With summer vacation over and school back in session, my thoughts naturally turn to homework, term papers and due dates. Perhaps if Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and OSHA’s Asst. Secretary Edwin Foulke viewed their responsibilities to the nation’s workers like students with homework assignments, they’d take more responsibility for completely their assignments well and on time. Right now, OSHA (and the Secretary) seem to treat deadlines like those students who […]
Flavoring Workers' Lung (Popcorn/Diacetyl)
ConAgra Drops Diacetyl – and Prompts More Questions About Unreleased Research
Last week, Pop Weaver announced that it was eliminating diacetyl from its microwave popcorn products. Today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Associated Press report that ConAgra will remove diacetyl from its Orville Redenbacher and Act II microwave popcorn over the next year. This news comes as David Michaelsâs post here about federal agenciesâ inadequate response to […]
Flavoring Workers' Lung (Popcorn/Diacetyl)
Popcorn Lung Coming to Your Kitchen? The FDA Doesn’t Want to Know
By David Michaels Updated Below For the past several years, news articles and Congressional hearings have reported on a deadly, irreversible lung disease â bronchiolitis obliterans â that is caused by workersâ exposure to food flavoring chemicals, and more specifically by exposure to a butter-flavoring chemical called diacetyl. So far, attention has focused on worker […]
by Celeste Monforton Yesterday in “MSHA Spokesman Parrots Bob Murray,” I wrote about MSHA’s rejection of a request by the families of the six trapped Crandall Canyon miners to have the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) serve as the miners’ representative during MSHA’s investigation of the disaster. As usual for me, about two hours […]
by Celeste Monforton Max Follmer of The Huffington Post reports that MSHA has rebuffed a request from the Crandall Canyon families to designate the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to serve as their representative during MSHA’s formal accident investigation. “In a statement e-mailed to The Huffington Post, MSHA spokesman Dirk Fillpot defended the agency’s actions, saying federal […]
By David Michaels The media has been buzzing (see here and here and here) about the announcement by the Pop Weaver Company that they will soon be marketing a butter flavored microwave popcorn that doesnât use diacetyl in the butter flavor. As readers of this blog know, diacetyl (a component of artificial butter flavor) has […]
The Mountain Eagle‘s Tom Bethell recounts a 1986 coal mining disaster in Queensland, Australia which involved an explosion in an abandoned, sealed area which caused the death of 12 miners. Its similarities to the 2006 Sago tragedy end there because, as Bethell writes: In the wake of that disaster, the Australian government launched an innovative program to […]
During one of Mr. Bob Murray’s endless television appearances, he was asked why his underground coal mine in Illinois had received more than 900 safety and health violations last year. In his “I’m just a humble coal miner” kind-of-way, he tried to explain that the public just doesn’t understand that getting written up by a mine inspector is commonplace, […]
 By Susan F. Wood, PhD  The Journal of Womenâs Health published a special report and an editorial last month on the FDAâs Office of Womenâs Health (FDA OWH) that provide information and insight into the multiple roles of such an office, and the importance of maintaining the scientific research funded there. The special report, âThe […]
By Kristen Perosino Congress is currently considering important legislation to improve drug and medical device safety and strengthen scientific integrity at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both the House (H.R. 2900) and Senate (S. 1082) versions contain provisions that should be adopted in the final bill to better protect public health. One such provision […]