In order to help you find topics that interest you, this week’s news articles are categorized under:
- Disease and Medical
- Environmental Contaminants
- Environmental Health
- Food
- Gulf Oil Spill
- H1N1
- Water
- Work Place Health and Safety
- Misc
U.S.A.: Distress of 9/11 may have led to miscarriages, research says (25 May 2010) CNN Health
By: M. Park. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/25/9.11.miscarriage.bereavement/. Cited 2010 May 26.
Research released a study Monday (24 May 2010) seems to link an event like September 11 and an increase in miscarriages among US mothers. The authors hypothesized that this might be a case of “communal bereavement. “Even without direct relationships with the deceased, pregnant women may have been distressed by the attacks, resulting in miscarriage, according to the research”. Tim Bruckner, who is an assistant professor of public health at University of California Irvine, only examined miscarriages of male fetuses. “Previous studies have suggested that the percentage of male births drops after natural disasters, economic decline or catastrophes”. This was evident in a 2005 study in Sweden and in 1998 in Japan. “It’s a striking finding, said Thomas O’Connor, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, but the scientific literature has not been clear whether male fetuses are more affected by stress hormones”. “Dr. Sarah Berga, a professor and chairman of the department of gynecology and obstetrics at the Emory University School of Medicine suspect that this could be the case”. “High stress during pregnancy can cause complications including pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure after 20 weeks), preterm labor, low birth weight and congenital malformations”. Bruckner and his two co-authors established that “the mean monthly number of male fetal deaths was 995. But for the month of September 2001, the number spiked to 1,115″. “In the following December, the ratio of male-to-female births fell by 0.8 percent. While that appears small, Bruckner said it’s still significant”. It’s statistically meaningful,” he said. “The sex ratio is responding to 9/11″. “In terms of the take-home message, we know very little about what affects fetal loss,” Bruckner said. “There’s very little research on it. This paper suggests that we can identify these population stressors that can affect the likelihood of male fetal loss….”
Arizona, USA: Arizona’s smoking ban reduced hospital visits, UA study finds (19 May 2010) EurekAlert
By: Herman, P. Available: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/uoa-asb051910.php. Cited 2010 May 25.
“Two University of Arizona researchers have studied the relationship between Arizona’s 2007 law that bans smoking in public places”. The results include the reduction of admission for cases of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) stroke, asthma and angina. “Reductions in hospital charges are estimated to total more than $16 million in the first 13 months after the ban”. “Patricia M. Herman and Michele E. Walsh, both researchers in the UA psychology department, used public data on monthly hospital admissions in Arizona from January 2004 through May 2008 for their analyses”. “Their results showed statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions of 13 percent for AMI, 33 percent for unstable angina, 14 percent for acute stroke and 22 percent for asthma in counties with no previous bans over what was seen in counties with previous bans”.
U.S. A: Cell Phones and Brain Cancer: The Real Story (22 May 2010) The Huffington Post.
By: D. Davis, PhD. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devra-davis-phd/cell-phones-and-brain-can_b_585992.html. Cited 2010 May 25.
“The long awaited World Health Organization Interphone study of more than 5,000 brain tumors that occurred between 2000-2004 and cell phone use failed to deliver a knock-out punch. This thirteen country report found what every study that has ever examined people who have used phones for a decades or more has determined– top users of cell phones had a doubled risk of malignant tumors of the brain. When looking at all those in their study who had used cell phones to make one call a week for six months or more, compared to those who used cell phones less no such risk was evident. This is unsurprising.
The story behind the story needs to be told….”
London, United Kingdom: Scientist With Implant First To Be Infected With Computer Virus (27 May 2010) All Headline News.
By: Windsor, G U.K. Available: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018821122. Cited 2010 May 28.
Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading “is the first human to be infected with a computer virus when an infected radio frequency identification tag implanted in his left hand corrupted other computerized systems”. He successfully proved that “an infected chip implant poses risk to other people’s implant or medical devices when the computerized system that connects to other chips are also infected”. “Similarly, professor Rafael Capurro of the Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute of Information Ethics in Germany warned that implants can jeopardize other devices and may harm other patients when someone accesses the chip online”.
