EPA Failed to Disclose Cancer Risk to People in Studies

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.businessweek.com

In the past decade, the EPA did 13 studies of particulate matter and four studies on diesel exhaust at its North Carolina laboratory, Photographer: Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to disclose cancer risks to volunteers used in research studies on harmful pollutants, a government watchdog says. The EPA, which warns of dangers from diesel exhaust and tiny particles in its rules to cut pollution, recruited people for tests on those pollutants in 2010 and 2011. Consent forms they got didn’t mention cancer because the agency considered the risks minimal from short-term exposure, the agency’s Office of Inspector General said in a report yesterday. “When justifying a job-killing regulation, EPA argues exposure to particulate matter is deadly, but when they are conducting experiments, they say human exposure studies are not harmful,” Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter said in a statement, reacting to the report. The EPA’s test practices have been criticized by Republicans who say the agency contradicts itself in explaining its rules and testing safety, and called for the human testing to be shut down. The watchdog said the EPA followed “applicable regulations,” and proposed procedural changes, not a shuttering of the research. “The agency should inform study subjects of any potential cancer risks of a pollutant to which they are being exposed,” according...

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G.M. Hires Lawyer Specializing in Disaster Payouts

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.nytimes.com

Members of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee questioned Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, during a hearing on the company’s safety problems. WASHINGTON — As families of crash victims lined the back of the House hearing room, displaying photos of their lost loved ones, Mary T. Barra, the General Motors chief executive, told lawmakers that the company was considering paying damages to victims of accidents in the millions of cars recalled for defective ignition switches. To help decide, General Motors hired Kenneth Feinberg, a celebrated lawyer who handled payouts in the Sept. 11, 2001, victims fund and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, she told a House committee investigating the company’s failure to fix a faulty part that it knew about for more than a decade. It was the first time G.M. had acknowledged that it may pay damages in accident cases that occurred before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2009, even though — to the increasing outrage of victims’ families — the company is legally protected by agreements made in bankruptcy court. “G.M. has civic and legal responsibilities, and we are thinking through exactly what those responsibilities are,” Ms. Barra said, though she stopped short of committing to such a fund, and, in one tense exchange, refused to say that the automaker was responsible for the crashes. The compensation issue was one of many dramatic moments in the two hours of...

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National Settlement Yields Hundreds of Millions for Superfund Sites in New Jersey and New York; Parties Reach Agreement for More than $4 Billion to Pay for Environmental Cleanups, with More than...

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov

Release Date: 04/03/2014 (New York, N.Y.) A historic settlement announced today with the Kerr-McGee Corporation and certain of its affiliates (“New Kerr-McGee”), and their parent Anadarko Petroleum Corporation today will greatly benefit environmental cleanups at the Welsbach Superfund site in Gloucester City, New Jersey and the GCL Tie and Treating Superfund site in Sidney, New York, and reimburse the federal government for substantial cleanup costs at the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, New Jersey. The United States has entered into the settlement agreement with the companies in a fraudulent conveyance case brought by the United States and co-plaintiff Anadarko Litigation Trust in the bankruptcy of Tronox Inc. The bankruptcy court had previously found, in December 2013, that the historic Kerr-McGee Corporation (“Old Kerr-McGee”) fraudulently conveyed assets to New Kerr-McGee to evade its debts, including its liability for environmental clean-up at contaminated sites around the country. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the defendants agree to pay $5.15 billion to settle the case, of which approximately $4.4 billion will be paid to fund environmental clean-up and for environmental claims. This is the largest environmental enforcement recovery ever by the Department of Justice. “The Superfund program works best when the polluter pays and today the polluter is paying in a very big way,” said EPA Regional Administrator...

