OSHA GONE BAD--Workers Suffer

Workers At Risk: Regulatory Disfunction At OSHA
http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/OSHA_1003.pdf


Please click the link above for an EXCELLENT white paper on an analysis of disfunction at OSHA by CPR Member Scholars Thomas McGarity, Rena Steinzor, and Sidney Shapiro, and CPR Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz

Safety Lapses with Infected Biotech Worker at Defense Lab

Apr 6, 2010 6:26 pm US/Eastern
Army Finds Safety Lapses In Lab Infection Case

DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press Writer

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) ― Army investigators at Fort Detrick recommended on Tueday that some laboratory safety procedures be reviewed after finding lapses in the case of a biodefense worker who became infected with tularemia, a potentially fatal respiratory disease.The woman survived the infection after a brief hospitalization at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in December.In an executive summary of an internal investigation, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases said the unidentified woman probably inhaled the bacteria between Nov. 13 and Nov. 17.Although there was no significant event investigators could point to, such as a spill or dropped flask, they cited several lapses in proper laboratory techniques that, taken together, may have increased her risk of exposure.The report said potentially contaminated waste wasn't placed in a cabinet designed to contain bacteria. Instead, it was deposited in a waste container inside the sealed laboratory suite.Even though she hadn't been voluntarily immunized with an experimental tularemia vaccine, the woman wasn't wearing a battery-powered device that delivers filtered air into a plastic hood, as required. Instead, she wore a half-face filter respirator. The less-protective device apparently was deemed sufficient because a blood test indicated she had developed antibodies to tularemia, perhaps due to a natural exposure in the past.The worker wasn't clear on the proper procedures for illness reporting, investigators found. She didn't immediately report her symptoms and when she did, on Nov. 23, she failed to immediately notify a second office, the institute's Special Immunizations Clinic, for an evaluation to determine if the illness could be work-related. She finally reported to the clinic on Dec. 1.The report's recommendations include a review of standard laboratory procedures for working with tularemia; a re-evaluation of policies for vaccination and the use of personal protective gear for tularemia; and formulation of an official policy for reporting illnesses and monitoring employee absences.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Private Biowarfare

Victimized by Drug Companies

See this link: http://rtsf.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/victimized-by-drug-companies/

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Terres from Fundamental Human Rights

