Food Safety after largest recall in FDA history + Salmonella outbreak forces major recall

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Updated: 2.02.09 added another story

Democracy Now!
1.29.09

Food Safety: Georgia Plant Knowingly Shipped Contaminated Peanuts; Study Links Corn Syrup to Toxic Mercury

We look at two stories on food safety. The FDA has issued one of the largest food recalls in history after eight people died of salmonella poisoning. A Georgia peanut plant knowingly shipped products contaminated with salmonella on a dozen occasions over the past two years. And a pair of new studies has revealed traces of toxic mercury can be found in many popular food items containing high-fructose corn syrup. The sweetener has become a widely used substitute for sugar in processed foods, including many items marketed toward children. [includes rush transcript]

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US: Nationwide salmonella outbreak forces major recall, plant closure

By Naomi Spencer
/www.wsws.org
2 February 2009

On January 30, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced it was opening a criminal investigation into food safety violations at a Georgia peanut plant responsible for a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 500 people and killed at least 8 since September. Over 100 children under the age of five are among those who have been made seriously ill by the contaminated food.

After concluding a two-week investigation of the plant last week, the FDA issued an advisory to dispose of every product containing peanuts processed there within the past two years. The recall, one of the largest in US history, extends to over 430 different foods made with peanut products from the Blakely, Georgia facility run by Peanut Corporation of America. The recall has been extended to markets in Canada and Europe.

[…]

via US: Nationwide salmonella outbreak forces major recall, plant closure.

Like countless other food poisoning outbreaks in the past few years, the latest salmonella outbreak emphasizes the vulnerability of the country’s food supply and the toothless regulatory system charged with overseeing it. Public health, revealed time and again to be fundamentally incompatible with private profit, can only be ensured through public control of production, including organization of the food supply and its essential industry.

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Food on Dandelion Salad

Open Letter to President Obama on Consumer Protection, by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Jan. 23, 2009

Dear President Obama:

Underneath many of our country’s economic problems is the thirty-year collapse of consumer protection—both of the regulatory kind and of the self-help kind known as proper access to justice.

Countdown: Cheney’s Admission of War Crimes + Dismantling Regulations

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heathr456

Keith talks to Jonathan Turley about whether Dick Cheney has openly admitted to war crimes and that Obama has a decision to make about what sort of administration he wants to run and whether he’s going to let this go or not.

Catherine Austin Fitts: Addicted to Drug Profits + Navigate The Falling Dollar (2004)

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SoliloquyMonologues

Clip from “The Truth and Lies of 9-11” (2004)
Catherine Austin Fitts
http://www.solari.com
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/n…

There is little doubt that our economy is based on the suffering of others. International corporations and drug warlords keep our economy afloat. This is achieved by raping the third world through proxy wars and governments, and infusing ill gotten wealth into our economy.

Do we care? Well not if it means that we lose our life style. Truth of the matter we should head for an economy meltdown before we can built a better society. The current speculative market, fiat monetary system, fractional banking (debt based economy) is not a healthy system. It is one that encourages greed and a dog eat dog world.

If you have any thoughts please post or a video response.
Thank you

Protect our health and environment by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (GMO)

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by Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Washington, Jul 30, 2008

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced three bills designed to protect consumers, defend farmers’ rights, and increase food safety yesterday. The bills collectively create a comprehensive framework to regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

“We have a responsibility to put the public health and the environment before profits.  These bills spell out common sense precautions.”

The three bills are titled, respectively, H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act, H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, and H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Farmer Protection Act.

H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act, would require mandatory labeling of all foods that contain or are produced with genetically modified material. A legal framework to ensure labeling accuracy without significant economic hardship would also be established.

H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, would require that genetically engineered foods follow a food safety review process to prevent contamination of food supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops. This Act would also require that the FDA screen all genetically engineered foods to ensure they are safe for human consumption.

H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Farmer Protection Act, places liability from the impacts of genetically engineered organisms on the biotechnology companies that created the GMOs, and protects farmers from law suits by biotechnology companies

“We are eating genetically engineered foods every day. Farmers are sowing genetically engineered seeds every day.  Yet, we have never studied the long term effects of genetically modified organisms on our health, our children or our environment. Congress must take steps to maximize the benefit and minimize the risks of biotechnology.”