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EPA inks pair of settlements with Department of Energy and contractors over Hanford asbestos handling violations

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov

Release Date: 04/03/2014 Contact Information: Mark MacIntyre/EPA-Seattle 206-553-7302/macintyre.mark@epa.gov (Seattle, WA – April 2, 2014) The U.S. EPA has signed a pair of consent agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy and two contractors to resolve alleged violations of federal asbestos handling regulations at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Today’s settlements stem from what EPA determined was improper demolition work performed at the DOE Hanford Site. In August 2012, in response to complaints from Hanford workers, EPA inspected several demolition sites dating back to 2007. Samples collected by EPA showed remaining debris from the demolitions contained regulated asbestos waste. Work performed at Hanford on behalf of the DOE by contractors Washington Closure Hanford LLC and CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company resulted in penalties of $44,000 and $131,594, respectively. Both contractors agreed to pay all penalties. According to Ed Kowalski, Director of EPA’s Enforcement Office in Seattle, the results of EPA’s inspection were clear. “Asbestos was poorly managed here from start to finish,” said Kowalski. “EPA requires all building owners and contractors to remove asbestos before starting any regulated demolition activity which can crush or pulverize asbestos and release dust. At a facility like Hanford, this is especially important to prevent asbestos exposure to anyone working or spending time in the...

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National Asbestos Week, April 1-7, 2014

Statement from Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak about National Asbestos Week, April 1-7, 2014

National Asbestos Awareness Week, April 1 – 7, is an important opportunity to focus on the public health issues associated with asbestos exposure and related illnesses.

"Asbestos" is a commercial name for a collection of six highly durable fibrous minerals used for decades in thousands of commercial products, such as insulation and fireproofing materials, automotive brakes and textile products, cement and wallboard materials. Scientists have long understood that asbestos can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other lung diseases when the fibers are inhaled. Because of concerns about health effects, exposures to asbestos and certain uses of asbestos have been regulated in the U.S. for over 30 years.

In general, the greater the exposure to asbestos, the greater the chance an individual has of developing harmful health effects. Asbestos fibers may be released into the air where they can be easily inhaled and contaminate the surrounding area during demolition work, building or home maintenance, repair, and remodeling.

For workers or homeowners, avoiding activities involving the disturbance of materials or products containing asbestos is the surest means of avoiding asbestos exposure. However, if you need to undertake such activities, there is guidance available to help you protect yourself and others. While most individuals exposed to asbestos, whether in the home or workplace will not develop disease – there is no known safe level of asbestos exposure and precautions should be taken to protect your health. Apparent symptoms and disease may take many years to develop following exposure, and asbestos-related conditions can be difficult to identify. It’s important to note that tobacco smoke greatly increases your risk of lung cancer if you have already been exposed to asbestos. Anyone who believes he or she has been exposed to asbestos should contact their health care provider for additional advice.

To learn more about asbestos and asbestos-related diseases, please visit:
http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=4
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/asbestos/

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….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Utility Cited for Violating Pollution Law in North Carolina

North Carolina regulators said Monday that five power plants owned by Duke Energy have been cited for violating water pollution laws, three days after announcing a similar action against Duke’s plant in Eden, N.C., where 39,000 tons of coal ash fouled the Dan River last month.

The citations, which charge Duke with failing to obtain storm-water permits under federal law, could lead to fines of $25,000 per day for each of the six plants.

The enforcement actions by the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources came after weeks of public outrage about the spill. But according to documents in recent court proceedings, regulators within the agency have tried for several years to force Duke to bring its plants into compliance, only to be frustrated time and again.

“Over the last year and a half, we repeatedly asked for a status and direction on these, and we have been given none,” an environmental engineer in the department wrote to colleagues in September, referring to efforts to require storm-water permits.

Current and former employees of the environmental agency have said that under the administration of Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, and the Republican-controlled legislature, regulators were told to play down enforcement of pollution laws in favor of spurring economic activity and jobs.

Last year, after environmental groups said they would sue Duke over pollution from its coal ash ponds at power plants,...

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A Step Toward Justice in College Sports?

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.nytimes.com

If you were going to hold up a school as being exemplary in the way it puts athletics in, as they say, “the proper perspective,” Northwestern University would certainly be one you’d point to. For instance, although it lacks the kind of winning tradition — at least in the big-time sports — that other schools in the Big Ten can boast of, it proudly points to the 97 percent graduation rate of its athletes. Yet buried in last week’s decision by Peter Sung Ohr, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board — in which he said that the Northwestern football team had the right to form a union — was this anecdote about Kain Colter, the former Northwestern quarterback who is leading the union effort. In his sophomore year, dreaming of going to medical school someday, Colter “attempted to take a required chemistry course.” However, “his coaches and advisors discouraged him from taking the course because it conflicted with morning football practices.” Eventually, after falling behind other pre-med students, he wound up switching his major to psychology, “which he believed to be less demanding,” according to Ohr. Ohr’s essential point was that unlike the rest of the student body at Northwestern, football players had little control over their lives. Their schedules were dictated by the needs of the football team. They had bosses in the form of coaches and other university...

