Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Just in case you were starting to feel like the Bush Administration was doing a good job....

When I was an undergraduate studying economics we considered it a joke. What monetary value do you put on a human life? It was a joke to us because of the ridiculousness of the question. You might as well ask a secondary school teacher how many apples equal an orange when they use that age old diatribe about how you can't compare apples and oranges. In our own naivete, we knew the truth. A human life cannot be measured in dollars.

As you get older, you're supposed to mature. You're supposed to learn that the value of objects is inherently less than the value of life, the value of people. When you realize that "things" can always be replaced, but the same is not true for people, you begin to understand how your parents reacted to your first fender bender. Terrified to tell them about the damage you had caused, you were shocked by their reaction. At least you are okay.

On December 29, 1970 President Richard Nixon signed The Occupational and Safety Health Act into law, title 29, chapter 15 of the United States Code. You can read the full statute here.

To assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women; by authorizing enforcement of the standards developed under the Act; by assisting and encouraging the States in their efforts to assure safe and healthful working conditions; by providing for research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health; and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.


Part of this act created the Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA), whose recent endeavors (or lack thereof) are the topic of the linked NYT article.

A pessimist might argue that this is just another of the Bush administrations all out battle (ban?) on science. It appears since 2001, OSHA has enacted just about no regulations protecting the American workforce. Why? Apparently the science just doesn't back up any new regulations. Medical and Public Health experts beg to differ, but now industry is running the regulatory agency. Surprised? Why on earth would you be? Mike Brown was doing "a heck of a job" at FEMA. That is until the destruction of a certain city made it obvious that he didn't know what the hell he was doing.

Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao told business leader in June of 2002 that “There are more words in the Federal Register describing OSHA regulations than there are words in the Bible. They’re a lot less inspired to read and a lot harder to understand.” Now would that be because of the bigger words and more technical jargon used in the OSHA regulations? And which version of the bible did she compare it to? The number of words is different in each of the translations. And as far as inspiring, I suppose it would depend on who you ask...

OSHA chief, Deputy Secretary Edwin G. Foulke, utilized his position to point out the inherent stupidity and complete disregard for common sense that can lead to workplace accidents. People whose only skill is manual labor should obviously be more intelligent and knowledgeable about the dangers that surround them. Why bring fancy people with fancy medical or public health degrees into the picture? What could they possibly bring to the table with all their scientific research??

What's the real message? People are expendable. American industry must be protected at all costs ~ after all, they did more than $630 million to political campaigns since 2000, 75% going to Republicans. And since all of American business can't fit in the Lincoln bedroom, we'll have to pander to their needs instead. No one considered just sending a thank you note instead?? I should know better. After a few years in Washington, it's all about the money.

Kind of makes you wonder ~ how many lives are worth $630 million?

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