A U.S. appeals court recently ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a new standard for workplace exposure to hexavalent chromium, a dangerous lung carcinogen used in chrome plating, stainless steel welding, and the production of chromate pigments and dyes.
OSHA estimates that each year more than one million workers are exposed to hexavalent chromium, with hundreds dying prematurely. Yet the agency has been dragging its feet on the matter, repeatedly postponing regulatory action to update the existing hexavalent chromium standard.