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U.S. Agency Knew About G.M. Flaw but Did Not Act

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.nytimes.com

Federal regulators decided not to open an inquiry on the ignitions of Chevrolet Cobalts and other cars even after their own investigators reported in 2007 that they knew of four fatal crashes, 29 complaints and 14 other reports that showed the problem disabled air bags, according to a memo released by a House subcommittee on Sunday.

Then in 2010, the safety agency came to the same decision after receiving more reports that air bags were not deploying.

The memo also revealed that General Motors approved the faulty design of the switch in 2002 even though the company that made the part, Delphi, warned the automaker that the switch did not meet specifications. This followed a warning the year before — when the Saturn Ion was being developed — but G.M. said that “a design change had solved the problem,” according to the memo.

The striking new details in the memo bolster the contention that both G.M. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than previously acknowledged, ignored or dismissed warnings for more than a decade about a faulty ignition switch that, if bumped, could turn off, shutting the engine and disabling the air bags. General Motors has recalled nearly 2.6 million cars and has linked 13 deaths to the defect.Late Sunday, the safety agency said in a statement, “As we have stated previously, the agency reviewed data from a number of sources in 2007, but the data we had available at the time did not...

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Three Companies to Repay EPA for Costs of Cleaning Up Contaminated Site in Clifton, New Jersey

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced legal agreements with Clifton 2003, L.L.C, Hampshire Generational Fund, L.L.C and WEA Enterprises Co., Inc. to repay $2.1 million spent by the EPA to clean up contamination at Abrachem Chemical, a former bulk chemical packaging facility in Clifton, New Jersey. When the EPA began its investigation and cleanup of the site in 2008, it reeked of caustic chemicals and solvents that were leaking from rusted and mislabeled drums. Sampling of the contents of over 1,600 drums revealed the presence of hazardous materials, including corrosive and flammable chemicals, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and volatile organic chemicals. Exposure to these chemicals can have serious health impacts, including an increased risk of cancer.

“The legal agreements to recover the considerable costs of the Abrachem Chemical cleanup means that the responsible parties will bear the financial burden for cleaning up this site, not taxpayers, “ said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The Abrachem Chemical site was found in a horrible state of disrepair and posed serious risks to the health of people in the surrounding community. Today the site is cleaned up, people’s health has been protected, the property is being productively used for a new business and the responsible parties are footing the majority of the bill.”

After being contacted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 2008, the EPA conducted an initial investigation and found that Abrachem was improperly storing drums and bulk containers of known and unknown chemicals in seventeen, 43-foot long shipping containers and elsewhere on the property. Drums at the site were leaking and there was a strong chemical odor emanating from the facility. However, the EPA was unable to clean up the site because Clifton 2003, one of the site owners, refused to grant EPA full access to its property. In January 2009, the EPA got a warrant from a federal judge that allowed access to the property to start a cleanup.

The EPA first removed drums of the unknown chemicals from the shipping containers and moved them into the facility for staging and sampling to determine what they were. On several occasions over the course of the seven-month cleanup, areas of the surrounding community were evacuated with the assistance of local and state authorities when unknown and potentially explosive chemicals were discovered.

The EPA also identified the chemicals in the mislabeled drums and, when possible, identified where the drums had originated. Hundreds of containers were returned to their owners, while others were disposed of by the EPA at licensed hazardous waste disposal facilities out of the area. The floors inside the facility were washed and decontaminated and all debris and trash removed. The EPA completed its work in September 2009.

The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters, not taxpayers, should pay for the cleanups. The EPA works hard to recover taxpayer dollars spent on the cleanup of abandoned and polluted sites. In this instance, more than 82 percent of the costs will be repaid through EPA’s enforcement action and resulting agreements.

