During the summer of 1910, forest fires burned an estimated 3 million acres in Idaho and Montana. The incident, known as The Great Fire of 1910, killed 78 firefighters on August 20 and ranks second on the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) list of deadliest incidents in the U.S. resulting in the deaths of eight or more firefighters, according to a recent NFPA press release. (The deadliest incident for firefighters was at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.)
The Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute (IRSST) just published its second edition of “Engineered Nanoparticles: Current Knowledge about Occupational Health and Safety Risks and Prevention Measures.”
EPA is issuing final rules that will protect Americans’ health by cutting emissions of mercury, particle pollution and other harmful pollutants from Portland cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States. The rules are expected to yield $7 to $19 in public health benefits for every dollar in costs. Mercury can damage children’s developing brains, and particle pollution is linked to a wide variety of serious health effects, including aggravated asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart and lung disease.
Functional gastrointestinal disorders affect 35% to 70% of people at some point in life, women more often than men, according to the Harvard Medical School’s Mental Health Letter. These disorders have no apparent physical cause — such as infection or cancer — yet result in pain, bloating, and other discomfort.
OSHA has issued 22 citations against AAR Summa Technology for exposing workers to safety and health hazards at its Huntsville plant, according to an agency press release. Proposed penalties total $191,500.
The number of states with an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or more has tripled in two years to nine states in 2009, according to a CDC Vital Signs report. In 2000, no state had an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or more. The report, “State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults — United States, 2009,” also finds no state met the nation's Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15 percent, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) press release states.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Justice Dept. announced in a recent press release that CF Industries, Inc. has agreed to spend approximately $12 million to reduce and properly manage hazardous wastes generated at its Plant City, Fla. phosphoric acid and ammoniated fertilizer manufacturing facility.
The use of cigarettes in combination with other forms of tobacco is linked with higher nicotine addiction, the inability to quit using tobacco, and increases chances of tobacco-related health problems, such as stroke, heart disease, and tobacco-related cancers, according to an analysis of data from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), says a recent press release from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
At a public meeting in June in Portland, Connecticut, the Chemical Safety Board voted to issue 18 urgent recommendations to various recipients, including OSHA, aimed at halting the dangerous practice of releasing large quantities of flammable gas in the presence of workers and ignition sources during cleaning operations.