Congressman Kucinich has used his position as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy to examine food safety issues and the rights of farmers.  A Subcommittee hearing held by Rep. Kucinich in March examined the impact on farmers caused by contamination of conventional crops by genetically engineered plants significantly influenced these bills.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see (video)

Dennis Kucinich Responds to Nancy Pelosi’s Statements

Congress Probes How New Sports Stadiums Turn Public Money into Private Profit

Eaten Up By Ed Pilkington

Time for Action Against Monsanto By Siv O’Neall

Food

GMO

Monsanto

The Profit in Highway Slaughter, by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
Tuesday, July 22. 2008

Under present conditions there is little economic incentive for the auto maker to concern himself seriously with automobile casualties and collisions-for the costs and penalties are not upon him. Actually, the more cars depreciate through collisions, the greater the demand for new and used cars. Only when there is a real threat of cost or other adverse feedback, as in the mass litigation over the 1960-63 Chevrolet Corvairs, does a manufacturer take notice and correct as General Motors did for the Corvair rear suspension system after those four tragic model years. But such feedbacks are very infrequent and, until the Corvair cases, never on a mass basis.

Bill Moyers Journal: Contemplating “Climate Security” + Worker Safety + Big Oil

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Bill Moyers Journal

June 27, 2008

Contemplating “Climate Security”

June 27, 2008

On Friday, June 6th, 2008 the Liberman-Warner Climate Security Act — the first climate change bill to be debated in Congress — died a procedural death on the Senate floor when the Democratic leadership couldn’t rally the 60 votes necessary to move the bill from debate to a vote.

Republicans overwhelming opposed the bill and made their opposition felt in several ways. Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, forced the entire text to be read aloud, a process which took more than ten hours. McConnell, of Kentucky, opposed the bill as a “tax” that he claimed would raise fuel prices even more. Senator Boxer disputed labeling it as a tax and told BILL MOYERS JOURNAL that the act will raise trillions of dollars that can be used to off-set increased prices for consumers:

…continued plus video and transcript

Worker Safety

Injury rates reported at America’s poultry plants have dropped dramatically in recent years, and so have workplace safety inspections. Are regulators rewarding companies for inaccurate reporting of injuries? BILL MOYERS JOURNAL and EXPOSÉ: AMERICA’S INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS go inside America’s poultry industry, which employs almost a quarter million workers nationwide, to show the reality of working conditions and to investigate how official statistics showing a drop in workplace injuries may have been the result of deceptive reporting.

…continued plus video and transcript

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BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Bill Moyers on Big Oil | PBS

PBS

http://www.pbs.org/billmoyers A Bill Moyers essay on big oil. Airs Friday, June 27, at 9p.m. on PBS (check local listings). For more: http://www.pbs.org/billmoyers

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It Was Oil, All Along By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

Bill Moyers Journal: LA Labor + Wages & Work + Gilded Ages

Ethics of military drug testing questioned

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by David R. Sands
http://www.washtimes.com
Sunday, June 22, 2008

Degree of ‘voluntary’ participation raises concerns

Colombian and Indonesian troops have been drafted to test new anti-malaria drugs. South African researchers used Tanzanian soldiers to study the effectiveness of an unorthodox treatment for HIV/AIDS.

And a trial conducted on some 2,000 Nepalese soldiers for a new hepatitis-E vaccine by a major U.S. drug company sparked public protests and complaints that the Nepalese troops were being used as human guinea pigs.

…continued

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Breaking the Nuremberg Code: The US Military’s Human-Testing (videos)

Breaking the Nuremberg Code: The US Military’s Human-Testing Program Returns By Heather Wokusch

Atomic Testing (video)

Meat Wars – Why Are Those Wacky Koreans Dissin’ Our Beef?