For more information including an archived 2009 video about the Abrachem site, visithttp://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/removal/abrachem/.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Workers' Compensation: EPA plans to sharply reduce inspections

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The Degree of Employer Control Determines Compensability in an Off-Premises Parking Lot Case

The NJ Supreme Court declared the nature of the employer's control determines compensability in an off-premises parking lot claim. The Court ruled that the NJ 1979 Legislative amendments mandate that the "coming and going" rule bars such a workers' compensation claim when an employee is injured on a public street while walking to and from a public parking lot.

The Court held that even though the employer provided a parking pass to the employee to park in the public lot, that since the employer did not own, maintain or exercise control over the lot nor the route that the employee must take in commuting to the employer's premises, the employee could not pursue a workers' compensation claim.

The element of "control" pervades many issues in workers' compensation including "employment status. NJ has "The Right to Control Test" that is utilized in determining the employment status of the employee.. This is been a major factor in misclassification of workers and the eligibility of workers' compensation cover.

Hersh v. County of Morris A-59 NJ Supreme Court, Decided April 1, 2014.

Note: This cases and others will be the subject the NJ Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar on June 18, 2014. Both Lewis Stein, Esq. and John R. Tort, Jr., Esq., who were the lead counsel representing the parties involved in the litigation, will participating in the upcoming seminar.

Click here to register today.

Textual Despondency

No, this is NOT an April fool's joke. Texting is a major problem and a major distraction from the focus of work. Even if occurring within the scope of employment, it is still a major factor in concentration and is therefore a safety concern. Today's guest post is from David Paolo.

This condition reportedly has been a "world wide health concern" since around 2011 when conditions associated with excessive cell phone usage for texting and other mobile communications activities other than a phone call were starting to be identified. A couple of weeks ago I was in San Francisco for the California Workers' Compensation Institute's annual meeting. San Francisco must be the leading city where this "condition" could be studied. I was astounded at how many people walk around that town with their necks bent towards the ground, small devices in hand, paying zero attention to where they are, where they're going, or anyone or anything around them. The number of people with zero spatial orientation or situational awareness as a result of profound hand-held device distraction was amazing to me. Even in the elevator of the hotel where normally cellular signals aren't strong, if existent at all, a couple of gentlemen occupied the car as I got on heading to upper floors; they both were completely immersed in their devices. They did not look up, acknowledge my presence in any way or even acknowledge each other. We got to the seventh floor and, without even a short little glance above the screen in his hand held one fellow starts toward the open doors and says, I presume to the other guy in the elevator, "see you at dinner." The other guy, likewise, did not take his stare off the screen of his hand held device, thumb busy scrambling...

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Workers' Compensation: Why Texting-While-Driving Bans Don't Work

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... drive on the roads. While the Federal government has strictly enforced the no texting while driving rule, the states maintain a patchwork of confusing regulations and statutory prohibitions. Today's post is shared from nj.com.

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Do Cities Need Texting Zones?

Oct 01, 2013

Andrew M. Cuomo revealed a plan to put "texting zones" on the New York State Thruway and state highways, where drivers can pull over and respond to text messages. This is, in part, a response to the fact that New York has ...

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Texting a Message to A Driver Imposes Liability for an Accident

Aug 30, 2013

who is texting from a location remote from the driver of a motor vehicle can be liable to persons injured because the driver was distracted by the text. We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

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Pierce County, WA Landscaper Charged with Skipping Out on Workers’ Comp Coverage

Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case, from Causey Law Firm.

          A Pierce County, WA landscaper has been charged with failing to pay workers’ compensation insurance after one of his employees was injured on the job.

           Kenneth Ivan Winters, 49, faces one count of doing business without workers’ comp insurance and seven counts of making false reports to the Department of Labor & Industries, according to charging papers. Each charge is a Class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

           The Lakewood man pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday, February 19, 2014 in Pierce County Superior Court. His trial was set for May 1.

           According to charging papers filed by the Washington Attorney General’s office, authorities were alerted to the case when an employee filed an on-the-job injury claim while working for Winters’ business, Executive Lawn Care, in October 2012.

           The worker told an L&I investigator that Winters, who was on site when the employee was hurt, threatened him and his family if he filed a claim with L&I, charging papers said. The employee said he had worked for Winters from 2002 until the day he was injured.

