Exposure Report Never Released

Contact a Workers Compensation Lawyer

or

February 27th, 2006

"Industry Withheld Data on Workplace Chromium Exposure Level"

The chromium industry reportedly withheld important research information, which supports a lower federal workplace exposure level for the deadly metal, hexavalent chromium.

After dodging the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration''s (OSHA) attempt to reduce worker exposure to hexavalent chromium, the industry commissioned their own study in 1997. The study, completed in 2002, revealed that even exposure to lower levels of the known carcinogen significantly increased the risk of lung cancer death.

However, these findings were never published by the industry nor was OSHA informed. In June 2005, consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen found proof in documents that the industry had manipulated the data to disguise the evidence of their harmful findings.

The circumstance of this situation raises concerns about the effectiveness of the government to issue rules protecting public health when they allow industries to control or provide scientific data.

“Polluters and manufacturers of dangerous products should not be permitted to hide data that are important for protecting the public''s health,” said Dr. David Michaels, director for Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP).

Kate McMahon-Lohrer, an attorney for Chromium Coalition fervently denies the accusations that the chromium industry withheld information. “That charge is absolutely and completely false and it''s outrageous and libelous,” she said.

In a meeting this Tuesday, OSHA will set the safety standard for the amount of chromium that is acceptable in American factories. The only existing standard dates back 63 years and allows for 52 micrograms per cubic meter of air. In 2004, OSHA proposed a safety standard of one microgram per cubic meter, which may significantly lower chromium-related workplace deaths.

According to OSHA, about 380,000 workers are at risk of inhaling airborne hexavalent chromium, a metal used in the steel, aerospace, and electroplating industries.