Senators pushing TSCA reform bill that’s missing the law’s poster child [The Pump Handle]

They’ve called it a failure and a broken law. That’s how the public health community, agency officials, some lawmakers and others have characterized the nearly 40 year old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). When any of them are looking for a poster child to illustrate why TSCA’s a failure, they most often point to one toxic: asbestos.

EPA tried in 1989 to ban most uses of asbestos. But TSCA is so convoluted that the ban didn’t withstand a lawsuit which was brought by producers and users of the deadly mineral fibers. So we are stuck with a law in which one of the most well-researched, and proven cancer-causing agent—and products that contain it—-is still legal in the US.  That’s why the Government Accountability Office (here, here, and elsewhere) agency officials (e.g., here), and scholars (e.g., here, here, here) use asbestos as the best example of why TSCA is a statute in dire need of reform.

The trouble is that the bill (S.697) reported this week out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee fails to address the poster child. The word “asbestos” appears no where in the legislation—it simply gets lumped together with hundreds of other chemicals about which EPA will decide which ones are high priority for a safety assessment.

Linda Reinstein has been following the TSCA reform efforts closely. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). ADAO is the premiere education and advocacy organization focused on prevention and finding a cure for asbestos-related diseases. Her husband Alan, died at age 66 from pleural mesothelioma.

“As a mesothelioma widow, I’ve seen asbestos serve as the ultimate example for what went wrong with the 1976 TSCA. It would be reprehensible for Congress to pass a phony TSCA reform bill that allows the man-made asbestos disaster to continue.”

Linda is cool headed, but has every right to be angry. How in the world can lawmakers vote for TSCA reform and leave behind the poster child?

“History is a great teacher to those who listen,” she said. “Learn from us – we’ve buried our loved one – asbestos kills. For the hundreds of thousand of asbestos victims’ – it would feel like Congress walked on our graves to protect profits over people.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sanders (I-VT), Markey (D-MA) and Gillebrand (D-NY) offered an amendment at this week’s Committee mark-up that would have fixed the poster child problem. It would have required expedited consideration by EPA on an asbestos prohibition or limitation. The nine Democrats on the Committee voted in favor of the amendment. The eleven Republicans voted against it. Majority rules.

Public health and worker safety groups, including the Breast Cancer Fund (here), Center for Environmental Health (here), Environmental Working Group (here), and Safer Chemicals, Health Families (here) were quick to comment on the need for amendments to the S.697. The AFL-CIO urged members of the committee to:

“push for and support is an amendment designating asbestos as a high priority and requiring EPA to move forward expeditiously and issue a rule banning asbestos within 3 years.  …Asbestos use should have been banned a long time ago. Any TSCA reform bill needs to make banning asbestos a priority and include a mandate to get it done.”

It can’t be said better than that.

 

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OKtJsK

They’ve called it a failure and a broken law. That’s how the public health community, agency officials, some lawmakers and others have characterized the nearly 40 year old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). When any of them are looking for a poster child to illustrate why TSCA’s a failure, they most often point to one toxic: asbestos.

EPA tried in 1989 to ban most uses of asbestos. But TSCA is so convoluted that the ban didn’t withstand a lawsuit which was brought by producers and users of the deadly mineral fibers. So we are stuck with a law in which one of the most well-researched, and proven cancer-causing agent—and products that contain it—-is still legal in the US.  That’s why the Government Accountability Office (here, here, and elsewhere) agency officials (e.g., here), and scholars (e.g., here, here, here) use asbestos as the best example of why TSCA is a statute in dire need of reform.

The trouble is that the bill (S.697) reported this week out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee fails to address the poster child. The word “asbestos” appears no where in the legislation—it simply gets lumped together with hundreds of other chemicals about which EPA will decide which ones are high priority for a safety assessment.

Linda Reinstein has been following the TSCA reform efforts closely. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). ADAO is the premiere education and advocacy organization focused on prevention and finding a cure for asbestos-related diseases. Her husband Alan, died at age 66 from pleural mesothelioma.

“As a mesothelioma widow, I’ve seen asbestos serve as the ultimate example for what went wrong with the 1976 TSCA. It would be reprehensible for Congress to pass a phony TSCA reform bill that allows the man-made asbestos disaster to continue.”

Linda is cool headed, but has every right to be angry. How in the world can lawmakers vote for TSCA reform and leave behind the poster child?

“History is a great teacher to those who listen,” she said. “Learn from us – we’ve buried our loved one – asbestos kills. For the hundreds of thousand of asbestos victims’ – it would feel like Congress walked on our graves to protect profits over people.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sanders (I-VT), Markey (D-MA) and Gillebrand (D-NY) offered an amendment at this week’s Committee mark-up that would have fixed the poster child problem. It would have required expedited consideration by EPA on an asbestos prohibition or limitation. The nine Democrats on the Committee voted in favor of the amendment. The eleven Republicans voted against it. Majority rules.

Public health and worker safety groups, including the Breast Cancer Fund (here), Center for Environmental Health (here), Environmental Working Group (here), and Safer Chemicals, Health Families (here) were quick to comment on the need for amendments to the S.697. The AFL-CIO urged members of the committee to:

“push for and support is an amendment designating asbestos as a high priority and requiring EPA to move forward expeditiously and issue a rule banning asbestos within 3 years.  …Asbestos use should have been banned a long time ago. Any TSCA reform bill needs to make banning asbestos a priority and include a mandate to get it done.”

It can’t be said better than that.

 

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OKtJsK

Diagnosing Diseases with Origami Microscopes

 

Article by Lauren Farrar

“What if you could drop microscopes literally around the world from an airplane?” Manu Prakash, a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University would often joke with his team.

This musing actually heavily influenced the design of their new microscope, a paper origami microscope. They call it a Foldscope. The microscope is printed on waterproof paper. The user punches out the pieces and folds them together to create a fully functional microscope. It works with standard microscope slides and requires no batteries or electricity to operate. You simply hold the Foldscope up to a light source (like the sun) and look through the salt grain-sized lens to view the sample on the slide. The high curvature of the tiny lenses used in the Foldscope allows small objects to be highly magnified. This little invention costs less than a dollar to produce and could have major implications for global health and for science education.

A close up of the Foldscope.