UK: How our beaches are polluted by thousands of sewage spills (23 May 2010) The Sunday Times
By: Ungoed-Thomas, J and Krause S. Available: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7134009.ece. Cited 2010 May 25.
Two brothers Alex and Simon Burns became sick last year after surfing for three days at Padstow, Cornwall. “The possible source of that contamination may lie in a huge database provided last week to The Sunday Times by the Environment Agency (EA). It maps tens of thousands of sewage spills from overflow and outfall pipes into the country’s bathing waters during 2008 and 2009. “Data reveal pipes affecting public beaches spill out significant amounts of raw sewage and rainwater only three times at most during the whole summer, but in the worst cases some are operating as often as five times a day….”
New South Wales, Australian: Residents’ fears over Australian mines (17 May 2010) BBC News
By: N. Bryant. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8686788.stm. Cited 2010 May 25.
Hunter Valley 34 mines produce coal for the Japanese, Chinese and South Korean markets. Over $1bn (£0.6bn) in royalties swells the state coffers of New South Wales but there is a large health impact on the community. Dust clouds from mining activities are suspected of being responsible for cases of asthma. “Last year, more than 100 tonnes of toxic metals, including arsenic, lead and cobalt, belched into the air from mines and power stations in the Upper Hunter Valley”. “In May, the government of New South Wales released a report on child health showing that nearly 40% of nine to 15-year olds in the Hunter Valley and New England region had suffered at some stage from asthma. That is 12% above the state average”. Peter Kennedy, a miner who works for one of the companies tell us that “What we are seeing is increasing asthma rates especially in our younger generation, and bronchitis. “We are seeing more and more evidence of this… [the] community’s health is gravely at risk”. New South Wales Minerals Council says the mining companies “take the potential health impacts of mining very seriously”. “..The New South Wales government has recently announced it will monitor air pollution more closely, and has installed more air quality monitoring devices in the region”. The population, however, feel there is conflict of interest because the New South Wales receives money from the royalties. They have asked that “an independent body carrying out the monitoring….”
United Nations: International health officials reassess global public health goals (22 May 2010) Justmeans
By: Ulferts, A. Available: http://www.justmeans.com/International-health-officials-reassess-global-public-health-goals/15432.html. Cited 2010 May 25.
“Gathered for the 63rd meeting of the United Nations’ World Health Assembly, international health officials from around the globe spent four days this past week lauding the successes and pondering the challenges facing the arena of public health. Just five years separate the international health agency from its deadline to meet the eight key public health goals member countries set in 2000. And yet even as member countries grow closer to achieving those goals, they acknowledge the fact that newer threats – typically associated with the developed world – are casting an even greater shadow over too many of the world’s people. In particular: lifestyles that lead to increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and asthma….”
World: Despite global warming, gains in fighting malaria, study finds (21 May 2010) The Christian Science Monitor
By: Spotts, P. Available: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0521/Despite-global-warming-gains-in-fighting-malaria-study-finds. Cited 2010 May 25.
“A research team has found that over the past century, malaria’s prevalence has declined significantly, despite a century-long warming of global average temperatures.
The finding was published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature by the Malaria Atlas Project, an international consortium of researchers that maps and tracks incidence of the disease, as well as social and environmental factors….”
British Columbia, Canada: West Nile funding cuts concern North Okanagan (21 May 2010) CBC News
Available: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/05/21/bc-west-nile-funding.html. Cited 2010 May 25.
