Michael Bell, MD, Medical Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will provide conference attendees with important updates and further CDC guidance related to the H1N1 flu virus at the 36th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), on Wednesday, June 10 at 8 a.m. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The meeting, which runs from June 7-11, is an annual gathering of infection preventionists from around the world.
"The decision to declare an influenza pandemic will fall on my shoulders," Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Friday. "I can assure you, I will take this decision with utmost care and responsibility."
Sunlight and other light sources send wake-up cues to the body's internal clock, so it's vital to take steps to make it as dark as possible. A range of approaches can address this problem.
Filthy conditions and failure to correct violations at the American Mercantile Corp. of Memphis, Tenn. prompted action.
A secondhand smoke Health Hazard Evaluation triggered by confidential requests from non-poker dealers at Bally's, Paris, and Caesars Palace casinos found evidence of exposure to a known carcinogen from tobacco smoke, based on measurable levels in their urine.
The manufacture of PCBs was banned in 1979. "These federal rules are intended to protect human health and the environment from risks posed by these toxic chemicals," said Daniel Duncan, EPA's regional PCB program coordinator in Seattle.
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a special report examining the causes and characteristics of residential multiple-fatality fires. The report, titled "Multiple-Fatality Fires in Residential Buildings," was developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). The report is based on 2004 to 2006 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).
Filed April 28, the petition says OSHA has acknowledged both the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for crystalline silica and OSHA’s abrasive blasting standard (29 CFR 1910.94) are "seriously outdated."
WorkCover New South Wales, the workplace safety authority in Australia's most populous state, has designated May 2009 as Slips, Trips and Falls Month as it tries to raise awareness of the issue.
"Accurate information is essential for the federal government and the State of Oklahoma to assure good drinking water for the public," said Warren Amburn, special agent in charge of EPA's criminal enforcement program in Dallas. "Individuals who submit false reports or bogus data undermine those efforts and they will be vigorously pursued."
The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission are alerting the public to be wary of Internet sites and other promotions for products that claim to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat, or cure the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus.
Striking more than 1 million Americans every year, skin cancer accounts for half of all cancer cases in the United States. Online voting for the poster contest is open until May 10.
Naming two nominees today, the president announced he wants CPSC to have five commissioners rather than the current three. The National Association of Manufacturers said it hopes the nominees will reform the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which affects ATVs and other consumer products.
The U.S. Fire Administration has completed its review of a recently released study conducted by the TriData Division of the System Planning Corporation, analyzing firefighter presumptive cancer legislation and attempting to prove or disprove a correlation between firefighting activities and the occurrence of cancer. According to USFA, while this study is considered thoughtful and well-presented, its results are scientifically inconclusive and indicate that more expansive study is in order.
"Planning for pandemic influenza is critical, and the business community must not delay in considering the impact of a pandemic and to adjust their company's employee health and safety plans accordingly," says AIHA President Lindsey Booher, CIH, CSP.
There are currently no products authorized for sale in Canada that are indicated specifically for the treatment of H1N1, the federal department says.
Researchers have detected common plant toxins that affect human health and ecosystems in smoke from forest fires. The results from the new study also suggest that smoldering fires may produce more toxins than wildfires--a reason to keep human exposures to a minimum during controlled burns.
A new study by University of Maryland researchers suggests that the potential for an avian influenza virus to cause a human flu pandemic is greater than previously thought. Results also illustrate how the current swine flu outbreak likely came about.
People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic and possible for up to 7 days following illness onset. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.
"It takes only one slip or misstep to turn a construction site into an accident scene," said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex (Massachusetts) counties.