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By Mike Whitney
06/20/08 “ICH”

You wouldn’t know it from reading the newspapers, but the streets of Seoul are packed with tens of thousands of angry protestors who’ve brought business and government to a standstill. The demonstrations have dragged on for more than a month and show no sign of ending anytime soon. President Lee Myung-Bak’s decision to lift the ban on US beef imports has set off a political firestorm that is likely to bring down the government and put the kibosh on free trade agreements for years to come.

On Tuesday, the powerful Korean Confederation of Trade Unions threatened to call a general strike if the meat-deal with Washington was not rescinded. If the unions strike, the whole capital will shut down. That’s why the politicians are scrambling for solutions.

South Korea suspended the purchase of US beef in 2003 after an incident of mad cow was reported in Washington state. Many Koreans still don’t believe the government’s assurances that the meat is safe and they may have a point. According to the LA Times the USDA tests less than 1% of cattle. (USDA Mad Cow Madness” LA Times) In contrast, Japan tests every cow that enters the food chain. Also, according to the Associated Press: [edited]

The Myung-Bak administration is being strong-armed by the Bush team to ignore the massive protests and honor the terms of the trade agreement. It’s a “lose-lose” situation for the Korean president who can either incur the wrath of the corporate oligarchs by caving in or commit political seppuku by shrugging off the demands of his people. Either way, Lee’s career is kaput; he’ll never survive the fallout.

According to AFP:

“Seoul insists it cannot meet protesters’ demands to renegotiate the beef deal, saying it would jeopardize a separate, wider free trade agreement and cast doubt on South Korea’s good faith as a negotiator….The US apparently fears any official endorsement would breach World Trade Organization rules.”

Right; “a deal is a deal”; what were they thing? How could they expect to bend the rules for something as trivial as public safety? So on with the protests, on with the strike. The whole issue of free trade is now precariously balanced on a few pounds of sketchy brisket.

The media has done a first-rate job of diverting attention from the the central issue of whether meat is safe or not by characterizing the protests as “frustration with President Lee”. This is just more nonsense to protect the beef industry. In reality, people everywhere want to be sure that what they put in their mouths is safe to eat. The lack of confidence in US beef imports has struck a nerve in the public’s consciousness sending thousands of Koreans into the streets shouting slogans and waving fists. But is their rage is justified?

According to Martha Rosenberg:

“Eight people have died from probable Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the US in the last nine months…Do trade officials know something we don’t know?

In May the Bush administration urged a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Arkansas City, KS-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct advanced mad cow testing on its animals–presumably because it would raise consumer questions and make other packers look bad.

“This is the government telling the consumers, ‘You’re not entitled to this information,'” protested Creekstone attorney Russell Frye, according to the AP, a charge also heard in March when USDA refused to name companies selling 143 million pounds of recalled Westland/Hallmark beef because the information was “proprietary.” (“Do South Korean Meat Protesters Know Something We Don’t”, Martha Rosenberg)

Hmmmm. So, why is the Bush administration so surprised that foreigners don’t want our beef if it isn’t properly tested? What were they expecting?

In 2003 Dave Louthan wrote an article for counterpunch where he identified himself as one of the crew that was working at Vern’s Moses Lake Meats when tests came back on a cow that had BSE. (Mad cow) The USDA swooped in and tried to hush the whole thing up, but Louthan blew the whistle. He said:

“They asked me “was the cow in the food chain?” I told them of course it was, it’s meat. Where else would it be? They asked me if the cow was a downer. I told them no, it was just an old cow….(Uh, oh) How many other walkers have BSE? We will never know. The USDA only tested the downers and cripples and only at our plant.” (Now here’s the kicker) “When the USDA said no more downers would be slaughtered, they essentially said no more BSE testing would be done. Vern’s and every other slaughterhouse kept right on killing and selling Holstein meat from the same area as the mad cow with no BSE testing whatsoever. This is true and easily verifiable.” (Dave Louthan, “They are Lying about your Food”, counterpunch, 2003)

Yikes! So the USDA deliberately put the public at risk just to save a few bucks for the industry?

Apparently so.

But what’s the big deal, anyway; you get a bad steak and maybe you get a fever for a few days and throw up, right?

Wrong. As Louthan says: “BSE is 100% fatal — if you or your kids get it, you die a very painful death. It’s a slow, wasting disease. It’s terrible.”