“The B.C. government has scaled back its attack on the West Nile Virus to cover only southern regions”. “Last year, B.C.’s first two indigenous cases of West Nile were both detected in the province’s South Okanagan region”. Cheryl Phippen Environmental health researcher, “who reports on the spread of the virus for regional districts in B.C.” is concerned over a possible outbreak caused by hot weather. Ken Cooper at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control informs us that the provincial government is only funding mosquito control programs for regional districts in the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver, the Central Okanagan and Okanagan-Similkameen areas. The reason for this decision is that “The mosquitoes that we’re concerned about are in the southern part of the province”.” The North Okanagan Regional District didn’t get prevention funding and that troubles the district manager of environmental services Nicole Kohnert”. Aware that carrier mosquitoes have been identified in traps over the last several years, she expressed concerns that the carriers are still in the area “and that the residents, businesses and tourists are still at risk”. “The district has pleaded with the province to reinstate the funding, but Halvorson said that so far there has been no response”.
Utah, USA: Air quality will soon be monitored in three colors (27 May 2010) Tooele Transcript Bulletin.
By: Miley, S. Available: http://www.tooeletranscript.com/view/full_story/7722608/article-Air-quality—will-soon-be-monitored-in-three-colors?instance=home_news_1st_right. Cited 2010 May 28.
“The Utah Division of Air Quality has added Tooele and Box Elder counties into its pollution forecasts. Tooele county will get the same red-yellow-green alert system as the Wasatch Front currently uses”. It will measure ozone in the summer and particulate matter in the winter. The forecast will be color coded and extend for a period of three days. “The information is intended to help drivers make choices about when to drive or use alternate means of transit and make decisions regarding their health”. Jeff Coombs, environmental health director of the Tooele County Health Department, says that “Initially the state was hesitant to do a forecast because the county was not a nonattainment area”. “When a day is green, that means air quality is good. A yellow day means pollution is increasing and people are asked to take steps to reduce pollution — take mass transit, carpool, combine vehicle trips, avoid idling or using a gas-powered lawn mower in the middle of the day. A red day means levels of pollution are critically high and people should avoid using gasoline and diesel-powered engines”. “Based upon historical trend data, Coombs speculates Tooele County will see less yellow and red days than Salt Lake and Utah counties because air quality here is typically better than conditions along the Wasatch Front”.
Gaston County, North Carolina, USA: New law could take the splash out of the summer for local pools (26 May 2010) Gaston Gazette.
By: Barrett, M. Available: http://www.gastongazette.com/news/pools-47581-pool-law.html. Cited 2010 May 27.
“A new federal law that aims to prevent children from being injured by the suction of pool drains could cause several area pools to go dry”. This new law called the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act came into power May 1. Because the law requires potentially expensive safety upgrades it is “causing many pool operators to not pursue a required seasonal operating permit”. Gaston County environmental health director Curtis Hopper mentioned that “More than 60 percent of the public pools in Gaston County have yet to be permitted for the 2010 season. While most pool operators are expected to request a formal inspection and be approved in the next two weeks, some may not”. “The new law applies to pools and spas in housing subdivisions, apartment complexes, hotels, gyms and any places accessible to the public. Backyard pools don’t apply”. “The law was approved in 2008 says Jim Hayes, head of the pools, tattoos and state institutions branch of the N.C. Division of Environmental Health, “To swimmers, the most visible changes will be new drain covers designed to prevent hair, jewelry, toes and fingers from being sucked into a drain. But many older public pools, and those with pump systems that require more substantial renovations, have been hit with a heftier tab”. “Environmental Health specialist Teresa Dickson, one of the county’s inspectors, expects the next two weeks to be very busy. The fact that so many pool operators have yet to call suggests many are working feverishly to come into compliance”. “The paperwork and overall inspection process has been just as taxing on the permitting agencies. But Dickson said the goal of it all is clear”.“We’re all old dogs and nobody wants to learn a new trick,” she said. “But if it saves one person, it’s all worth it. That’s just the bottom line”.
U.S.A.: Healthier Fats Replacing Trans Fats, Study Finds (26 May 2010) Health, US News.
By: Reinberg, S. Available: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2010/05/26/healthier-fats-replacing-trans-fats-study-finds.html. Cited 2010 May 27.