Prakash grew up in small towns in India where access to healthcare and diagnostic tools, like microscopes, weren’t always easy to come by. He has travelled extensively throughout developing countries and has seen firsthand how diseases like malaria, African sleeping sickness and schistosomiasis can go untreated or are mistreated because patients are not properly diagnosed. Diagnosis of diseases like these usually require a microscope to identify the presence of a particular parasite so that the proper treatment can be administered. But remote or resource poor areas don’t always have access to these heavy, expensive microscopes used in other parts of the world. Standard microscopes are also difficult to transport when doctors travel from village to village to diagnose and treat patients. And even when remote places do have microscopes, there is little support to maintain or parts available to fix them if they break.

“Humidity and tropics are terrible for optics… Most of the time when we’re in the field there is fungus growing on the lenses… There were times when we were imaging there, we saw an insect colony come out of the microscope,” Prakash describes some of the challenges of doing field microscopy in remote tropical areas.

Prakash was determined to build a cheap, robust, easy-to-use, easy-to-fix microscope that requires no power and works with traditional microscope slides. After prototyping with simple supplies like paper, tape and scissors, he and his team came up with a design that worked. The base level requires no external power source and relies on the sun as the primary light source. The team has since built on this and developed multiple versions that allow users to do different kinds of microscopy. For example, there are versions with external light modules, versions that are of various magnifications, versions that allow for fluorescence microscopy, versions that allow for bright field microscopy, versions that allow for dark field microscopy, and versions that allow the user to project the image on a wall. You can even attach a smartphone to the microscope in order to record images.

The Foldscopes are currently undergoing validation studies and clinical trials to be approved as diagnostic tools for diseases including malaria, African sleeping sickness and schistosomiasis.

In addition to their potential value for global health, Foldscopes have a strong educational appeal. Prakash wanted to get these microscopes in the hands of children everywhere, so he started the Ten Thousand Microscope project. He wanted to create a network of learners asking questions, so he put a call out for people to submit an idea for an experiment that they would like to do with the Foldscope and then report back on their findings. This idea was so well received that he has shipped approximately 50,000 microscopes to people all around the world. Some of them are already reporting their findings on his website. He hopes that this project will inspire curiosity and scientific thinking.

“Scientific tools need to become common day-to-day objects if we want people to think scientifically,” he says.

While Foldscopes used for diagnostic testing come pre-folded to ensure high quality control, the ones sent out for educational purposes through the Ten Thousand Microscope Project are folded and built by the users. He hopes that school children, hackers, and tinkerers all over the world will build on and add to the microscopes. While Prakash isn’t quite dropping these Foldscopes from airplanes, he’s certainly getting them into the hands of many children all around the world.

This video is part of our Engineering Is: Diagnosing Diseases with Origami Microscopes e-book. The e-book explores the science and engineering principles behind Manu Prakash’s Foldscopes project, and includes videos, interactives and media making opportunities. Stay tuned for its release at the end of May. You can find our other e-books at kqed.org/ebooks.

Tags: diagnosis, disease, engineer, Engineering, featured, Foldscope, full-image, kqed, Manu Prakash, microscope, microscopy, origami, paper microscope, QUEST, Stanford University


from QUEST http://ift.tt/1HW7U3J

 

Article by Lauren Farrar

“What if you could drop microscopes literally around the world from an airplane?” Manu Prakash, a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University would often joke with his team.

This musing actually heavily influenced the design of their new microscope, a paper origami microscope. They call it a Foldscope. The microscope is printed on waterproof paper. The user punches out the pieces and folds them together to create a fully functional microscope. It works with standard microscope slides and requires no batteries or electricity to operate. You simply hold the Foldscope up to a light source (like the sun) and look through the salt grain-sized lens to view the sample on the slide. The high curvature of the tiny lenses used in the Foldscope allows small objects to be highly magnified. This little invention costs less than a dollar to produce and could have major implications for global health and for science education.

A close up of the Foldscope.

Prakash grew up in small towns in India where access to healthcare and diagnostic tools, like microscopes, weren’t always easy to come by. He has travelled extensively throughout developing countries and has seen firsthand how diseases like malaria, African sleeping sickness and schistosomiasis can go untreated or are mistreated because patients are not properly diagnosed. Diagnosis of diseases like these usually require a microscope to identify the presence of a particular parasite so that the proper treatment can be administered. But remote or resource poor areas don’t always have access to these heavy, expensive microscopes used in other parts of the world. Standard microscopes are also difficult to transport when doctors travel from village to village to diagnose and treat patients. And even when remote places do have microscopes, there is little support to maintain or parts available to fix them if they break.

“Humidity and tropics are terrible for optics… Most of the time when we’re in the field there is fungus growing on the lenses… There were times when we were imaging there, we saw an insect colony come out of the microscope,” Prakash describes some of the challenges of doing field microscopy in remote tropical areas.

Prakash was determined to build a cheap, robust, easy-to-use, easy-to-fix microscope that requires no power and works with traditional microscope slides. After prototyping with simple supplies like paper, tape and scissors, he and his team came up with a design that worked. The base level requires no external power source and relies on the sun as the primary light source. The team has since built on this and developed multiple versions that allow users to do different kinds of microscopy. For example, there are versions with external light modules, versions that are of various magnifications, versions that allow for fluorescence microscopy, versions that allow for bright field microscopy, versions that allow for dark field microscopy, and versions that allow the user to project the image on a wall. You can even attach a smartphone to the microscope in order to record images.

The Foldscopes are currently undergoing validation studies and clinical trials to be approved as diagnostic tools for diseases including malaria, African sleeping sickness and schistosomiasis.

In addition to their potential value for global health, Foldscopes have a strong educational appeal. Prakash wanted to get these microscopes in the hands of children everywhere, so he started the Ten Thousand Microscope project. He wanted to create a network of learners asking questions, so he put a call out for people to submit an idea for an experiment that they would like to do with the Foldscope and then report back on their findings. This idea was so well received that he has shipped approximately 50,000 microscopes to people all around the world. Some of them are already reporting their findings on his website. He hopes that this project will inspire curiosity and scientific thinking.

“Scientific tools need to become common day-to-day objects if we want people to think scientifically,” he says.

While Foldscopes used for diagnostic testing come pre-folded to ensure high quality control, the ones sent out for educational purposes through the Ten Thousand Microscope Project are folded and built by the users. He hopes that school children, hackers, and tinkerers all over the world will build on and add to the microscopes. While Prakash isn’t quite dropping these Foldscopes from airplanes, he’s certainly getting them into the hands of many children all around the world.