Huh, it’s fatal?

According to Louthan, “If you eat mad cow, you are going to get sick and you are going to die.”

Louthan estimates that “there are over a million mad cows in this country” but we’ll never know for sure because the government is determined to limit testing to a very small percentage of the cows. The Bush administration would rather bully our trading partners into taking dodgy beef then do what’s necessary to keep the public safe.

There have been very few updates on the mad cow story with one exception that appeared in USA Today titled “US on Mad Cow: Don’t Test all cattle” (5-29-07) Here’s an excerpt:

“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease….[edited: link to the story]

Great. So the Bush administration is leading the charge to stop additional testing because it might cost too much. There’s something to mull over before biting into that next juicy hamburger.

An editorial in the South Korea newspaper “The Hankyoreh” summed up the real reasons behind the “meat wars” like this:

“If the United States is going to be selling beef on the international market, it should make sure that it is safe. The thing is, there are doubts about the safety of American beef even within the United States. The New York Times has reported that in 2005, when there was a second confirmed case of mad cow disease, the U.S. Agriculture Department hid the fact for seven months. The Times also reported that of the 30 million cows slaughtered in the United States annually, only 650,000, or about 2 percent, are tested for mad cow disease. In the United States, the authority to test the safety of beef lies with the Agriculture Department, which defends the interests of the meat industry, and it even turned down a request by a meat exporter that it inspect all of its beef on hand. This is why the Korean people want to see imports only of beef without specified risk materials, and from cows younger than 30 months of age at time of slaughter…..Fixing the problems quickly and making it possible to market safety-assured beef would be helping American farmers.” (“The “U.S. role in the beef issue”, The Hankyoreh, South Korea)

If people are going to eat meat, it needs to be properly tested. The Bush administration needs to quit making excuses and get on with it.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

US: FEMA trailers caused at least 17,000 illnesses among Katrina survivors

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By Naomi Spencer
http://www.wsws.org
9 June 2008

Approaching three years since the devastation of the US Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, a public health nightmare continues for thousands of survivors who were housed in government-supplied trailers.

Many of the 300,000 residents who were relocated into housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have developed serious respiratory problems because of excessive levels of the industrial chemical and known carcinogen formaldehyde, according to a report by Spencer Hsu published May 25 in the Washington Post.

Some of the most seriously affected are infants and children, who have developed chronic asthma and require lifelong medical care. The cancer rates will not be known for at least a decade, according to health experts.

While workplace exposure levels are regulated and the health risks associated with high levels are well known, there are no federal regulations on the level of formaldehyde in building materials. The chemical is emitted from glues and sealants used in construction materials such as particleboard, plywood, paneling, and laminated surfaces common in low-end housing units. Formaldehyde is released at the highest levels during warm weather and from newly constructed units.

The Washington Post noted that tests of many FEMA trailers revealed formaldehyde levels drastically exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) 15-minute workplace exposure limit of 100 parts per billion. This is the limit at which serious adverse health symptoms begin to appear, and California state health regulators estimate long-term exposure at this level raises cancer risk by 50 cases per 100,000.

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Important Information About Energy Saver Light Bulbs!

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jayc041975 on Jun 11, 2008

REP. Ted Poe Republican Texas speaking in the U.S. House on the energy savings bill, and the mandatory use of CFL light bulbs. From C-SPAN May 13, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv59PJ30WeM

Ralph Nader: We, the People, Will Decide: The Meaning of Freedom

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replaced videos Oct. 5, 2012

Here is a 10 minute clip plus the 2 hour video. This man is my hero! ~ Lo

pdxjustice

Speech on May 13, 2008

Added: May 25, 2008
Consumer advocate, author and Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, discusses his candidacy and the true meaning of freedom in the United States today.