“A team from Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 83 reformulated products from supermarkets and restaurants, and found little cause for alarm”. “We found that in over 80 brand name, major national products, the great majority took out the trans fat and did not just replace it with saturated fat, suggesting they are using healthier fats to replace the trans fat,” said lead researcher Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an assistant professor of epidemiology”. “The report, published in the May 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found no increase in the use of saturated fats in reformulated foods sold in supermarkets and restaurants, Mozaffarian said”. The cost to the industry is minimal when they become aware that they are “trying to do the right thing”. “Samantha Heller, a dietitian, nutritionist and exercise physiologist based in Fairfield, Conn., said reformulations that reduce trans fat in foods are good news for consumers”. She feels that consumers still needs to read the lable. “Of concern is the continued and possibly increased use of tropical oils, such as palm, palm kernel and coconut oils, as a replacement for trans fat,” Heller said. For example, it is difficult to find a margarine free of trans fat and tropical oil that one can use for baking and cooking, she said”.”Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., said removal of trans fat “from food is a well-justified public health priority”. “Some saturated fat is probably rather harmless, “but that’s a subtlety that dietary guidelines are not yet addressing,” Katz said”. “We often focus on one nutrient at a time and risk improving one nutrient feature, while compromising others,” Katz said. Until a reliable measure of overall nutritional quality is common practice for gauging the merits of reformulation, “reviews such as this will be required to verify that an apparent nutritional advance like trans fat removal is not offset by countervailing retreats,” he said….”
Louisiana, USA: Louisiana Fishermen Helping in Spill Cleanup Report Getting Sick (25 May 2010) Fox News
Available: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/25/louisiana-fishermen-reportedly-getting-sick-cleaning-gulf-bp/Biden. Cited 2010 May 26.
Some fishermen have reported being affected by dispersants used to control the oil slick. They have symptoms such as debilitating headaches, burning eyes and nausea. Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist and activist who worked on the cleanup in Alaska after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill states that these symptoms are caused by overexposure to “to crude oil and to the chemicals that are being used out on the cleanup”. “BP’s “Vessels of Opportunity” program employs commercial fishermen to hem in surface oil and help clean oil clumping along the coast, creating work for the industry likely to suffer most in the fallout from the oil spill”. Fishermen are only trained for four hours under BP and “the company does not appear to be providing special Hazmat equipment for the ad hoc cleanup crews”. Clint Guidry, secretary of the Louisiana Shrimp Association and his colleague, Acy Cooper feel that fishermen are not well protected. “The Coast Guard referred inquiries about the health of service members patrolling the Gulf to a unified command team set up by BP. Calls and an e-mail messages sent to BP seeking comment about their safety measures were not returned”. “The problem is some of the fishermen don’t want to lose the jobs they’ve got,” said George Barisich, head of the United Commercial Fishermen’s Association”.”Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and the environment, criticized BP for ignoring a directive from the Environmental Protection Agency to use less toxic chemicals to help disperse the oil” and he feels that this is turning out to be “an unprecedented, large and aggressive experiment on our oceans”. “Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., is urging the White House to establish temporary health clinics in the Gulf to help afflicted workers”. “Melancon argued that BP should foot the bill for the clinics if any are set up, though it remains unclear how many would be necessary or how long they would be required.”What is most frightening about the long-term effects of the oil and the dispersant chemicals isn’t what we know, it is what we just don’t know,” said Markey…..”
USA: BP wants to continue using contentious dispersant (23 May 2010) Associated Press (AP)
By: Bluestein, G. Available: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7vkPPClc0lhglDZGwYrrcVS185QD9FS8R9G1. Cited 2010 May 25.
BP still want “to keep using a contentious chemical dispersant to fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, despite orders from federal regulators to use something less toxic”. Corexit 9500…is “the most effective agents at dispersing the oil”. Doug Suttles Chief Operating Officer for BP has sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency explaining the why they want to continue using the same dispersant. The EPA stand by their decision — “Because of its use in unprecedented volumes and because much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants, (we) wants to ensure BP is using the least toxic product authorized for use,” the agency has said. BP said Suttles “found five products that met the EPA’s criteria, and that Corexit appears to have fewer long-term effects. There was also not enough of the other chemicals immediately available to fight the massive spill”. “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, members of Congress and environmental groups have raised questions about Corexit”. “Illinois-based Nalco Co., which makes Corexit, said as long as clean up crews consider the product the best combination of safety, effectiveness and availability, they will continue to supply it….”
