long as the U.S. system has employers bearing the brunt of soaring health insurance costs (or avoiding them by not offering coverage at all), workers, companies, and even charities will be trying out different approaches to affording healthcare. Here are a few approaches that have made the news recently: The new Farmersâ Health Cooperative […]
Regulation
Do Antioxidants Cause Cancer or Prevent it? The Diet Supplement Industry Manufactures Uncertainty
By David Michaels This is how it always works. A leading medical journal publishes a study saying a commercial product may be dangerous, perhaps even killing people. The trade association representing the manufacturers quickly attacks the study (preferably in the same news cycle), accusing the scientists of incompetence or worse. The latest issue of the […]
By Liz Borkowski Last week, the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) held a panel discussion on the FDA featuring four former FDA Commissioners. While all of the panelists made a point of saying that there are a lot of wonderful people working at the FDA, they also acknowledged that the agency has some […]
Mike Hendricks from the Kansas City Star notes in a recent article that all-too-often, trench collapses happen when “work crews take shortcuts because they’re in a hurry or think a trench box interferes with the job they’re doing.” While it may be true that workers are “cutting corners” to finish the job they are assigned […]