Asbestos Crisis: 100,000 will die next ten yrs. - think Cheney

[donsu]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=15&u=/nm/health_asbestos_dc

Study Warns U.S. Facing Asbestos Crisis

Ten-thousand Americans die each year from asbestos-related diseases and the number appears to be increasing in a growing public health crisis, a report by an environmental research group said on Thursday.

The analysis by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group projects that more than 100,000 people in the United States will die of four asbestos-related diseases -- mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and gastrointestinal cancer -- over the next 10 years.

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"This is not an issue of bankruptcy (for asbestos firms). This is a public health issue," Wiles said.

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Asbestos companies and insurers proposed a $114 billion fund to pay victims' claims in talks last year. Labor representatives said the sum was too low.
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health care is going to crash

[cosmicdot]

1. "health care is going to crash"

the pathway to the new Great Depression

we're skating on thin ice

one has to wonder when we'll cease compromising our way to healthcare for all

[seemslikeadream]

2. Cheney's Firm Backed Bill To Limit Asbestos Liability

Published on Friday, August 4, 2000 in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Cheney's Firm Backed Bill To Limit Asbestos Liability
by Andrew Schneider and Lise Olsen

Dick Cheney and the giant energy company he will leave to run for vice president have contributed more than $150,000 to members of Congress who sponsored legislation that would limit the ability of workers to sue companies for asbestos exposure.
The Halliburton Co., an oil-field services company based in Dallas, and its subsidiaries have had about 273,300 suits filed against them since 1976 by workers suffering from asbestos-related disease. Many of those suits were filed before Cheney became chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1995.

At the end of 1999, 107,650 suits for damages were still pending, including 46,400 new suits filed against the corporation last year, according to the firm's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cheney, 59, says he will resign Aug. 16 to concentrate on the Republican campaign.

Halliburton's political action committees and Cheney contributed $494,452 to congressional candidates from 1997 through mid-2000. Of that, $157,500 went to members of Congress who co-sponsored the asbestos legislation -- 59 Republicans and four Democrats.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/080400-02.htm

[seemslikeadream]

3. Letter to Mitch Daniels re: OMB/OIRA's thwarting

Letter to Mitch Daniels re: OMB/OIRA's thwarting of EPA's Planned Public Health Warning

http://www.citizen.org/congress/regulations/issue_areas/enviro_protections/articles.cfm?ID=8766


A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, "White House Office Blocked EPA’s Asbestos Cleanup Plan," by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Andrew Schneider (12/29/02, p. A1), alleges that your office thwarted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to declare a public health emergency in Libby, Montana, and alert Americans nationwide regarding the dangers of Zonolite insulation, which contains highly cancerous fibers and is present in 15 to 35 million American homes.

This article – reportedly supported by nine file boxes of information received from the EPA under a Freedom of Information Act request – related the investigation, extensive internal debate, and tough questioning conducted by EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Marianne Horinko, head of the Superfund Program, prior to their decision to declare a public health emergency regarding Zonolite insulation in Libby on April 5, 2002. The "Libby Declaration" was to be accompanied by a nationwide alert regarding the presence and danger of Zonolite insulation in homes across the nation. The article claims that the EPA’s intention to issue both the declaration and accompanying national alert were thwarted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and by OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), headed by John Graham. When questioned by the reporter, both OMB and OIRA refused to provide an explanation for doing so.......


Under what authority, if any, was OMB/OIRA acting to intercede in EPA’s decision making process and to strongly recommend to EPA that it not issue the emergency declaration and public notification? Neither the emergency declaration nor the public notification appear to be matters subject to OMB/OIRA review under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Nor do they appear to be rulemaking matters, over which OMB/OIRA lacks statutory authority but has been given review powers by E.O. 12866.

What scientific evidence did OMB/OIRA rely on in recommending to EPA not to make the emergency declaration and public notification? As you have long advocated, decision making on matters of public health should be science-based. Yet OMB/OIRA apparently challenged the scientific conclusions of the expert agency assigned by law to assess risks to public health. Decisions of this magnitude must be made in a manner that ensures transparency and accountability. OMB/OIRA’s secret, behind-the-scenes intervention in this matter is especially troubling, and we call on you to make public the basis for OMB/OIRA’s objections to notifying the public of this public health danger.