USA: Reducing Occupational Exposures while Working with Dispersants During the Gulf Oil Spill Response (19 May 2010) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Available: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/oil_spill/dispersants_and_your_safety.htm. Cited 2010 May 25.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has prepared a document to instruct workers how to protect themselves from potential exposure. The information provided will “be updated as new information on the types of dispersants being used in the response is received….”
Louisianna, USA: Anxiety adds to cleanup workers’ health concerns (27 May 2010) CNN Health.
By: Park, M. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/27/oil.spill.health.effects/. Cited 2010 May 28.
Matthew Nonnenmann, an assistant professor in occupational and environmental health science at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler reported that “stress combined with heat and exposure to chemicals could be among the factors that sent seven Gulf fishermen who were helping with oil cleanup to the hospital Wednesday”. Since cleanup workers were experiencing symptoms of dizziness, nausea and headaches, all vessels were sent back to ports. “Seven people were admitted into a Louisiana hospital after complaining of severe headaches. All remained hospitalized Thursday afternoon”. Dr. LuAnn White, professor and director of the Tulane Center for Applied Environmental Public Health in New Orleans, Louisiana is not sure at the moment what cause these symptoms , but she mentioned that “It’s possible to become sickened if volatile compounds still remain in the oil”. “Workers having direct contact with concentrated dispersant… before they’re mixed into the water, that could affect their health….”
Massachusetts, USA: Swine flu vaccine is widely unused (22 May 2010) Boston.com
By: Smith, S. Available: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/22/swine_flu_vaccine_is_widely_unused/. Cited 2010 May 25.
“Roughly 65 million doses of swine flu vaccine sit unused or expired in clinics, doctor’s offices, and warehouses across the United States as the virus that once stoked fears of a devastating global epidemic has retreated. Most of the leftover shots and nasal spray, about 40 percent of what the federal government ordered, will be destroyed.
The purchase of so much vaccine, at a cost of $1.6 billion, was a calculated gamble made early in the epidemic, when it was impossible to know the virus would prove less harmful than some specialists had forecast.
But the gamble may have yielded dividends nonetheless, disease trackers said: The 91 million doses that were administered may have helped prevent a wintertime outbreak….”
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto Public Health Blames Late Arrival Of H1N1 Shots For Low Vaccination Rate (27 May 2010) All Headline News.
Available: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018817294. Cited 2010 May 28.
“Only 28 percent of Toronto residents availed of the free Influenza A (H1N1) vaccination last year when swine flu hit the country” because of late delivery. “The TPH report called for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care of Toronto to review its options to achieve a more efficient vaccine delivery system and to spell out more clearly criteria in determining who gets the shots first”. “Only 58 percent of healthcare workers in the city had themselves immunized against the H1N1 virus, while on a continuing basis the percent rose to only 58 percent, which plummeted to 39 percent based on a long-term care outlook….”
USA: Contaminants in groundwater used for public supply (21 May 2010) EurekAlert
By: Capelli, K. Available: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/usgs-cig052110.php. Cited 2010 May 25.
“More than 20 percent of untreated water samples from 932 public wells across the nation contained at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey”. This represent about two third of the US population. “Findings showed that naturally occurring contaminants, such as radon and arsenic, accounted for about three-quarters of contaminant concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks in untreated source water. “Herbicides, insecticides, solvents, disinfection by-products, nitrate, and gasoline chemicals were also found in untreated water sampled from the public wells….”
USA: Household detergents, shampoos may form harmful substance in wastewater (26 May 2010) EurekAlert.
By: Berstein, M. Available: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/acs-hds052610.php. Cited 2010 May 28.
