Blogging roundup

Once in a while I like to devote one post to several stories I've found interesting, but have been unable to find time to blog about.

1. When should rescue attempts be abandoned?
Mine collapses in the Rocky Mountain West two months ago led to the loss of several miners, and subsequently the death of several rescuers from an ensuing cave-in. Manned rescue attempts were stopped after the second collapse. Was that fair? What if the original miners were still trapped below earth and eventually died from starvation?

2. How "constant vigilance" for terrorists hands them a victory

This story has been repeated endlessly, both in the United States and in other countries. Someone -- these are all real -- notices a funny smell, or some white powder, or two people passing an envelope, or a dark-skinned man leaving boxes at the curb, or a cell phone in an airplane seat. The police cordon off the area, make arrests and/or evacuate airplanes, and in the end the cause of the alarm is revealed as a pot of Thai chili sauce, or flour, or a utility bill, or an English professor recycling or a cell phone in an airplane seat.

Read the story about the English professor - it's an embarrassment.

3. Care about privacy or the 4th Amendment? Here's a nice 2-page analysis of what we need when Congress passes amendments to the Policing America Act - the legislation passed as a stop-gap in August to give Democrats more time to cave in to the Bush Administration's demands for unscrutinized ability to police Americans. One thought:

• The legislation currently allows a "blanket warrant" to wiretap (or otherwise surveil) conversations of a foreign national with any American citizen. This is expressly prohibited by the 4th Amendment, which requires "probable cause." I shudder to think that some Founders thought we didn't need a bill of rights and that the Constitution implied that only very limited powers accrued to the national government.

4. Popcorn suppliers finally decide to remove a toxic chemical from microwave popcorn. So now you can inhale the buttery aroma without permanently reducing your lung function. Too bad the government never bothered to step in to protect your food...

In May I noted how OSHA declined to regulate diacetyl despite several debilitating injuries to popcorn plant employees. In September, a man was diagnosed with "popcorn lung" after being a heavy consumer of microwave popcorn.

"Popcorn lung" found in consumer

In May I looked at the weakness of OSHA under President Bush, illustrating its inability to enforce workplace safety with the issue of "popcorn lung." An ailment suffered by employees in the microwave popcorn business, it is contracted by inhaling the vapors of artificial butter flavor diacetyl.

Exposure to synthetic butter in food production and flavoring plants has been linked to hundreds of cases of workers whose lungs have been damaged or destroyed...Heated diacetyl becomes a vapor and, when inhaled over a long period of time, seems to lead the small airways in the lungs to become swollen and scarred.

Well, the major news outlets have finally taken note, probably due to a consumer whose persistent popcorn consumption led him to develop the same ailment that popcorn plant employees have been contracting for years.

The man told Dr. Rose that he had eaten microwave popcorn at least twice a day for more than 10 years.

“When he broke open the bags, after the steam came out, he would often inhale the fragrance because he liked it so much,” Dr. Rose said. “That’s heated diacetyl, which we know from the workers’ studies is the highest risk.”

Dr. Rose measured levels of diacetyl in the man’s home after he made popcorn and found levels of the chemical were similar to those in microwave popcorn plants. She asked the man to stop eating microwave popcorn.

And what do you know. Intervention works.

Six months later, the man has lost 50 pounds and his lung function has not only stopped deteriorating but has actually improved slightly, Dr. Rose said.

“This is not a definitive causal link, but it raises a lot of questions and supports the recommendation that more work needs to be done,” Dr. Rose said.

Maybe not definitive, but OSHA could take note: it's better to be safe than sorry.

The popcorn companies are taking note. Pop Weaver has already nixed diacetyl and ConAgra (Orville Redenbacher and Act II) promises to move soon. Of course, they're only doing this because of "consumer concerns," not because diacetyl is unsafe.

Right.

OSHA = "Optional" Safety and Health Administration

Think twice before inhaling that buttery scent of microwave popcorn. The chemical used to create that flavor, diacetyl, has been found to cause severe lung damage in workers at microwave popcorn plants. The discovery, by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has been brought to the attention of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but little has been done.

On diacetyl, [OSHA Head] Mr. Foulke said ''the science is murky'' on whether the additive causes bronchiolitis obliterans, the disease that has been called ''popcorn worker's lung...''

...Instead of regulations, Mr. Foulke and top officials at other agencies favor a ''voluntary compliance strategy,'' reaching agreements with industry associations and companies to police themselves.

Administration officials say such programs are less costly, allowing companies to hire more workers and keep consumer prices down. The number of voluntary agreements has grown in recent years, but they cover a fraction of the seven million work sites that OSHA oversees, or less than 1 percent of the work force. (emphasis mine)

Wikipedia's diacetyl entry only illustrates the lack of actual regulation coming from OSHA:

On July 26, 2006, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers petitioned the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from the deleterious health effects of inhaling diacetyl vapors. The petition was followed by a letter of support signed by more than thirty prominent scientists. The matter is under consideration.

There's some hope, as Congress has begun to reassert its oversight of OSHA, with hearings taking place two weeks ago. But holding hearings won't do much for some of the affected employees, one of whom was present at the hearing.

Among those who testified Tuesday was Eric Peoples, a former worker at the popcorn plant in Jasper, a small town 125 miles south of Kansas City. Once healthy, the 35-year-old Mr. Peoples has been told by doctors that he will need a double-lung transplant. (emphasis mine)

But hey, what's a couple lungs against 10 cent savings on my Jolly Time Blast O Butter?