Bush agencies rushing to change safety rules for asbestos, toxins

In the final days of the Bush administration, the White House is working to get federal agencies to weaken the regulation of hazardous substances.

Scientists who usually have input into regulatory processes are complaining, according an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, “Agencies Asked to Ease Safety Rules."

Among the administration efforts:

• An Environmental Protection Agency plan to quickly alter the way it measures the cancer-causing risk of asbestos.

• Labor Department plans for significant changes in how workers are protected from chemical hazards go directly to the White House Office of Management and Budget, bypassing scientists.

• The firing of John Howard, the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, who had the support of industry and labor.

• Regulations to protect workers from lung cancer and other serious disorders continue to languish in the Department of Labor.

"For eight years, this administration has failed to make any significant progress in improving the health and safety of our nation's workers,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee, was quoted as saying in the article. “Now, in its waning days, it appears that they are actually trying to increase barriers to workplace safety."

Hazardous substances used by manufacturers of consumer products in thousands of ways also aren’t being regulated effectively, reporter Andrew Schneider said in his article.

Two recent examples from Schneider’s research:

• Diacetyl, a butter-flavoring chemical used in buttered popcorn and cooking oils, which causes bronchiolitis obliterans, a fatal lung disease.
• Toxic chemicals added as fragrances to laundry products and air fresheners.