According to scientists, “there is evidence that certain ingredients in shampoo, detergents and other household cleaning agents may be a source of precursor materials for formation of a suspected cancer-causing contaminant in water supplies that receive water from sewage treatment plants”. “William Mitch and colleagues note that scientists have known that N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and other nitrosamines can form in small amounts during the disinfection of wastewater and water with chloramine”. “Past studies with cosmetics have found that substances called quaternary amines, which are also ingredients in household cleaning agents, may play a role in the formation of nitrosamines”. Mixed with household cleaning products — including shampoo, dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent waste water form NDMA. Since we use a large quantity of quaternary amines, they are not completly removed during the sewage treatment process. They may persist in the environment and “have a potentially harmful effect in the effluents from sewage treatment plants….”
UK: Report criticises ‘burdensome’ health and safety culture (19 May 2010) Personnaltoday
By: N. Paton. Available: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/05/19/55658/report-criticises-burdensome-health-and-safety-culture.html. Cited 2010 May 25.
Is it possible that over-compliance, red tape, fear and caution is affecting Health and Safety in the UK? An educational think tank called the Policy Exchange feels that health and safety has become a “ritual excuse not to do anything”. They are proposing “to go back to the days when manual workers carried out dangerous jobs without proper training and equipment, machines lacked guards and office workers spent every day in rooms filled with cigarette smoke”. They also want “much greater clarity around legal requirements such as being “reasonably practical”, and that the Health and Safety Executive could be much more precise about when a risk assessment needed to be made or how extensive it needed to be”. “At some point, the marginal cost of risk-mitigation will exceed the marginal benefit of fewer injuries”. The Institution for Occupational Safety and Health feels that “the report misunderstood much of the UK’s existing health and safety regulatory framework and was marred by “conceptual weaknesses…..”
Ontario Canada: Additional steps need to be taken, industry safety task force says (25 May 2010) Daily Commercial News
By: Versace, V. Available: http://dcnonl.com/article/id38976. Cited 2010 May 26.
Keith Bowie of Bowie Contracting, member of the Safety Task Force under the Building and Concrete Restoration Association of Ontario feels that warnings and inspection of sites are not enough and that additional steps need to be taken. “Labour ministry inspectors visited nearly 3,000 construction sites across Ontario during a fall-hazard inspection blitz from mid-January to mid-April, and at 63 per cent of them found fall-related hazards”. The labour ministry faced with the results from the Safety Task Force “warned of a zero-tolerance approach with repeat infraction offenders, improving public and industry awareness about site safety and strengthened training levels”. Changes will also include “the province’s interest in increasing training and competency levels as well as the creation of a telephone hotline to report safety issues”. “As long as these (inspection) officers are properly trained and consistent with the enforcement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, it will go a long way to instilling the importance of safety no matter what the scope of work entails,” said the task force”. The Task Force “jointly submitted with organized labour a Needs Analysis for SAE-Regulation Amendment, which, if adopted, would change or amend the OHSA to increase the level of safety for SAE”. “The task force was informed it can present its recommendations to improving safety concerns in the restoration industry when they are completed….”
Virginia, USA: Old compliance assistance program could still be influencing inspectors (27 May 2010) West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
By:Paterson, E. Available: http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=14969. Cited 2010 May 28.
Upper Big Branch may have been inspected with the “compliance assistance program” (CAPs). This program “follows the popular adage that you’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”, meaning that instead of doing a formal inspection, inspectors wouldn’t write up violations and issue citations, but instead point out issues to be corrected”. Inspector “Minness Justice worked for MSHA for 20 years, before losing his job after the fire at Aracoma’s Alma No. 1 Mine. He saw CAPs implemented, and says many of his fellow inspectors were recruited for the program”. Celeste Monforton professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University, “says that some form of compliance assistance has its place”, but it is the industry’s resposiblity to comply with the Mine Act. “The Act specifically states that inspectors have to cite violations when they observe them”. “Current MSHA head Joe Main says the agency has officially discontinued the program”. “Under my watch, it doesn’t happen and it’s not going to happen. We’re going to use the enforcement folks to carry out their responsibilities under the Mine Act”.”Former MSHA inspector Minness Justice isn’t so sure. Since the explosion at Upper Big Branch, he’s poured over the mine’s safety record. A citation issued in January shows Upper Big Branch had high concentrations of float coal dust, which could contribute to an explosion”. “Citations were kind of written like back under the days when we had the CAPs program,” he said”. ” Dennis O’Dell of the United Mine Workers says it’s possible these compliance assistance activities are still going on, even though the official word says otherwise”. It takes some time to train inspectors to inforce the Mine Act. “MSHA’s internal investigation of the Aracoma, Sago and Darby mine disasters in 2006 found that an emphasis on “compliance assistance” could have played a role in those deadly explosions. The reports say the policy contributed to a lax regulatory attitude”.