Dangerous Biological Testing Lab in Connecticut

New Public Health Laboratory Approved By Bond Commission; Union Dispute Over Who Will Build It
By Christopher Keating on April 7, 2010 12:34 PM
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2010/04/new-public-health-laboratory-a.html
In a continuing political battle, the State Bond Commission approved a new, $70 million public health laboratory that has drawn sharp opposition from the surrounding Rocky Hill neighbors.
The 7 to 3 vote Wednesday came after a similar vote last month had failed on a 5 - 5 tie as all five Democrats on the commission banded together after saying that the neighbors had not had enough time to analyze the plans.
The state-of-the-art facility would allow for testing for anthrax and other biohazardous materials, which has raised fears among the neighbors. The lab will be a replacement for the deteriorating, 45-year-old lab in Hartford, which is within walking distance of the state Capitol, the Bushnell theatre, the state office building on Capitol Avenue, and Bushnell Park. Thousands of people walk and work near the currrent laboratory on a daily basis, and many are not aware of its location in a non-descript building near the state DEP headquarters.
Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said previously that many of the concerns about the facility were actually related to a union battle over whether non-union contractors would be building the $70 million complex. One of the chief opponents of the laboratory is Shaun Cashman, a high-ranking union official who once served as the state labor commissioner under then-Gov. John G. Rowland.
State officials were surprised when Cashman recently showed up at a private meeting about the laboratory plans with two Democrats - Sen. Paul Doyle of Wethersfield and Rep. Tony Guerrera of Rocky Hill. Cashman attended the bond commission meeting Wednesday and often looked back at Doyle and Guerrera, who were standing in the back of the room.
When asked after the vote whether the dispute is over union issues, Cashman said, "I'm just looking for safety. I have no other issue beyond that.''
He then walked away from a reporter.
More than 30 different contractors are recommended to work on the project, including about a dozen with contracts for at least $1 million. Some of the biggest contractors on the list are Tucker Mechanical, Pioneer Valley Concrete, United Steel, S. G. Milazzo & Co., Ductco Inc., Gibson Associates, Electrical Contractors Inc., and Simscroft-Echo Farms, Inc. of Simsbury. Other contractors are Century Drywall Inc., WDJ Construction, CT Mason Contractors Inc., Gold Seal Roofing & Sheetmetal Inc., and Suntech of CT, Inc.
The three Democrats who voted against the laboratory were Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, state Comptroller Nancy Wyman and state Rep. David McCluskey of West Hartford. Sen. Eileen Daily, a moderate Democrat and key swing voter on the bond commission, changed her vote from last month and supported the laboratory on Wednesday. She told Capitol Watch that her concerns had been answered.
After the original vote last month, Rell told reporters that she was angry and frustrated by the process. She said the plans had been in the works for five years and were well known to town officials in Rocky Hill.
Rell's aides distributed a timeline and lengthy details about the plan to show that Rocky Hill officials had been aware of the proposal for years.
The lab is a critical component of the state's public health mission. Scientists at the current lab test for West Nile virus, childhood lead poisoning, rabies, and drinking water contamination, among other public health concerns.
The issue over the Rocky Hill location flared up when a group known as Construction Workers For A Safe Environment started distributing fliers to Rocky Hill residents with the statement that the materials at the new lab "may cause serious or potentially lethal disease as a result of exposure by the inhalation route."
Stanley Einhorn, a Rocky Hill resident who found a flier on his doorstep last week, said last month that everyone on his street got the flier, which says the Rocky Hill laboratory would be at the same level as the notorious laboratory at Plum Island, N.Y., in Long Island Sound. But Rocky Hill's, like the lab it would replace, would be a Level 3 laboratory, while Plum Island is a Level 4 facility.
"It's not as bad as Plum Island, but there are contagious things there," Einhorn said. "I definitely think it's a bad idea. ... There's a lot of potential problems."
Doyle, the state senator who sought a postponement of the bond commission vote, said last month that the brochure was "inflammatory" and "dead wrong" in certain aspects regarding the state's plans.
"This facility has no live animals. It's not like they're testing live animals like at Plum Island," Doyle said. "There's a lot of misstatements in here. You can't get near Plum Island. There's 100 percent security."
Doyle rejected the notion that the dispute was about union construction jobs, saying that the issue never came up during the one-hour meeting with public health commissioner Robert Galvin and other state health department officials at the state Capitol complex.
"I don't know any of those [union] issues because Cashman didn't tell me any of that," Doyle said last month. "The motives of Cashman are irrelevant. ... In the meeting, there was nothing about unions. It was all science."
The new laboratory, which is scheduled to be built on 22 acres near the State Veterans Home and across the street from Dinosaur State Park, would replace the current lab at 10 Clinton St. in a densely packed, congested area of downtown Hartford.
Because of the weak economy and the heavy competition among contractors for construction jobs, the state had received a bid that was $12 million less than expected.
Galvin, the public health commissioner, has described the current lab in Hartford as antiquated and said its plumbing, heating and air-conditioning systems are deficient. On hot days in the summer, staff members must put containers of ice on top of specimen coolers to ensure that the samples are kept cold enough, he said.
Galvin told the bond commission last month that the lab has no experimental animals and that it's never had trouble containing organisms it is testing.
A construction contractor has offered a price that would cut $12 million off the overall cost, and that offer expires April 15, Galvin said.

NO MORE CLEAN WATER

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

By CHARLES DUHIGG and JANET ROBERTS
Published: February 28, 2010, NYT

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.

As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.
Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.
The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.
“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”

For the continued story see go to this New York Times link

IDSA NOT GOOD ON THEIR LYME DISEASE AGREEMENT

Blumenthal says group not complying with Lyme disease agreement

Written by Ken Borsuk, Staff Reporter Thursday, 18 February 2010 00:00
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has sent a warning shot across the bow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), saying he is concerned that it is not complying with terms of a settlement reached with his office over an antitrust investigation.