This video is part of our Engineering Is: Diagnosing Diseases with Origami Microscopes e-book. The e-book explores the science and engineering principles behind Manu Prakash’s Foldscopes project, and includes videos, interactives and media making opportunities. Stay tuned for its release at the end of May. You can find our other e-books at kqed.org/ebooks.

Tags: diagnosis, disease, engineer, Engineering, featured, Foldscope, full-image, kqed, Manu Prakash, microscope, microscopy, origami, paper microscope, QUEST, Stanford University


from QUEST http://ift.tt/1HW7U3J

Throwback Thursday: The Physics of Happy Gilmore (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“What a shot by Happy Gilmore! <aside> Who the hell is Happy Gilmore?” –Announcer, from Happy Gilmore

After some intense physics earlier this week, it’s time to get on to the important stuff: the physics of taking a running start and trying to beat the daylights out of a golf ball.

Image credit: Harold “Doc” Edgerton, of golfer Denny Shute in 1938.

Sure, it’s the fun stuff that slapstick hollywood movies are made for, but does it actually work? The physics will inform you, but the practical results will amaze you!

Image credit: Universal Pictures, Frank Coraci, and Adam Sandler et al.

Come learn the physics of Happy Gilmore today.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1HVSo7O

“What a shot by Happy Gilmore! <aside> Who the hell is Happy Gilmore?” –Announcer, from Happy Gilmore

After some intense physics earlier this week, it’s time to get on to the important stuff: the physics of taking a running start and trying to beat the daylights out of a golf ball.

Image credit: Harold “Doc” Edgerton, of golfer Denny Shute in 1938.

Sure, it’s the fun stuff that slapstick hollywood movies are made for, but does it actually work? The physics will inform you, but the practical results will amaze you!

Image credit: Universal Pictures, Frank Coraci, and Adam Sandler et al.

Come learn the physics of Happy Gilmore today.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1HVSo7O

MESSENGER’s final image from Mercury

Final image from Mercury, from the MESSENGER spacecraft, shortly before impact.

Here is the final image acquired and transmitted back to Earth by the MESSENGER spacecraft on April 30, 2015, shortly before it struck the planet. MESSENGER spent over four years orbiting Mercury. The image is located within the floor of the 93-kilometer-diameter crater Jokai. The spacecraft struck the planet just north of Shakespeare basin.

The MESSENGER mission was planned originally for a one-year orbit around Mercury. NASA said:

As the first spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER revolutionized our understanding of the solar system’s innermost planet, as well as accomplished technological firsts that made the mission possible.

Check out these movies of the Top 10 Science Results and the Top 10 Technology Innovations from the mission.

Via MESSENGER mission

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1QQmbTD

Final image from Mercury, from the MESSENGER spacecraft, shortly before impact.

Here is the final image acquired and transmitted back to Earth by the MESSENGER spacecraft on April 30, 2015, shortly before it struck the planet. MESSENGER spent over four years orbiting Mercury. The image is located within the floor of the 93-kilometer-diameter crater Jokai. The spacecraft struck the planet just north of Shakespeare basin.

The MESSENGER mission was planned originally for a one-year orbit around Mercury. NASA said:

As the first spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER revolutionized our understanding of the solar system’s innermost planet, as well as accomplished technological firsts that made the mission possible.

Check out these movies of the Top 10 Science Results and the Top 10 Technology Innovations from the mission.

Via MESSENGER mission

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1QQmbTD

Names and faces featured in Worker Memorial Day reports, new database [The Pump Handle]

I can’t help but contrast last week’s release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of workplace fatality data,with the reports issued this week by community groups to commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day (WMD). BLS gave us the sterile number: 4,585. That’s the government’s official, final tally of the number of work-related fatal injuries that occurred in the US in 2013.

But groups in Tennessee, Massachusetts, and elsewhere have already assembled workplace fatality data for 2014. Better than that, they’ve affixed names and stories to the numbers. The information comes in the form of WMD reports and an open-access database of work-related fatalities occurring in the US during 2014, with names, ages, and other details about the victims whenever possible. First to the reports:

I worked, for example, with colleagues and we identified by name 62 workers from the Houston, TX area who died in 2014 from fatal work-related injuries. Our 23-page report lists their names, ages, circumstances of their deaths, and safety violations and penalties if applicable. For about half of the victims, we provide a photo of the deceased worker. In a section of the report we call “Worker Not Identified,” we note that many workplace fatality incidents are not reported in the press. Some government agencies keep secret the names of the victims. As the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NatCOSH) explains in their WMD report:

“As activists around the country seek information about workers killed in their state, region or locality, we find that important details are available in some cases but not others, with no logical explanation for the inconsistencies. Why should it be so hard for the public to know who was killed on the job and the basic facts of what happened?”

NatCOSH notes the inconsistency among government agencies. BLS’s data, they write, is

“…summary data only, with specific information about the names of workers and employers typically withheld as confidential. The US Mine Safety and Health Administration, by contrast, has a long-standing policy of posting workplace fatalities on their website within days of being notified about a fatality. The report typically includes the name of the worker who died, his or her employer and a short description of the incident. The US Fire Administration…also publishes information about on-duty career and volunteer firefighter fatalities. These public postings help us remember those who have died, and also provide crucial information that can help protect others who are exposed to ongoing occupational hazards.”

NatCOSH punctuates this point on the cover of its report. It displays photos of six victims from 2014 of fatal work-related injuries, with a seventh image—an outline of a person—with a giant question mark on the body. A terrific graphic that says to me “who was the victim?”

But topping NatCOSH’s report cover is the one that features the powerful photo below.

Kylie Sue Tallent puts a face on the problem of work-related deaths. Her father, Michael Tallent was electrocuted at a construction site in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Alyssa Hansen)

 

It is the photo that appears on the cover of the Knoxville Area’s WMD Committee’s report. The coalition of labor and faith groups prepared “Dying for a Job.” The 59-page document list the names, ages and circumstances of 172 Tennessee workers who died from work-related causes in 2013 and 2014. The authors of this report, as well as of the others, are careful to say “partial list.”  They know their lists are incomplete. These groups use whatever sources and as many sources—-from news stories, firefighter association sources, to OSHA news releases and word of mouth—to track down and identify the cases.

