Citizen Health & Safety

Anti-worker, Anti-regulatory Bills Pass House

The House of Representatives voted to pass five bills, four of which threaten workplace safety while the other threatens regulatory safeguards across the board. The anti-regulatory bill, H.R. 2432, authorizes a study of "regulatory budgeting," a project that could ration protections of the public health, safety, and environment by setting an artificial cap of regulatory "costs" that can be imposed. An amendment proposed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) would have established a panel to study the politicization of science, but it was defeated just before the House voted to pass the bill.

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Side-Impact Air Bag Rule Issued, but Advocates Raise Questions

The federal highway safety agency has issued a new rule requiring side-impact air bags. Safety advocates argue that, while a significant step forward, the rule is neither innovative nor sufficient to address side-impact collisions. The new rule governs the amount of impact a test dummy registers during crash testing. The consequences of the new performance standard will most likely be that automakers will make air bags that protect the head during side-impact collisions a standard feature of new vehicles. For vehicles with sensors that detect a rollover, these

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OSHA Bills Protect Employers at Cost of Workers' Safety

The House may soon consider four bills amending the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which would effectively consolidate White House control over the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and provide leniency to employers at the cost of the health and safety of workers.

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FDA Ignores Experts, Rejects Plan B for Over-the-Counter Use

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected an application to the "morning after pill" Plan B available without a prescription, despite the nearly unanimous advice of its own panel of experts that the drug is safe for over-the-counter use.

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OMB Fast-Tracks Revised Peer Review Policy

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) appears unwilling to allow a sober and unhurried review of their revised proposal for government-wide peer review requirements. The revised proposal was published in the Federal Register April 28 with only a 30-day public comment period that is scheduled to end May 28. OMB rejected a request from various public interest groups for a 60-day extension to the public review period.

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eRulemaking Workshops

The School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University will host a series of half-day workshops on the federal eRulemaking Initiative June 2 to 4. The purpose of the workshops is to solicit input from various end-user communities with a stake in eRulemaking.

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Anti-regulatory Bill Pushes Through House

A bill making its way through the House threatens to advance the cause of "regulatory budgeting" policies that ration our protections of the public health, safety and environment based on phony cost and benefit numbers tailoredto serve industry interests. Called the "Paperwork and Regulatory Improvements Act of 2004," HREF="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.02432:">H.R. 2432 moved from its

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EPA Delays but Refuses to Withdraw Mercury Rule

The Environmental Protection Agency delayed the final adoption of new rules governing emission of the powerful neurotoxin mercury, but EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt vowed that the administration would not be withdrawing the controversial regulations despite widespread opposition. In the new timetable, the EPA will continue to accept comments on its proposed rules on emissions of mercury by power plants until March 15, 2005, and the rules will not be finally adopted until May 2005.

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Seat Belts Fail in Rollover Crashes, New Report Shows

Seat belts are not the last word on personal safety when vehicles roll over, according to a new Public Citizen report that reveals the inadequacy of current seat belt technology in preventing death and serious injury from rollover crashes.

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UPDATE: Overtime Cutback Imminent

The Bush administration's reduction of overtime rights may be finalized as soon as this Tuesday, sources on the Hill report. The new regulations governing overtime pay could HREF="http://www.ibew.org/stories/03daily/0304/030402_overtime.htm"> eliminate overtime rights for many workers. Although the Department of Labor only recently

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