Today, October 7, is World Day for Decent Work, an initiative led by the International Trade Union Confederation, the Global Progressive Forum, Social Alert and Solidar.  What is “Decent Work”? “Decent Work is a strategy to achieve sustainable development that is centered on people. Decent Work is a key element to build fair, equitable and inclusive societies […]
A report released last week by staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on EPA’s handling of the massive asbestos contamination in the mining town of Libby, Montana is laden with words including “failure,” “misled,” “interference,” and “delay.” Refering to “EPA’s Failure to Declare a Public Health Emergency in Libby, Montana,” Senator Baucus […]
Weâve written previously about Devra Davisâs The Secret History of the War on Cancer, which generated a lot of controversy. Dick Clapp, an environmental health professor at Boston Universityâ School of the Public Health (BUSPH), wrote for us about two opposing reviews of that book, and now heâs exploring the controversy surrounding another book that […]
By Olga Naidenko Maybe our government should listen to what the people have to say? I mean, not all the time, not every day â surely, that would be too much to ask for â but at least every once in a while? Occasionally? And even consider those public opinions with a modicum of respect? […]
Environmental Health News is a key resource for people who want to stay up-to-date on environmental issues, and itâs now gotten even better. John Peterson Myers, whoâs made the site (especially its Above the Fold daily news update) an invaluable resource that so many of us rely on, has now recruited some new talent and moved […]
The front page of today’s Washington Post announces “Public Health Is a Hot Field,” reporting that an understanding of epidemiology, community-based interventions, disease surveillance and study design are high-demand topics on college campuses for undergraduate students.  I learned this exact thing two years ago when I was asked to teach part of the required curriculum for the George Washington University’s (GWU) Bachelor of […]
In 1971 under the National Cancer Act, Congresss authorized the 3-person President’s Cancer Panel which is charged with monitoring the “development and execution of the National Cancer Program” and preparing periodic progress reports for the President. Over the years, the Panel has examined quality of life for cancer patients, access to care issues, and lifestyle risk […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure We’ve discussed the component of plastics bisphenol A (BPA) here before (here, here) but yesterday the Journal of the American Medical Association published a significant paper with an accompanying editorial that deserves mention. A panel of the FDA was scheduled to meet the same day to review FDA’s draft […]
by Sarah Vogel On Friday, August 15, the FDA released its draft assessment of the safety of bisphenol A (BPA). To the frustration and deep consternation of many, the regulatory agency upheld the current safety standard for human exposure to BPA in food. The agency based their decision on two large multigenerational studies funded by […]
The Seattle Post-Intelligencerâs Andrew Schneider reports on another lawsuit from a consumer who says his lungs have been damaged by years of microwave popcorn consumption. The most famous microwave-popcorn consumer, Wayne Watson of Denver, filed suit earlier this year. Watson drew national attention after he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease previously found only […]