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Friday, July 29, 2005

More Recent OIRA Meetings

Tue Jun 21, 2005: OMB met with small business over the EPA Pretreatment Streamlining Rule. Those in attendance included representatives from SBA's Office of Advocacy, the Water Quality Assessment Program, the National Water Quality Assessment Program, EPA and the Policy Group.
Tue Jun 28, 2005: OMB met with international aid and development groups over the marketing and branding of USAID. Those in attendance included WHO Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, USAID, the Association of PVO Financial Managers), IFES/Interaction (International Development), Catholic Relief Services, World Vision and Interaction.
Tue Jul 5, 2005: OMB met with USDA and the Australian Embassy over the "prohibition of the use of SRN for human food." Presumably, the meeting was actually over SRM, or specified-risk materials. Specified-risk materials are the brain, nervous and spinal tissue most likely to contain the prion that causes mad cow disease.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 12:26:39 PM

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Latest Case of Mad Cow

You think by now they'd have the system down.

An inconclusive test indicates that a third cow may have been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Once again, USDA faces complications in determining whether the cow had BSE.

First, though the sample was collected in April, it was only sent for testing in July. Evidently, the vet who took the sample forgot to submit it for testing. According to the L.A. Times, USDA's chief veterinarian John Clifford called the age of the sample "not optimal."

Moreover, the sample was preserved in such a way that USDA scientists cannot use the more advanced Western blot test (also known as the protein immunoblot test), to re-test the sample, but rather scientists must rely on the IHC test that gave the first inconclusive results. The IHC test also failed to catch the last case of BSE, but the case was eventually confirmed using the Western blot. Because the Western blot cannot be used in this case, the results may remain inconclusive. Fortunately, USDA recently adopted the Western blot as its new gold standard of BSE surveillance.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 04:47:50 PM

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Decision on Plan B Expected by Sept. 1
After much delay, FDA has now promised to make a decision on the over-the-counter status of Plan B by Sept. 1. The administration has been dragging its feet on a decision on the "morning after pill," despite broad support from the FDA advisory committee. Only after Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) stalled the nomination of FDA head Lester Crawford did the administration finally promise to decide on the OTC status. Read more about Plan B here:

FDA Ignores Experts, Rejects Plan B for Over-the-Counter Use (5/17/2004)
Details Emerge on Data Rejected in Morning-after Pill Decision (6/28/2004)

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 04:22:28 PM

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Anti-Worker OSHA Bills Pass House
The House passed Norwood's four pernicious OSHA bills yesterday, paving the way for increased "flexibility" for employers at the expense of occupational health and safety enforcement. Read more about the bills on Thomas:

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 05:36:48 PM

Harvard Doctor Hides Cancer Risk of Fluoride
According to the Washington Post, a doctor at Harvard may have buried results showing that fluoride may increase the risk of a rare form of bone cancer—osteosarcoma--in adolescent boys. From WaPo:

[Chester] Douglass reported last year that the odds of having osteosarcoma after drinking fluoridated water was "not statistically different" from the risk after drinking non-fluoridated water. But in 2001, Douglass's doctoral student, Elise Bassin, published a thesis using his data that concluded: "Among males, exposure to fluoride at or above the target level was associated with an increased risk of developing osteosarcoma. The association was most apparent between ages 5-10, with a peak at six to eight years of age."
Bassin's thesis work is considered the most rigorous human study to date on a possible connection between fluoridation and osteosarcoma, a rare but lethal form of cancer that affects males nearly twice as often as females. Patients with the cancer live an average of three years after diagnosis. In 1990, an animal study by the National Toxicology Program found "equivocal evidence" of a link between fluoridated water and cancer in male rats. And more than a decade ago, a New Jersey Department of Health survey found that young males in fluoridated communities had a higher rate of osteosarcoma than those in non-fluoridated communities.