The Tennessee report captures the spirit and sentiment of the day set aside to remember workers killed on-the-job:

“Please take the time to pause and review this roll. Not only does it speak to the magnitude of losses suffered, it also reminds us of the tasks done by workers every day, and of the dignity and value of human labor.”

MassCOSH and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO remember by name 49 workers who lost their lives in the state in 2014. In their 27-page report “Dying for Work in Massachusetts,” the authors provide details about each victim, and also offer longer profiles on and photos of some of the deceased. These profiles tell a story about some of Massachusetts’ workplace fatalities victims, including firefighters Edward Walsh, Jr., 43, and Michael Kennedy, 33, who were killed in March 2014 while fighting a 9-alarm fire in the Back Bay area of Boston. The authors highlight particular health and safety challenges, such as hazards faced by municipal workers and an aging workforce.

Worker justice and safety advocates in south Florida issued a WMD report, noting the hefty death toll in the Sunshine State. Between June and September 2014, there were 30 fatal work-related injuries in just the southern region of Florida.

Besides honoring workplace fatality victims by name, with photos and stories, these WMD reports have other similarities:

• They note the untold number of deaths from occupational diseases. An estimated 53,000 individuals in the US die each year from work-related illnesses. There is no government agency or coordinated system to track those deaths. As a result, most of the victims remain nameless.
• They point to the collapse of the workers’ compensation system as a safety net for injured workers and their families. Several of the reports refer to the excellent reporting earlier this year in “The Demolition of Workers’ Comp,” by ProPublica’s Michael Grabell and NPR’s Howard Berkes.
• They offer recommendations to prevent work-related fatalities. In the Tennessee report, for example, the authors include the text of legislation which has been introduced in their state capitol to strengthen workplace safety. One is a bill which would require special safety requirements for government construction projects, and another would increase penalties assessed to employers for serious safety violations. The NatCOSH report emphasizes the fundamental safety regulations that, if diligently followed by employers, would prevent many fatalities.

Worker Memorial Day wouldn’t be complete with the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job (DOTJ) report. This year’s is the organization’s 24^th edition. It is the best annual compendium of US worker health and safety statistics. The report includes 150 pages of data tables (e.g., OSHA’s annual budget for each year dating back to 1979; annual work-related injury, illness and fatality for the most recent 10 year period,) as well as a profile of key data from every State (e.g., number of inspections conducted, average penalties assessed.) The AFL’s DOTJ report is my go-to resource for worker safety and health data. In this year’s edition, I noticed a few new data tables (e.g., a breakdown by industry of where federal and State OSHA conducted inspections in the most recent year.) And, following the theme of the other WMD reports mentioned above, the AFL-CIO’s DOTJ report profiles about 10 specific fatality incidents and provides the victims’ names and ages.

Now onto the open-access database of work-related fatalities:

This past summer, The Pump Handle’s Kim Krisberg wrote about Bethany Boggess’ on-line global mapping project to assemble and post information on incidents of occupational deaths, illnesses and disasters. Six months later, Boggess and a small group of other volunteers developed the largest open-access data set of workplace fatality cases that occurred in the US in 2014. It was released yesterday.

Boggess, who has a masters of public health and is with the National Center for Farmworker Health, told me:

“Focusing on statistics to talk about fatalities isn’t enough. The stories, the names, and faces of deceased workers show us the human consequences of failing to address dangerous working conditions.”

The US Worker Fatality Database identifies to-date more than 1,700 workplace fatalities for 2014. This is about one-third of the total cases that will be reported by BLS next year. The database includes, where available, the name of the deceased, the employer, and the circumstances of the death, with links to news accounts and obituaries. The project also includesinteractive maps —all of it available to the public to reproduce. The individuals and groups who developed the system, will manage and continue to add to it. They simply ask users to credit: “US Workers Fatality Database.”

Do names and face matter? Consider this: A vigil was held last night in Houston to remember the victims from 2014 of workplace fatalities. The vigil featured the solemn reading of the names of the 62 individuals we were able to identify. The families of Juan Guerrero, 18, and Walter Warner, 53, wore t-shirts printed with a photo of their deceased loved ones. The images on their t-shirts were the same ones that appears in our Houston-area WMD report.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1DNBF1N

I can’t help but contrast last week’s release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of workplace fatality data,with the reports issued this week by community groups to commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day (WMD). BLS gave us the sterile number: 4,585. That’s the government’s official, final tally of the number of work-related fatal injuries that occurred in the US in 2013.

But groups in Tennessee, Massachusetts, and elsewhere have already assembled workplace fatality data for 2014. Better than that, they’ve affixed names and stories to the numbers. The information comes in the form of WMD reports and an open-access database of work-related fatalities occurring in the US during 2014, with names, ages, and other details about the victims whenever possible. First to the reports:

I worked, for example, with colleagues and we identified by name 62 workers from the Houston, TX area who died in 2014 from fatal work-related injuries. Our 23-page report lists their names, ages, circumstances of their deaths, and safety violations and penalties if applicable. For about half of the victims, we provide a photo of the deceased worker. In a section of the report we call “Worker Not Identified,” we note that many workplace fatality incidents are not reported in the press. Some government agencies keep secret the names of the victims. As the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NatCOSH) explains in their WMD report:

“As activists around the country seek information about workers killed in their state, region or locality, we find that important details are available in some cases but not others, with no logical explanation for the inconsistencies. Why should it be so hard for the public to know who was killed on the job and the basic facts of what happened?”

NatCOSH notes the inconsistency among government agencies. BLS’s data, they write, is

“…summary data only, with specific information about the names of workers and employers typically withheld as confidential. The US Mine Safety and Health Administration, by contrast, has a long-standing policy of posting workplace fatalities on their website within days of being notified about a fatality. The report typically includes the name of the worker who died, his or her employer and a short description of the incident. The US Fire Administration…also publishes information about on-duty career and volunteer firefighter fatalities. These public postings help us remember those who have died, and also provide crucial information that can help protect others who are exposed to ongoing occupational hazards.”

NatCOSH punctuates this point on the cover of its report. It displays photos of six victims from 2014 of fatal work-related injuries, with a seventh image—an outline of a person—with a giant question mark on the body. A terrific graphic that says to me “who was the victim?”

But topping NatCOSH’s report cover is the one that features the powerful photo below.