Mr. Blumenthal, a Greenwich resident and a candidate for senate, sent a letter from his office Feb. 1 claiming the Virginia-based organization did not appear to be honoring an agreement to have what he considered to be an impartial, fact-based review of guidelines for Lyme disease practices. The IDSA is an organization of physicians, scientists and health care professionals that specialize in infectious disease and its view that Lyme disease needs only a few weeks of treatment has come under fire from advocates claiming that it’s too narrow and doesn’t acknowledge the true scope of care and treatment needed.
Mr. Blumenthal said the IDSA appears to be violating an agreement made with his office last year after an investigation into the organization’s 2006 clinical practice guidelines for Lyme disease turned up what he called “significant procedural deficiencies” that raised the question of whether the best scientific and medical evidence were being used in determining those guidelines.
After agreeing to what is known as an “action plan” with his office, Mr. Blumenthal said the IDSA became obligated to essentially create a new review panel that would determine whether the original panel “got it right” in making its recommendations and then vote to determine whether simple changes should be made to the 2006 guidelines or if a whole new set of recommendations should be made.
As part of this action plan two levels of voting became required, the first to determine if the original 2006 recommendations were “medically and scientifically justified in light of all the available evidence collected through an open collection process” and the second then to determine whether revisions or completely new guidelines were made. But Mr. Blumenthal charges that a review of minutes and records of the review panel’s meetings determined that the principle vote on the medical and scientific justification of the original recommendations never took place and that instead the IDSA voted only on whether changes needed to be made to them, effectively skipping the first step to get to the second.
Mr. Blumenthal said that was not part of the agreement and therefore the vote was improperly done. He said there was no way to determine if changes had to be made since no one had studied the guidelines to determine whether they were justified in the first place.
The Greenwich-based Time For Lyme says that it supports Mr. Blumenthal in his efforts. Diane Blanchard, the group’s co-president, told the Post on Tuesday that there is “major concern” among advocates for Lyme disease that the IDSA isn’t using the best data for its positions and the effect that will have as a result.
“The IDSA is a very influential group not only in America but all over the world and it will affect hundreds of thousands of patients,” Ms. Blanchard said. “Other countries will follow what they do. This is a real concern.”
Ms. Blanchard said that the IDSA’s attitude toward Lyme disease is “fairly cavalier” because it says that its easy to diagnose and easy to treat even as data comes in saying just the opposite. Ms. Blanchard and Time For Lyme said that even though Lyme disease starts out as an infectious disease it spreads throughout the body, making it more of a disease that should be treated by general practitioners or a combination of specialists, not just infectious disease specialists.
Additionally, Ms. Blanchard said that IDSA’s stance has curtailed Lyme disease patient’s rights and their access to care and made it easier for insurance companies to deny more extensive care, something she said is “criminal.”
Mr. Blumenthal told the Post on Tuesday that he has not received a response from the IDSA to his letter. Any further action from his office, he says, will depend entirely on what kind of response is given.
John Heyes a spokesman for the IDSA told he couldn’t speak to any response that would be forthcoming from the organization, but confirmed to the Post that Mr. Blumenthal’s letter has been reviewed.
“IDSA knows its responsibilities under the settlement and the action plan and takes them very seriously,” Mr. Heyes said. “We are committed to ensuring the review panel does its work according to the requirements of the action plan.”

http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/greenwich-post/news/local/49759-blumenthal-says-group-not-complying-with-lyme-disease-agreement.html

Old Connecticut Yankees at Hartford Courant Gag and Terminate Consumer Protection Writer, Gombossy

A celebrated columnist from the Hartford Courant, George Gombossy was terminated after writing about consumer protection topics involving major advertisers of the Hartford Courant. Gombossy's column became successful and was well liked by the public and Harford Courant's readers. Unfortunately, Gombossy stepped on the toes of some major advertizers ($500,000) in his columns. Subsequently, Gombossy was told by a newspaper executive that the Hartford Courant could not afford to have major advertisers angry because of Gombossy’s column. He was then terminated. Gombossy filed a freedom of speech lawsuit in October 2009.

For more info see this link: http://ctwatchdog.com/2009/09/29/watchdog-tribune-accuses-courant-of-violating-its-written-news-mission

And you wonder why the Hartford Courant is struggling for readership?