South Africa: Sa Standards Of Industrial Cleanliness (27 May 2010) Article Marks.
Available: http://www.articlemarks.com/sa-standards-of-industrial-cleanliness/. Cited 2010 May 27.
South Africa is striving to improve industrial cleanliness. “The Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene was formed in 2000 and is a member of the International Occupational Hygiene Association”. “Health and safety legislation is shared amongst 3 departments – health, labour and minerals and energy – and in recent years a number of laws have been enforced in an effort to stem the tide of accidents or ill-health directly related to poor working conditions”. There are still concerns for health care workers and miners over Tuberculosis, particularly the resistant TB, rock falls, transportation accidents, falls and “airborne illness related to poor ventilation and chemical hazards”. “Although occupational hygienists use strict scientific methodology to determine the potential hazards or risks in a work place, it is also incumbent upon the business owner to ensure high standards of cleanliness on the factory floor, in offices and, most crucially, in the communal bathrooms”. “Arguably the most critical element of occupational health is determining potential or actual exposure to risk by means of walk through inspections to assess hazards….
UK: Majority of staff return to work while sick (24 May 2010) PersonnelToday
By: Paton,N. M. Available: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/05/24/55719/majority-of-staff-return-to-work-while-sick.html. Cited 2010 May 27.
The British health insurer company Avia polled 1,000 employees to find out why they would go back to work while still sick. The results indicated that “Nearly eight in 10 workers would consider returning to work from long-term absence before they were 100% better, potentially putting their health and the health and safety of colleagues at risk”. What are the factors driving this decision? “29% saying meeting mortgage payments was a major worry, nearly half said they would go back early if they thought their family couldn’t cope financially, while a further 11% said that fear of losing their job would hasten their return. Just slightly more than a fifth said they would never sacrifice their health to get back to the office quickly”. Kevin Murdoch, senior proposition development manager at Aviva UK Health, said: “Returning to work prematurely from an illness or injury without the appropriate support could be detrimental to the health of an employee and, from a business perspective, employers will reap few benefits from such ‘presenteeism’ – a lose-lose situation”.
U.S.A.: D.C. School Reform? Public Schools’ Absurd New Condom Policy (24 May 2010) US News
By: Roff, P. Available: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2010/05/24/DC-School-Reform-Public-Schools-Absurd-New-Condom-Policy.html. Cited 2010 May 25.
“Officials in the District of Columbia feel “that their program for the distribution of free condoms in those schools is failing”. College-age adults have complained that the free condoms are “not of good enough quality and are too small”. They also feel embarrassed to ask the school nurse for condoms. D.C. officials have decided to begin dispensing a more trendy and more expensive brand of condom, and have begun “to authorize teachers or counselors, preferably male, to distribute condoms to students if the teachers complete a 30-minute online training course called ‘WrapMC’–for Master of Condoms,” the Post reports”. This has worked. “The number of free condoms that the District dispenses has been steadily increasing. The health department distributed 3.2 million last year, including about 15,000 in schools. The city, which has 600,000 residents, is on pace to hand out more than 4 million condoms this year, having distributed about 2.5 million so far,” the Post says”. “The program cost about $165,000 last year, according to the Post. The new condoms are more expensive, but by just pennies each”.”The public schools exist to teach the 3 R’s–reading, writing and ‘rithmetic–not as laboratories for social engineering experiments”.
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