Kylie Sue Tallent puts a face on the problem of work-related deaths. Her father, Michael Tallent was electrocuted at a construction site in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Alyssa Hansen)

 

It is the photo that appears on the cover of the Knoxville Area’s WMD Committee’s report. The coalition of labor and faith groups prepared “Dying for a Job.” The 59-page document list the names, ages and circumstances of 172 Tennessee workers who died from work-related causes in 2013 and 2014. The authors of this report, as well as of the others, are careful to say “partial list.”  They know their lists are incomplete. These groups use whatever sources and as many sources—-from news stories, firefighter association sources, to OSHA news releases and word of mouth—to track down and identify the cases.

The Tennessee report captures the spirit and sentiment of the day set aside to remember workers killed on-the-job:

“Please take the time to pause and review this roll. Not only does it speak to the magnitude of losses suffered, it also reminds us of the tasks done by workers every day, and of the dignity and value of human labor.”

MassCOSH and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO remember by name 49 workers who lost their lives in the state in 2014. In their 27-page report “Dying for Work in Massachusetts,” the authors provide details about each victim, and also offer longer profiles on and photos of some of the deceased. These profiles tell a story about some of Massachusetts’ workplace fatalities victims, including firefighters Edward Walsh, Jr., 43, and Michael Kennedy, 33, who were killed in March 2014 while fighting a 9-alarm fire in the Back Bay area of Boston. The authors highlight particular health and safety challenges, such as hazards faced by municipal workers and an aging workforce.

Worker justice and safety advocates in south Florida issued a WMD report, noting the hefty death toll in the Sunshine State. Between June and September 2014, there were 30 fatal work-related injuries in just the southern region of Florida.

Besides honoring workplace fatality victims by name, with photos and stories, these WMD reports have other similarities:

• They note the untold number of deaths from occupational diseases. An estimated 53,000 individuals in the US die each year from work-related illnesses. There is no government agency or coordinated system to track those deaths. As a result, most of the victims remain nameless.
• They point to the collapse of the workers’ compensation system as a safety net for injured workers and their families. Several of the reports refer to the excellent reporting earlier this year in “The Demolition of Workers’ Comp,” by ProPublica’s Michael Grabell and NPR’s Howard Berkes.
• They offer recommendations to prevent work-related fatalities. In the Tennessee report, for example, the authors include the text of legislation which has been introduced in their state capitol to strengthen workplace safety. One is a bill which would require special safety requirements for government construction projects, and another would increase penalties assessed to employers for serious safety violations. The NatCOSH report emphasizes the fundamental safety regulations that, if diligently followed by employers, would prevent many fatalities.

Worker Memorial Day wouldn’t be complete with the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job (DOTJ) report. This year’s is the organization’s 24^th edition. It is the best annual compendium of US worker health and safety statistics. The report includes 150 pages of data tables (e.g., OSHA’s annual budget for each year dating back to 1979; annual work-related injury, illness and fatality for the most recent 10 year period,) as well as a profile of key data from every State (e.g., number of inspections conducted, average penalties assessed.) The AFL’s DOTJ report is my go-to resource for worker safety and health data. In this year’s edition, I noticed a few new data tables (e.g., a breakdown by industry of where federal and State OSHA conducted inspections in the most recent year.) And, following the theme of the other WMD reports mentioned above, the AFL-CIO’s DOTJ report profiles about 10 specific fatality incidents and provides the victims’ names and ages.

Now onto the open-access database of work-related fatalities:

This past summer, The Pump Handle’s Kim Krisberg wrote about Bethany Boggess’ on-line global mapping project to assemble and post information on incidents of occupational deaths, illnesses and disasters. Six months later, Boggess and a small group of other volunteers developed the largest open-access data set of workplace fatality cases that occurred in the US in 2014. It was released yesterday.

Boggess, who has a masters of public health and is with the National Center for Farmworker Health, told me:

“Focusing on statistics to talk about fatalities isn’t enough. The stories, the names, and faces of deceased workers show us the human consequences of failing to address dangerous working conditions.”

The US Worker Fatality Database identifies to-date more than 1,700 workplace fatalities for 2014. This is about one-third of the total cases that will be reported by BLS next year. The database includes, where available, the name of the deceased, the employer, and the circumstances of the death, with links to news accounts and obituaries. The project also includesinteractive maps —all of it available to the public to reproduce. The individuals and groups who developed the system, will manage and continue to add to it. They simply ask users to credit: “US Workers Fatality Database.”

Do names and face matter? Consider this: A vigil was held last night in Houston to remember the victims from 2014 of workplace fatalities. The vigil featured the solemn reading of the names of the 62 individuals we were able to identify. The families of Juan Guerrero, 18, and Walter Warner, 53, wore t-shirts printed with a photo of their deceased loved ones. The images on their t-shirts were the same ones that appears in our Houston-area WMD report.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1DNBF1N

May 2015 guide to the five visible planets

Moonlight to obscure 2015 May Eta Aquarid meteor shower

Draw an imaginary line from Jupiter and past Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon. The planets are always found near the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the constellations of the Zodiac. Read more

Evening planets in May 2015

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening

Fading Mars lost in the glare of sunset

Bright Jupiter from dusk until late night

Saturn from nightfall until dawn

Mercury at dusk, sets around nightfall

Morning planets in May 2015

Bright Jupiter out until after midnight

Saturn from nightfall until dawn

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Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening. Venus – the brightest planet and third-brightest celestial luminary overall (after the sun and moon) – climbs higher up at sunset, and stays out later after dark, than it did in April 2015. In the Northern Hemisphere, Venus stays out until late evening, and in the Southern Hemisphere, Venus sets by mid-evening.

Throughout May 2015, brilliant Venus beams like a lighthouse as darkness falls! At mid-northern latitudes, Venus stays out quite late, possibly after your bedtime. Be sure to catch the wonderful presence of the moon in Venus’ vicinity for several days, centered on May 21.

At mid-northern latitudes, this dazzling world sets about three and one-half hours after sunset all month long. At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the queen planet’s visibility improves throughout May, setting about two and one-half hours after the sun in early May, and three hours after the sun by the month’s end. From either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Venus – the brightest star-like object in all the heavens – totally predominates over the western sky as darkness falls.

