# 4664
The Pump Handle bills itself as a `water cooler for the public health crowd’, a place where experts (and interested observers) can meet and converse on subjects relating to public health.
If you aren’t a regular visitor, you should be.
Of late, they’ve devoted considerable time to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the potential long and short term health effects that the oil, tar, and dispersant might cause – and ways to mitigate them.
Their latest post by Eileen Senn, MS addresses respirator policy (or a lack thereof) for oil cleanup crews working in the Gulf.
An Inconvenient Truth - Respirators Needed in the Gulf Cleanup
Category: BP • Chemicals Policy • OSHA • Occupational Health & Safety
by Eileen Senn, MS
It seems obvious to many that respirators are needed to protect cleanup workers in the Gulf from inhaling air contaminants that are making some sick now and may make many more chronically ill in the future. I will describe a combination of political and scientific issues conspiring to prevent the needed respirators from being provided.