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Ralph Nader – We, the People, Will Decide: The Meaning of Freedom

67 min – May 13, 2008
pdxjustice Media Productions – www.pdxjustice.org

pdxjustice on Apr 24, 2011

Consumer advocate, author and Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, discusses his candidacy and the true meaning of freedom in the United States today.

pdxjustice Media Productions
Producer: William Seaman

Ralph Nader – We, the People, Will Decide: The Meaning of Freedom, Part 1 (2008)

58 min – May 13, 2008
pdxjustice Media Productions – www.pdxjustice.org

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NHTSA Stonewalls, People Die by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
Monday, May 12. 2008

Dear President Bush,

You and your White House have been sitting on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) since your arrival in January 2001, thus assuring the giant auto companies that NHTSA-toothless under President Bill Clinton and previous administrations– continues morphing even further away from the technology-forcing, life- saving regulatory agency it is supposed to be, to an industry consulting firm.

The result has been tens of thousands of American fatalities and serious injuries that could have been prevented had you and President Clinton simply urged NHTSA to follow its statutory obligations, lately under Congressionally mandated deadlines, with readily feasible, practical safety technologies.

Instead, you stacked the deck with your Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, former president and CEO of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA). The test, as they say, “is commentary.”

NHTSA is now set to replace an obsolete motor vehicle roof crush resistance standard that became effective in 1973. You can continue to condemn thousands of Americans to preventable deaths by permitting NHTSA to issue a new, deficient standard, or you can take command and smoke out the corporate lobbyists from Detroit and allow NHTSA to issue FMVSS 216—Roof Crush Resistance at a strength-to-weight (SWR) ratio of at least 4 from the present inadequate standard of 1.5.

Eight models from such companies as Volvo, Saab, Toyota, VW and Honda already meet or exceed the SWR of 4. Note the countries of origin. Note the absence of U.S. manufacturers. The Dodge Ram pickup truck and the Ford F-250 pick-up truck have a SWR down at 1.7.

You may wish to brief yourself about the horrible toll on our country’s highways during the past 35 years due to marshmallow structured roofs. The American fatalities and serious injuries alone total more than the entire number of soldiers you have driven to Iraq, many of whom were deployed without adequate body and Humvee armor.

Then there are the quadriplegics and the paraplegics and the thousands of other human beings left defenseless by an auto safety agency under your command that has been at a standstill for years instead of functioning as a law enforcement branch in the Department of Transportation.

You need to see the visuals. You need to see the pictures of the crushed, the pictures of the vehicles whose roofs displaced the “survival space” of the drivers and passengers. You need to speak to the families of the victims who were on the receiving end of such obstinate, criminal negligence by the auto manufacturers’ executives who will not let their own engineers put in the simple technical fixes year after year.

Remove the corporatists from your White House schedule for a day and invite some of these suffering citizens, their families and champions. Include Senators Mark Pryor and Tom Coburn who will preside over a Senate hearing on this subject in early June.

Keep in mind that even NHTSA, in its industry-indentured cautious fashion, managed to declare the obvious in 2005:

“In sum, the agency believes that there is a relationship between the amount of roof intrusion and the risk of injury to belted occupants in rollover events. But the agency still mimics the resistance of GM, Ford and Chrysler to any dynamic rollover test that safety advocates favor to assure effective compliance.”

A President is not selected or elected to close the doors of state courts to wrongfully injured people who want and need to hold their corporate perpetrators accountable. You must recall your oft-repeated phrase about holding people responsible for their behavior, and actions, with the exception of yourself, and drop your attack on our civil justice system. Therefore, delete the federal pre-emption clause expected in the forthcoming standards that prevent the state judiciaries from hearing product liability suits in this area of vehicle design and construction.

Your legal advisors should point out that in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, there is a specific provision that reads: “Compliance with a motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter does not exempt a person from liability at common law.”

Those words were put in the law to prevent just such a federal pre-emption as NHTSA now prepares to facilitate. Twenty-six State Attorneys General opposed pre-emption in a letter to NHTSA back in 2005.

With your invited guests, suggested above, hold a White House news conference. Point to the CEOs in Detroit, and exclaim “Bring ‘em on.” Remember, you’re either with the American people or you’re with the big auto bosses.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Nader at Roof Crush Rally at NHTSA (video link)

Nader at Roof Crush Rally at NHTSA (video)

Dandelion Salad

Nader 2008 Blog

May 9, 2008

Yesterday, we held a protest at the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA).