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View the crescent moon with Venus for several days, centered on May 21. Up for a big challenge? Try to catch the young moon returning to the evening sky on May 19.

Fading Mars lost in the glare of sunset. Mars has lingered in our western twilight sky for many months, and it continues to fade in brightness, falling into the sunset glare. It sinks farther and farther below Venus each evening. Most likely, you won’t see Mars at all this month. Mars follows the sun below the horizon a very short while after sundown.

Why is the Red Planet getting dimmer and dropping into the sunset now? It’s because Mars is now lagging far behind Earth in its larger and slower orbit. Soon, Earth will be so far ahead of Mars in orbit that the sun will be between us and it. Mars will pass behind the sun, thereby entering our morning sky, on June 14. But we won’t see much of Mars between now and June. The bright glare of the sunset will hide it from our view long before its June conjunction with the sun.

Like a fading ember, this world is slowly but surely disappearing into the glow of sunset this month, as our planet Earth races ahead of Mars in its orbit.

Watch for the waxing crescent moon to pass close to Jupiter on May 22, May 23 and May 24. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the tarry sky. Read more.

Bright Jupiter from dusk until late night. Once you see Jupiter at dusk or nightfall, you won’t mistake it for anything else – except, possibly, brighter Venus, which shines lower down than Jupiter.

Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. It’s the second-brightest planet after Venus. In May 2015, Venus sets in the west at mid-to-late evening, leaving the king planet Jupiter to rule the night for a few to several hours after Venus sets. Jupiter goes westward throughout the night. At mid-northern latitudes, Jupiter sets in the west about an hour after the midnight hour (roughly 2 a.m. daylight-saving time), and by the month’s end, the queen planet sets around midnight (roughly 1 a.m. daylight-saving time).

Watch the moon pass close to Jupiter on the evenings of May 22 and May 23 and May 24.

If you have binoculars or a telescope, be sure to check out Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.

Click here for a Jupiter’s moons almanac, courtesy of Sky & Telescope.

Look for the bright waning gibbous moon near the planet Saturn on May 4 and May 5. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path in front of the backdrop stars.

Saturn from nightfall until dawn. At mid-northern latitudes, the golden planet Saturn rises in the southeast around nightfall in early May and is out as soon as darkness falls by the month’s end. The same holds true for the Southern Hemisphere. Saturn reaches a big milestone this month as the ringed planet reaches opposition on May 23!

Saturn closest for 2015 on May 22-23

At opposition, our planet Earth swings in between Saturn and the sun. Because Saturn resides opposite the sun in Earth’s sky at this juncture, Saturn rises in the east around sunset. This golden world climbs highest up in the sky at midnight and then sets in the west around sunrise. In other words, Saturn shines all night long, from dusk till dawn!

Watch for the bright moon to shine fairly close to Saturn for several days, centered around May 4.

Binoculars don’t reveal Saturn’s gorgeous rings. For that, you need a small telescope.

Saturn’s rings are inclined at nearly 25^o from edge-on in May 2015, exhibiting their northern face. Several years from now, in October 2017, the rings will open most widely, displaying a maximum inclination of 27^o. As with so much in space (and on Earth), the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth is cyclical. In the year 2025, the rings will appear edge-on as seen from Earth. After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, to increase to a maximum inclination of 27^o by May 2032.

Draw an imaginary line from Jupiter and past Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the dome of sky.

Mercury at dusk, sets around nightfall. Mercury is our solar system’s innermost planet and always stays near the sun in our sky. As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the first few weeks of May 2015 present the best time this year to catch Mercury in the evening sky. Mercury reaches its greatest evening elongation from the sun on May 7 (or May 6, depending on your time zone).

Those at southerly latitudes aren’t quite as lucky this month. As seen from there, the ecliptic – or path of the planets – makes a narrower angle to the evening horizon, so Mercury is more deeply buried in the glare of evening twilight. Try scanning with binoculars, if you’re in a Southern Hemisphere location.

At temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, this world sets nearly two hours hours after the sun in early May. Look for Mercury over the sunset point on the horizon as dusk gives way to darkness.

Or try this. Draw an imaginary line from bright Jupiter through even-brighter Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon, starting around 60 to 75 minutes after sunset. What is that line across the sky? It’s the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path and the moon’s monthly path – in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. The ecliptic marks the approximate plane of the solar system, because the planets circle the sun on nearly the same plane that Earth does.

Binoculars are always recommended to enhance sky views! Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you know when Mercury sets in your sky.

Mercury will stay in the evening sky until nearly the end of May 2015. Then it’ll pass into the morning sky, to give the Southern Hemisphere a favorable morning apparition of Mercury in the second half of June 2015.

Distances of the planets from the sun

What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try.

Bottom line: Three of the five visible planets are in good view in the evening sky throughout May 2015: Venus, Jupiter shine first thing at dusk, and Saturn rises into the sky by nightfall. For the Northern Hemisphere, Mercury features its best evening apparition of the year.

View larger.| Venus near the setting sun on November 18, 2014 by Helio de Carvalho Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wrote, “I managed to capture Venus as it is starting its return to dusk, despite the fact that it is still at a mere 6.2° distance from the sun. The photos show it a few minutes before setting behind the northern side of the 1,021-meter high Tijuca Peak, located some 6.5 km away. It was deeply immersed in the intense glare of the sun, that would set some 13 minutes later.”

Lunar eclipse on the night of October 8, 2014. The object to the left is the planet Uranus! This beautiful photo is by Janey Wing Kenyon of Story, Wyoming.

Debra Fryar in Calobreves, Texas captured this photo of the moon and Jupiter on May 31, 2014. Jupiter was close to the twilight then.

With only a modest backyard telescope, you can easily see Jupiter’s four largest moons. Here they are through a 10″ (25 cm) Meade LX200 telescope. Image credit: Jan Sandberg

Jupiter was rivaling the streetlights, when Mohamed Laaifat Photographies captured this photo in Normandy, France. Visit his page on Facebook.

Venus by Danny Crocker-Jensen

These are called star trails. It’s a long-exposure photo, which shows you how Earth is turning under the stars. The brightest object here is Jupiter, which is the second-brightest planet, after Venus. This awesome photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mohamed Laaifat in Normandy, France. Thank you, Mohamed.

View larger. | Mercury, Venus and Jupiter seen when evening fell in Hong Kong on June 1, 2013. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Matthew Chin. Awesome shot, Matthew!

