You are currently browsing The Pump Handle's articles.
by Kas
Approximately 100 people from Washington, DC-area universities, local government, and private industry shared an organic experience at the 2009 Policy Greenhouse held this morning at The George Washington University. The Greenhouse provided a forum for people to present, in five minutes or less, their ideas for innovative, sustainable solutions for local problems. The solutions may be addressed now, using some portion of the millions of stimulus dollars received by DC, or in the near future through changes to existing or development of new DC-specific environmental policies. The presentations were directed to The Committee on Government Operations and the Environment from the Council of the District of Columbia (who co-sponsored the event with the Office of Sustainability at GWU). Read more about the Greenhouse and the solutions that were pitched here and at the Greater Greater Washington blog.
The Greenhouse was an innovative forum and, one could surmise, left attendees with “good” feelings about DC government initiatives, some DC government offices, and how the community, DC government, and area universities are trying to capture sustainability’s gestalt. Attendees probably left with a brain full of high impact ideas for solutions that can “do good” and make people “feel good.”
I left the meeting not feeling so good and asking myself two questions:
As we learned this week, Cal/OSHA and the OSH Appeals Board are in a state of disarray. A daring group of state employees have raised their voices in protest (see “CalOSHA inspectors demand change”) reminding us that dysfunction in their agency can translate into more injuries and illnesses for California’s workers. The collective action of these inspectors and staff is vital. So too is the sole voice of individuals who share their experience and insight.
Meet Jack Oudiz, who joined Cal/OSHA in 1985. Mr. Oudiz is retiring from Cal/OSHA and shares the following:
My statement is compelled by a sense of sadness and disappointment at leaving an organization that is in many ways much less effective than I found it nearly 25 years ago. The Division I leave today has veered so far away from its mission that it has begun to redefine that mission to justify its actions.
We wrote last month about the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Control’s withdrawal of a report that omitted important information about the contamination of the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina – a move that seemed to indicate better prospects for the hundreds of former base residents who used contaminated water and are seeking damages for health problems. On Saturday, however, the National Research Council released a report (commissioned by the U.S. Navy at the direction of Congress) that concludes it may be impossible to know whether contaminants can be linked definitively to diseases like birth defects, childhood leukemia, liver damage, and breast cancer.
Now, five scientists who have served on committees advising ATSDR about how to move forward with Camp Lejeune health studies have come out with a statement saying the NRC report “reached puzzling and in some cases erroneous conclusions.” Here is their complete statement:
As the public health community mourns the loss of a great scientist and colleague, The Pump Handle would like to share some of what has been written about Kate Mahaffey. Please leave your own remembrances in the comments section below.
“I have known Kathryn as a colleague for more than a decade, but most recently have been impressed with her steadfast scientific integrity while at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She always managed to honestly communicate scientific findings that while unpopular with some, were critically important to protecting public health. …Kathryn is a role model for the next generation of environmental public health practitioners. [The skills she developed were] often learned through ‘trial by fire’ and Kathryn has certainly experienced that, but has always maintained her scientific integrity grounded in the best science available.” Henry A. Anderson, MD, chief medical officer, state environmental and occupational disease epidemiologist, Wisconsin Division of Public Health.
It is with deep sadness we inform you of the sudden passing of Kathyrn R Mahaffey, PhD. Kate had an exceptional and diverse career, with appointments at FDA, NIOSH, NIEHS and EPA. Most recently, Kate served as a Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
Her husband, David Jacobs offers the following remembrance and tribute to her significant contributions to the public’s health. Information about a memorial service appears at the end of this post.
Kathryn R. Mahaffey passed away peacefully in her sleep June 2, 2009 after decades of work that advanced the nation’s health and environment. She is remembered as a beloved wife, mother, scientist and community member who served as a source of inspiration with her principled and tireless intellect. She was the rare scientist who knew how to apply the lessons from academic research to protect the public heath. Her work changed the face of epidemic heavy metal poisoning, endocrine disruptors and many other environmental pollutants that afflict children, pregnant women and at-risk populations. Literally millions of children have avoided the tragedy of lead and mercury poisoning as a consequence of her work.
cross-posted from OMBWatch
Despite the Obama Administration’s consistent theme of creating a new, more open government, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has yet to prove it will comply with the Administration’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policies. In its response to a 2008 FOIA request, MSHA refused to release information that has been consistently released in the past. An appeal of that response provides a test of the administration’s approach to implementing its openness policies.
