Furthering on with the thread topic, an article today from the New York Times about OSHA, and their performance since the bush admin took office. Turns out they have rolled back pretty much all protections and safeguards that were in place, and removed protections for many American workers. The 'new' OSHA feels industry does NOT need to be regulated, and that companies can self-police without their help. Why then are they in existence and receiving millions in federal funds if they are not going to pass any standards or enforce them?
Just another example of the bush admin selling off the rights as well as the health and safety of American workers to the highest bidder.
In fact, the argument the bush admin and his OSHA officials use are the same they use in blocking change to global warming - they claim all the science surrounding various chemicals is 'fuzzy', therefore they don't want to enforce anything. This is even after hundreds of American workers in various plants have developed various debilitating conditions that doctors AND scientists have directly attributed to their work conditions and various substances found there.
Even with such hard evidence, the bush admin contends that in their eyes, and the eyes of the corporate lawyers who are fighting these cases, there is no clear link. Fortunately, the court system and juries have found differently. But even with million dollar court cases going against them, they still refuse to put in place basic safeguards to protect American workers.
OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of Industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/wa...syahoo&emc=rss
WASHINGTON, April 24 — Seven years ago, a Missouri doctor discovered a troubling pattern at a microwave popcorn plant in the town of Jasper. After an additive was modified to produce a more buttery taste, nine workers came down with a rare, life-threatening disease that was ravaging their lungs.
Puzzled Missouri health authorities turned to two federal agencies in Washington. Scientists at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which investigates the causes of workplace health problems, moved quickly to examine patients, inspect factories and run tests. Within months, they concluded that the workers became ill after exposure to diacetyl, a food-flavoring agent.
But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, charged with overseeing workplace safety, reacted with far less urgency. It did not step up plant inspections or mandate safety standards for businesses, even as more workers became ill.
On Tuesday, the top official at the agency told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing that it would prepare a safety bulletin and plan to inspect a few dozen of the thousands of food plants that use the additive.
That response reflects OSHA’s practices under the Bush administration, which vowed to limit new rules and roll back what it considered cumbersome regulations that imposed unnecessary costs on businesses and consumers. Across Washington, political appointees — often former officials of the industries they now oversee — have eased regulations or weakened enforcement of rules on issues like driving hours for truckers, logging in forests and corporate mergers.
Since George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court.
The agency has killed dozens of existing and proposed regulations and delayed adopting others. For example, OSHA has repeatedly identified silica dust, which can cause lung cancer, and construction site noise as health hazards that warrant new safeguards for nearly three million workers, but it has yet to require them.
“The people at OSHA have no interest in running a regulatory agency,” said Dr. David Michaels, an occupational health expert at George Washington University who has written extensively about workplace safety. “If they ever knew how to issue regulations, they’ve forgotten. The concern about protecting workers has gone out the window.”
*snip*
It's an article well worth the read. For an administration that claims 'all life is important' and uses this rhetoric to block abortion and stem cell research, it appears that 'life' is only important until its old enough to work, then it better learn to protect itself as the bush admin wants nothing more to do with it, and could care less if its own polices directly degrade the quality of that life.