Skywatcher, by Predrag Agatonovic.

Easily locate stars and constellations with EarthSky’s planisphere.

Don’t miss anything. Subscribe to EarthSky News by email

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/IJfHCr

Moonlight to obscure 2015 May Eta Aquarid meteor shower

Draw an imaginary line from Jupiter and past Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon. The planets are always found near the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the constellations of the Zodiac. Read more

Evening planets in May 2015

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening

Fading Mars lost in the glare of sunset

Bright Jupiter from dusk until late night

Saturn from nightfall until dawn

Mercury at dusk, sets around nightfall

Morning planets in May 2015

Bright Jupiter out until after midnight

Saturn from nightfall until dawn

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening. Venus – the brightest planet and third-brightest celestial luminary overall (after the sun and moon) – climbs higher up at sunset, and stays out later after dark, than it did in April 2015. In the Northern Hemisphere, Venus stays out until late evening, and in the Southern Hemisphere, Venus sets by mid-evening.

Throughout May 2015, brilliant Venus beams like a lighthouse as darkness falls! At mid-northern latitudes, Venus stays out quite late, possibly after your bedtime. Be sure to catch the wonderful presence of the moon in Venus’ vicinity for several days, centered on May 21.

At mid-northern latitudes, this dazzling world sets about three and one-half hours after sunset all month long. At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the queen planet’s visibility improves throughout May, setting about two and one-half hours after the sun in early May, and three hours after the sun by the month’s end. From either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Venus – the brightest star-like object in all the heavens – totally predominates over the western sky as darkness falls.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

View the crescent moon with Venus for several days, centered on May 21. Up for a big challenge? Try to catch the young moon returning to the evening sky on May 19.

Fading Mars lost in the glare of sunset. Mars has lingered in our western twilight sky for many months, and it continues to fade in brightness, falling into the sunset glare. It sinks farther and farther below Venus each evening. Most likely, you won’t see Mars at all this month. Mars follows the sun below the horizon a very short while after sundown.

Why is the Red Planet getting dimmer and dropping into the sunset now? It’s because Mars is now lagging far behind Earth in its larger and slower orbit. Soon, Earth will be so far ahead of Mars in orbit that the sun will be between us and it. Mars will pass behind the sun, thereby entering our morning sky, on June 14. But we won’t see much of Mars between now and June. The bright glare of the sunset will hide it from our view long before its June conjunction with the sun.

Like a fading ember, this world is slowly but surely disappearing into the glow of sunset this month, as our planet Earth races ahead of Mars in its orbit.

Watch for the waxing crescent moon to pass close to Jupiter on May 22, May 23 and May 24. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the tarry sky. Read more.

Bright Jupiter from dusk until late night. Once you see Jupiter at dusk or nightfall, you won’t mistake it for anything else – except, possibly, brighter Venus, which shines lower down than Jupiter.

Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. It’s the second-brightest planet after Venus. In May 2015, Venus sets in the west at mid-to-late evening, leaving the king planet Jupiter to rule the night for a few to several hours after Venus sets. Jupiter goes westward throughout the night. At mid-northern latitudes, Jupiter sets in the west about an hour after the midnight hour (roughly 2 a.m. daylight-saving time), and by the month’s end, the queen planet sets around midnight (roughly 1 a.m. daylight-saving time).

Watch the moon pass close to Jupiter on the evenings of May 22 and May 23 and May 24.

If you have binoculars or a telescope, be sure to check out Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.

Click here for a Jupiter’s moons almanac, courtesy of Sky & Telescope.

Look for the bright waning gibbous moon near the planet Saturn on May 4 and May 5. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path in front of the backdrop stars.

Saturn from nightfall until dawn. At mid-northern latitudes, the golden planet Saturn rises in the southeast around nightfall in early May and is out as soon as darkness falls by the month’s end. The same holds true for the Southern Hemisphere. Saturn reaches a big milestone this month as the ringed planet reaches opposition on May 23!

Saturn closest for 2015 on May 22-23

At opposition, our planet Earth swings in between Saturn and the sun. Because Saturn resides opposite the sun in Earth’s sky at this juncture, Saturn rises in the east around sunset. This golden world climbs highest up in the sky at midnight and then sets in the west around sunrise. In other words, Saturn shines all night long, from dusk till dawn!

Watch for the bright moon to shine fairly close to Saturn for several days, centered around May 4.

Binoculars don’t reveal Saturn’s gorgeous rings. For that, you need a small telescope.

Saturn’s rings are inclined at nearly 25^o from edge-on in May 2015, exhibiting their northern face. Several years from now, in October 2017, the rings will open most widely, displaying a maximum inclination of 27^o. As with so much in space (and on Earth), the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth is cyclical. In the year 2025, the rings will appear edge-on as seen from Earth. After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, to increase to a maximum inclination of 27^o by May 2032.

Draw an imaginary line from Jupiter and past Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the dome of sky.

Mercury at dusk, sets around nightfall. Mercury is our solar system’s innermost planet and always stays near the sun in our sky. As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the first few weeks of May 2015 present the best time this year to catch Mercury in the evening sky. Mercury reaches its greatest evening elongation from the sun on May 7 (or May 6, depending on your time zone).

Those at southerly latitudes aren’t quite as lucky this month. As seen from there, the ecliptic – or path of the planets – makes a narrower angle to the evening horizon, so Mercury is more deeply buried in the glare of evening twilight. Try scanning with binoculars, if you’re in a Southern Hemisphere location.

At temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, this world sets nearly two hours hours after the sun in early May. Look for Mercury over the sunset point on the horizon as dusk gives way to darkness.

Or try this. Draw an imaginary line from bright Jupiter through even-brighter Venus to locate Mercury near the horizon, starting around 60 to 75 minutes after sunset. What is that line across the sky? It’s the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path and the moon’s monthly path – in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. The ecliptic marks the approximate plane of the solar system, because the planets circle the sun on nearly the same plane that Earth does.

Binoculars are always recommended to enhance sky views! Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you know when Mercury sets in your sky.

Mercury will stay in the evening sky until nearly the end of May 2015. Then it’ll pass into the morning sky, to give the Southern Hemisphere a favorable morning apparition of Mercury in the second half of June 2015.

Distances of the planets from the sun

What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try.