           Winters’ workers’ comp coverage had been revoked eight months earlier for failing to pay premiums. However, charging papers allege, he continued to employ the worker full time until the injury. Winters told an L&I investigator he started the business in 1990, and at one time had up to six employees. He said business slowed and his main employee was the worker who became injured, and occasionally the worker’s brother.

           As of Jan. 7, 2014, the employee’s claim has cost L&I more than $67,000 in medical expenses and lost wage payments, charging papers said.

           Businesses that don’t pay workers’ comp insurance gain an unfair advantage over companies that pay their fair share. A 2007 study found that an estimated 55,000 employers skipped out on paying $34.5 million in workers’ comp insurance in Washington state in 2006, causing legitimate employers to pay higher premiums.

         Washington state is one of the few states in the nation where employers and workers both pay a share of the workers' compensation premiums.  The press release from the Department of Labor and Industries did not indicate whether this worker's payroll deductions had continued even when his workers' compensation coverage had lapsed.  If this was the case, this employer's fraud would represent wage theft, as well.

         

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The Risk That Is Just Too Big for Workers' Compensation: Global Warming

Unforeseen to the crafters of the workers' compensation system more than a century ago was the factor of global warming and its dire consequences. A risk too big to cover. While workers' compensation was intended to provide coverage for industrially related accidents and injuries, no one envisioned the effects of global warming, ironically industrially precipitated, upon the workplace environment.

College Football Players Get Approval to Unionize - Workers Compensation Next

Today's post is shared from the WSJ.com and highlights a growing trend that student-athletes are employees and will be subject to workers's compensation mandatory insurance coverage. With head concussion recognition on the rise as a long term medical issue in body contact sport this will be a huge incentive to eliminate the business of college body contact sports. CHICAGO—In a decision with potentially broad ramifications for collegiate athletics, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday that Northwestern University scholarship football players are employees of the school and are eligible to form the nation's first college athletes' union. The ruling, which Northwestern immediately said it would appeal, has the potential to upend big-time college sports by reversing the NCAA's longtime stance that athletes are students first and athletes second. As such, they can't be considered employees. In his ruling, Peter Ohr ruled that Northwestern's scholarship players are athletes first and students second. Their duties to the athletic program include 50 to 60 hours a week during training camp and 40 to 50 hours a week during the three- or four-month football season. For much of the year, players are told by coaches when to eat, sleep and train. Northwestern University football players with athletic scholarships are employees and can unionize, a National Labor Relations Board regional director ruled Wednesday, contradicting the...

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Football helmet design can alter concussion rate, study finds

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It measured head motion changes during more than 1.2 million impacts over five years of Division I NCAA football games played by eight college teams. Sixty-four of those hits resulted in diagnosed concussions, and the ...

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Head injuries in one football season cause measurable brain damage

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Study: No helmet brand can save football players from concussion risk

Oct 30, 2013

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Can a Graduate Student Get Workers’ Compensation?

Attention to laboratory safety generally focuses on preventing injuries. A case at Cornell University, however, raises important issues about what happens after an injury has occurred.  Chemical engineering graduate student Richard Pampuro suffered permanent, disabling damage to his right hand—and, one supposes, harm to his finances from two operations and extensive physical therapy, and possibly to his long-term earning potential—after glass from a shattered bottle pierced his arm, severing tendons and an artery. Now, Pampuro’s fellow graduate students are demanding that he receive workers’ compensation, reports. The university disagrees, and the New York State Workers' Compensation Board is investigating. The legal status of students injured in university labs is often unclear. Workers’ compensation laws vary widely among states, as do universities’ policies, The Chronicle notes. At some schools, graduate students qualify for the coverage; at others they do not.  Beyond that, occupational safety laws that cover employees do not apply to students. When a lathe that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified as lacking required safety features killed Yale University senior physics student in 2011, the agency lacked jurisdiction to sanction the university. (Yale University denied that the lathe was substandard).  On the other hand, when lab assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji died in 2009 as a...

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Proposed Silica Standard Needs to Be Strengthened

Today's post is shred from the algcio.org

While the AFL-CIO “strongly supports” a proposed new rule that would limit workers’ exposure to silica dust, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario outlined several areas that should be strengthened to provide better worker protection from deadly silicosis and other diseases caused by silica exposure.