NHTSA is the federal agency Ralph Nader brought into being more than forty years ago.

It was set up to make cars safer.

Kucinich Helps to Secure Major Changes In EPA Rule on Lead

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by Dennis Kucinich

More Changes Still Needed

Washington, Apr 4 – Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) issued the following statement in response to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule for Lead; Renovation, Repair, and Painting which was finalized Monday, March 31:

“I applaud the EPA for finally taking action, nearly two decades after Congress mandated it, to protect children, families, and workers from the hazards of lead poisoning as a result of home renovation,” said Kucinich.

On August 7, 2007, Congressman Kucinich sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson highlighting the need for revisions to the proposed rule regarding work practice standards, testing, and other issues. The final rule includes some of these proposed revisions, including banning the use of torching, power sanding, sand blasting, and heat guns by contractors to remove lead paint.

Lead exposure has been linked to cognitive deficits, attention span disorders, and violent crime in multiple studies. The EPA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said there is no safe level of exposure.

“In particular, I am happy to see the EPA heeded my call to include key work practice standards, which were omitted in the proposed rule,” said Kucinich.

“While I’m glad to see the EPA strengthen the rule over the earlier version they issued, there is still work to be done to prevent exposure to toxic lead during home remediations.

The EPA did not prohibit dry sanding and scraping or paint stripping in a poorly ventilated space, even though such practices are prohibited in HUD homes. The EPA also chose not to mandate clearance dust testing, the best method of finding lead in the home, or contaminated carpet replacement or treatment.

The text of the August letter from Kucinich to EPA Administrator Johnson follows:

August 7, 2007

The Hon. Stephen L. Johnson
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, ARN
Room 3000, Mail Code 1101A
Washington, D.C. 20460-0001

Dear Administrator Johnson:

I write to urge revision of the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule entitled “Lead; Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program” (EPA-HQ-OPT-2005-0049). It is essential that the EPA issue this well overdue rule which, with the following changes, will prioritize the prevention of childhood lead exposure.

It would be difficult to underestimate the impact of lead on our children. At least 310,000 children are considered to be lead poisoned, though that number is expected to be much higher because there is no safe level of exposure to lead according to many scientists and the EPA. As research methods and detection technologies advance, experts find health effects at blood lead levels previously thought to be safe.

In addition, the list of health effects is expanding. We have long known about lower IQs, onset of ADD/ADHD, and permanent kidney damage. Evidence for a link between crime and lead exposure in children is now mounting. A recent peer reviewed article has been among the most convincing, finding that variation in blood lead levels in preschool-aged children explains variation in crime trends (including theft, burglary, murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in multiple developed countries. The study also finds early evidence for links between extreme levels of lead poisoning and murder.1

The proposed rule has several important deficiencies including an inappropriate reliance on “white glove” testing over clearance dust testing and the treatment of carpets. However, I am particularly concerned with the omission of work practice standards.

Prohibited methods of paint removal, repair, and renovation in affected facilities must be comprehensive to ensure the safety of both workers and occupants. The EPA admits that the proposed rule is weaker than comparable regulations affecting properties under the auspices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.2 The omission of work practice standards in the proposed rule allows the possibility of significant exposure resulting from repairs or renovations. If dangerous work practices are allowed, new chances for exposure are created as lead that was previously bound up in sealed paint is aerosolized or turned into dust and distributed throughout the building. Any serious attempt to reduce exposure to lead exposure in children must ban unsafe work practices.

The idea that a child could be far more exposed to lead because the residence is covered by EPA regulations instead of HUD regulations is unjust. All children deserve the best possible protection.

I encourage you to act promptly to adopt protections at least as protective as those that apply to HUD housing. No child deserves less than the best possible protections from a toxic chemical that could deprive him or her of a fair chance at life and health.

Sincerely,
/s/
Dennis J. Kucinich
Member of Congress

1. Environmental Research, Volume 104, Issue 3, July 2007, Pages 315-336
2. Part VI of the rule entitled “Statutory and Executive Order Reviews,” in Subpart C, Section 4, entitled Relevant Federal Rules

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.