Bottom line: Three of the five visible planets are in good view in the evening sky throughout May 2015: Venus, Jupiter shine first thing at dusk, and Saturn rises into the sky by nightfall. For the Northern Hemisphere, Mercury features its best evening apparition of the year.

View larger.| Venus near the setting sun on November 18, 2014 by Helio de Carvalho Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wrote, “I managed to capture Venus as it is starting its return to dusk, despite the fact that it is still at a mere 6.2° distance from the sun. The photos show it a few minutes before setting behind the northern side of the 1,021-meter high Tijuca Peak, located some 6.5 km away. It was deeply immersed in the intense glare of the sun, that would set some 13 minutes later.”

Lunar eclipse on the night of October 8, 2014. The object to the left is the planet Uranus! This beautiful photo is by Janey Wing Kenyon of Story, Wyoming.

Debra Fryar in Calobreves, Texas captured this photo of the moon and Jupiter on May 31, 2014. Jupiter was close to the twilight then.

With only a modest backyard telescope, you can easily see Jupiter’s four largest moons. Here they are through a 10″ (25 cm) Meade LX200 telescope. Image credit: Jan Sandberg

Jupiter was rivaling the streetlights, when Mohamed Laaifat Photographies captured this photo in Normandy, France. Visit his page on Facebook.

Venus by Danny Crocker-Jensen

These are called star trails. It’s a long-exposure photo, which shows you how Earth is turning under the stars. The brightest object here is Jupiter, which is the second-brightest planet, after Venus. This awesome photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mohamed Laaifat in Normandy, France. Thank you, Mohamed.

View larger. | Mercury, Venus and Jupiter seen when evening fell in Hong Kong on June 1, 2013. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Matthew Chin. Awesome shot, Matthew!

Skywatcher, by Predrag Agatonovic.

Easily locate stars and constellations with EarthSky’s planisphere.

Don’t miss anything. Subscribe to EarthSky News by email

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/IJfHCr

Transparency vs. Harassment [Greg Laden's Blog]

Michael Halpern, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and climate scientist Michael Mann have written an editorial for Science, “Transparency and harassment.”

Open records laws hold Universities and other public institutions accountable, protecting against biasing influences such as we might see from funding sources. (See: Cry for me Willie Soon).

Over the last couple of decades, interpersonal conversations among researchers have shifted from the milieu of vibrating air molecules in a room (or transformed into electrical signals and transferred over a phone) to electronic form. Today, a very large part of the conversation ongoing among research colleagues, or teachers and students, ends up in emails or other forms of eCommunication.

Activists of any stipe have increasingly been using open records laws and regulations to access these private conversations, as well as early drafts of papers and other information. Halpern and Mann make the point that “[t]hese requests can attack and intimidate academics, threatening their reputations, chilling their speech, disrupting their research, discouraging them from tackling contentious topics, and ultimately confusing the public.”

They ask what is the appropriate way to attain transparency while at the same time not stifling research or producing an uncontrolled form of political weaponry ripe for abuse?

Not only is excessive and invasive use of open records procedure intrusive and intimidating, it is also costly. There have been several instances, cited by Halpern and Mann, of institutions spending significant resources on addressing requests for information, a cost that is paid whether or not the information is actually accessed in the end. And, when this goes to court, the costs go up. In one case, Mann’s institution was hit with information requests that came ultimately as a result of a congressional investigation. Halpern and Mann report that in this case,

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that excessive disclosure could put the university at a “competitive disadvantage,” and cause “harm to university-wide research efforts, damage to faculty recruitment and retention, undermining of faculty expectations of privacy and confidentiality, and impairment of free thought and expression.”

Halpern and Mann suggest that institutions such as Universities get up to speed, and get their researchers and faculty up to speed, to know how to properly handle information requests, “not to determine the appropriate response, but to help employees understand how access to correspondence could be misused.” If this is done, there may ultimately emerge a set of standards that fill in the logic gap between fair and reasonable disclosure and normal collegiate conversation. In short, Halpern and Mann are asking for a modernization of disclosure and transparency law and procedure, with the ultimate goal of creating legitimate public trust in science and avoiding the stifling effects of misuse of open records law.

The editorial is here, but it may be behind a paywall.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1QPRwFW

Michael Halpern, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and climate scientist Michael Mann have written an editorial for Science, “Transparency and harassment.”

Open records laws hold Universities and other public institutions accountable, protecting against biasing influences such as we might see from funding sources. (See: Cry for me Willie Soon).

Over the last couple of decades, interpersonal conversations among researchers have shifted from the milieu of vibrating air molecules in a room (or transformed into electrical signals and transferred over a phone) to electronic form. Today, a very large part of the conversation ongoing among research colleagues, or teachers and students, ends up in emails or other forms of eCommunication.

Activists of any stipe have increasingly been using open records laws and regulations to access these private conversations, as well as early drafts of papers and other information. Halpern and Mann make the point that “[t]hese requests can attack and intimidate academics, threatening their reputations, chilling their speech, disrupting their research, discouraging them from tackling contentious topics, and ultimately confusing the public.”

They ask what is the appropriate way to attain transparency while at the same time not stifling research or producing an uncontrolled form of political weaponry ripe for abuse?

Not only is excessive and invasive use of open records procedure intrusive and intimidating, it is also costly. There have been several instances, cited by Halpern and Mann, of institutions spending significant resources on addressing requests for information, a cost that is paid whether or not the information is actually accessed in the end. And, when this goes to court, the costs go up. In one case, Mann’s institution was hit with information requests that came ultimately as a result of a congressional investigation. Halpern and Mann report that in this case,

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that excessive disclosure could put the university at a “competitive disadvantage,” and cause “harm to university-wide research efforts, damage to faculty recruitment and retention, undermining of faculty expectations of privacy and confidentiality, and impairment of free thought and expression.”

Halpern and Mann suggest that institutions such as Universities get up to speed, and get their researchers and faculty up to speed, to know how to properly handle information requests, “not to determine the appropriate response, but to help employees understand how access to correspondence could be misused.” If this is done, there may ultimately emerge a set of standards that fill in the logic gap between fair and reasonable disclosure and normal collegiate conversation. In short, Halpern and Mann are asking for a modernization of disclosure and transparency law and procedure, with the ultimate goal of creating legitimate public trust in science and avoiding the stifling effects of misuse of open records law.

The editorial is here, but it may be behind a paywall.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1QPRwFW