On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum about the use of FOIA, writing that the presumption regarding government disclosure should be:
“In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”
by Kas
Introduction
The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) coordinates Federal R&D activities related to nanotechnology. Currently, the NNI involves the activities of 25 Federal agencies, 13 of which have budgets planned for 2010. Four of these agencies have specific responsibilities to address environmental, health, and safety (EHS) nanotechnology research needs as outlined by the 2008 NNI publication Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Needs for Engineered Nanoscale Materials. The four agencies are: USEPA, NIOSH, NIST, and NIH (that’s the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and National Institute of Health). Four other Federal agencies have EHS budgets, but are not appointed with specific EHS nanotechnology research priorities by NNI. These agencies are: NSF, DoD, DOE, and USDA (National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and United States Department of Agriculture).
Methods
Using publicly available NNI budget data, we evaluated the planned investments for nanotechnology EHS research in 2010. The data for the USEPA, NIOSH, NIST, and NIH were assessed to determine the percent of the Agency’s budget dedicated to nanotechnology EHS research and the status of the budgets as compared with 2009 data. Finally, the total NNI EHS budget was examined to help to provide a sense of perspective.
By Alison Bass (cross-posted)
In order to truly stabilize the economy and rescue Medicare from financial collapse, the Obama administration knows it has to do something about the elephant in the room: ever-rising health care costs. In this week’s New Yorker, surgeon-writer Atul Gawande presents an eye-opening discourse on why American health care costs have ballooned in the last decade and what can done about it.
To make his case, Gawande visits McAllen, Texas, which is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country. In 2006, Medicare spent $15,000 per enrollee in McAllen (almost twice the national average); only Miami, Gawande reports, spent more per person on health care. The reason? Too much medicine. Doctors in McAllen prescribe far more tests, treatments and surgery than doctors in a nearby Texas town and nationwide. Yet the quality of health care is no better in McAllen, and Gawande cites research showing that such overuse of medicine may actually make patients worse.
So why are doctors in McAllen so aggressive? Read the rest of this entry »
By Bill Borwegen
While the news coming out of California this week has focused on the budget crisis, something else of historic importance in advancing worker protections was achieved by California’s healthcare workers. Yesterday in a 6-0 vote, the CalOSHA Standards Board adopted the nation’s first aerosol transmissible diseases standard.
In 1986 when unions petitioned OSHA for a bloodborne pathogens standard to protect against HIV and Hepatitis, the American Dental Association told us that if dentists wore gloves, everyone would be scared and that no one would go to the dentist. Since this standard passed in 1991, CDC reports that hepatitis B cases among healthcare workers have plummeted from 17,000 cases a year to less than 400.
When California passed the nation’s first safer needle law in 1998, it led to the passage of more than 20 state laws and President Clinton signing the federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act in an Oval Office ceremony the day before the 2000 Presidential election. Today, according to researchers at the University of Virginia, needlesticks have been cut by more than half (51%).
As we have confronted TB, SARS and now Novel H1N1, occupational health and safety professionals continue to wage a pitched battle with segments within the infection control community to ensure the implementation of sufficient respiratory protection for healthcare and other workers exposed to on-the-job airborne biological threats. While CDC, NIOSH and OSHA are all calling for adequate respiratory protection to protect healthcare and other workers from respirable H1N1 virus particles with at least fit tested N95 respirators, around half of the nation’s state and local health departments (with the acquiescent of CDC) are claiming that leaky loose fitting surgical masks are sufficient.
by Kas
The USEPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) will receive nutrient-rich fertilizer that will keep it from becoming obsolete. IRIS provides an overall characterization of the public health risks for a given chemical in a given situation. It is the place to go to find noncancer effects (reference doses (RfD), reference concentrations (RfC)) and cancer effects (cancer slope factors and unit risks) that may result from exposure to various substances in the environment. These kinds of numbers go into the calculations for remediation goals at Superfund sites.
IRIS values drive regulatory and policy decisions. For example, IRIS is the primary source of toxicity values used to develop remediation goals and screening levels at both the State and Federal level.
As of May 21, 2009, there is a new IRIS process in place. A seven-step assessment development process should be more responsive to the needs of the USEPA and other government public health partners. It is expected to shorten the assessment turnaround time to 23 months —and, frankly, even if it takes them 46 months per assessment, that would be a huge improvement on the unhurried, glacial pace we’ve grown accustomed to in the last decade. The new process promises scientific quality, public comment, independent external peer review, and transparent and documented judgments.
Grow, baby, grow.
Kas is an industrial hygienist studying public health in the DC metro area.
