Will OSHA Prove Us Wrong? (From The Pump Handle) Just before the House passed legislation last month requiring OSHA to regulate diacetyl, OSHA's press office went into high gear, announcing the agency was getting to work on just that issue. Two days before the vote, OSHA announced it was initiating rulemaking under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In other words, it was finally going to start the process of issuing a standard to protect workers exposed to hazardous flavor chemicals. As part of that process, it announced a stakeholder meeting, scheduled for October 17, 2007. (more…)
You've probably heard about "colony collapse disorder," the mysterious widespread die-off of bees that's been worrying commercial beekeepers in recent years. Last month, researchers suggested that Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus was playing a role; parasites and overwork (and mobile phones) have also been suggested as possible causes. But Gina Covina, writing in Terrain magazine (via AlterNet), presents another hypothesis: bees are like canaries in coal mines, and they're warning us that our entire system of industrial agriculture is breaking down.