Douglass also serves as editor in chief for the industry-funded Colgate Oral Care Report. At the prompting of the Environmental Working Group, Harvard officials and federal investigators are now probing to see if Douglass intentionally hid the findings.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 02:39:19 PM

Industrial pollution in the womb
The Environmental Working Group unveiled a stunning report of new scientific research in the chemicals to which babies are exposed in utero. Scientists used to assume that the placenta shielded the developing baby from most chemical exposures, but studies drawn from cord blood reveal something quite different:

In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.
This study represents the first reported cord blood tests for 261 of the targeted chemicals and the first reported detections in cord blood for 209 compounds. Among them are eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles — including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board — dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; and numerous pesticides.
Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. The dangers of pre- or post-natal exposure to this complex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins have never been studied.

"These findings raise questions about the gaps in our federal safety net," said Jane Houlihan, EWG's vice president for research. "Instead of rubber-stamping almost every new chemical that industry invents, we've got to strengthen and modernize the laws that are supposed to protect Americans from pollutants."

Posted by Robert Shull, 10:57:05 AM

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Recently in the news
Check out some of the latest news articles of interest to regulatory policy:

Assault on Science:

Chris Mooney, "Some Like It Hot," Mother Jones, May-June 2005
Forty public policy groups have this in common: They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil.
Bill McKibben, "Climate of Denial," id.
One morning in Kyoto, we won a round in the battle against global warming. Then special interests and pseudoscience snatched the truth away. What happened?
David Michaels, "Doubt Is Their Product," Scientific American, June 2005
Industry groups are fighting government regulation by fomenting scientific uncertainty.

Special Breaks for Special Interests: Erik Kancler, "Getting Away With It: How Congressional Republicans have shielded MTBE polluters from liability," Mother Jones, May 24, 2005

Under the Radar: CBC News, "Concerns raised about 1997 U.S. mad cow tests," April 2005
Canadian news coverage raising questions about whether the USDA did not properly analyze two suspected cases of mad cow disease in 1997, years before it showed up in Canada and devastated that country's beef industry.

Posted by Robert Shull, 02:45:44 PM

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Water on the knee, manganese on the brain
Manganese is dangerous to humans at high levels. Although we are all exposed to small amounts every day, at higher levels manganese is toxic to the nervous system and can lead to a Parkinson's-like disorder. It's already regulated in our drinking water. A new study reveals that we are at risk not just by drinking it but also by inhaling it... in our bath water:

A new analysis based on animal studies suggests that showering in manganese-contaminated water for a decade or more could have permanent effects on the nervous system.
The damage may occur even at levels of manganese considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
"If our results are confirmed, they could have profound implications for the nation and the world," said John Spangler, M.D., an associate professor of family medicine. "Nearly 9 million people in the United States are exposed to manganese levels that our study shows may cause toxic effects."

Manganese is regulated in the water supply, but the standard is set based on the risk from drinking the water, not from inhaling the steam:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set 0.5 milligrams/liter as the upper limit of manganese advisable in water supplies. The limit, however, is based on odor and taste of the water. The potential risk of manganese accumulating in the brain through showering has not been considered by the EPA in setting this limit. In their analysis, Spangler and Elsner found that concentrations well below 0.5 milligrams might lead to brain injury.
"Inhaling manganese, rather than eating or drinking it, is far more efficient at delivering manganese to the brain," said Spangler. "The nerve cells involved in smell are a direct pathway for toxins to enter the brain. Once inside these small nerves, manganese can travel throughout the brain. ... Regulatory agencies may one day need to rethink existing drinking water standards for manganese."

Reminiscent of the historical problem of leaded gasoline, we may also be at risk from manganese in gasoline:

The addition of manganese to gasoline as an anti-knock agent may also be a threat, the researchers said.
"The manganese, as it settles from car exhaust onto streets and highways, may enter the water supply, increasing manganese levels in the water we drink and bathe in," said Spangler.

Posted by Robert Shull, 02:34:16 PM

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