A quick look at recent developments related to the OMB Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin:

BNA's subscription-only Daily Report for Executives has a nice summary of a stunning new EPA report showing that factory farms and paving are leaving nearly half of our streams polluted: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sediment Runoff Said to Pollute Nearly Half of U.S. Streams Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment runoff are smothering fish and polluting nearly half of the nation's streams, according to a survey on the health of streams released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A science advisory panel for FDA is scheduled to consider new labeling guidelines for blood pressure control drugs tomorrow. Yet, according to information compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, three-fourths of the 12-member panel received conflict of interest waivers. Many of those conflicts of interest relate directly to the issues of drug labeling to be discussed by the panel.

Tobacco industries employed scientists “to convince public health officials not that cigarettes were safe, but that there was not yet sufficient evidence of their danger to justify limiting places where tobacco could be smoked,” according to Environmental and Occupational Health Professor David Michaels. Now, under laws like the Data Quality Act, manufacturing doubt to keep harmful substances in the air and on the market is common practice. In a great Op-Ed for the