Testifying before an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hearing, Seminario noted that changes to the current exposure standard—now more than 40 years old—were first proposed in 1997 and that when the proposed new standard was sent for review to the Office of Management and Budget in 1991, it lingered there for two-and-a-half years.

Every day that a final standard is delayed, workers will continue to be at increased risk of disease and death.

Every year some 2 million workers are exposed to silica dust and, according to public health experts, more than 7,000 workers develop silicosis and 200 die each year as a result of this disabling lung disease. Silicosis literally suffocates workers to death. Silica is also linked to deaths from lung cancer, pulmonary and kidney diseases.

Seminario said that permissible exposure limit in the proposed standard while set at half the current level is still too high. She urged that a stricter standard be included in the final and said that other provisions in the standard should be strengthened, including:
Establishing regulated work areas to limit the number of workers.

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Novel cancer vaccine holds promise against ovarian cancer, mesothelioma

Today's post is shared from the Massachusetts General Hospital and sciencedaily.com.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators report that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumor.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy -- strategies designed to induce the immune system to attack cancer cells -- may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumors.

"Some approaches to creating cancer vaccines begin by extracting a patient's own immune cells, priming them with tumor antigens and returning them to the patient, a process that is complex and expensive," says Mark Poznansky, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center and senior author of the report. "Our study describes a very practical, potentially broadly applicable and low-cost approach that could be used by oncologists everywhere, not just in facilities able to harvest and handle patient's cells.

The MGH team's vaccine stimulates the patient's own dendritic cells, a type of immune cell that monitors an organism's internal environment for the presence of viruses or bacteria, ingests and digests pathogens encountered, and displays antigens from those pathogens on their surface to direct the activity of other immune cells. As noted above, existing cancer vaccines that use dendritic cells require extracting cells from a patient's blood, treating them with an engineered protein or nucleic acid that combines tumor antigens with immune-stimulating molecules, and returning the activated dendritic cells to the patient.

The approach developed by the MGH team starts with the engineered protein, which in this case fuses an antibody fragment targeting a protein called mesothelin -- expressed on the surface of such tumors as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer -- to a protein from the tuberculosis bacteria that stimulates the activity of dendritic and other immune cells. In this system, the dendritic cells are activated and targeted against tumor cells while remaining inside the patient's body.

In the experiments described in the paper, the MGH team confirmed that their mesothelin-targeting fusion protein binds to mesothelin on either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma cells, activates dendritic cells, and enhances the cells' processing and presentation of several different tumor antigens, inducing a number of T-cell-based immune responses. In mouse models of both tumors, treatment with the fusion protein significantly slowed tumor growth and extended survival, probably through the activity of cytotoxic CD8 T cells.

"Many patients with advanced cancers don't have enough functioning immune cells to be harvested to make a vaccine, but our protein can be made in unlimited amounts to work with the immune cells patients have remaining," explains study co-author Jeffrey Gelfand, MD, senior scientist at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center. "We have created a potentially much less expensive approach to making a therapeutic cancer vaccine that, while targeting a single tumor antigen, generates an immune response against multiple antigens. Now if we can combine this with newly-described ways to remove the immune system's "brakes" -- regulatory functions that normally suppress persistent T-cell activity -- the combination could dramatically enhance cancer immunotherapy."

Poznansky adds that the tumors that might be treated with the mesothelin-targeting vaccine -- ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma -- all have poor survival rates. "Immunotherapy is generally nontoxic, so this vaccine has the potential of safely extending survival and reducing the effects of these tumors, possibly even cutting the risk of recurrence. We believe that this approach could ultimately be used to target any type of cancer and are currently investigating an improved targeting approach using personalized antigens." The MGH team just received a two-year grant from the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to continue their research.

Journal Reference:
Jianping Yuan, Satoshi Kashiwagi, Patrick Reeves, Jean Nezivar, Yuan Yang, Nadiah Arrifin, Mai Nguyen, Gilberte Jean-Mary, Xiaoyun Tong, Paramjit Uppal, Svetlana Korochkina, Ben Forbes, Tao Chen, Elda Righi, Roderick Bronson, Huabiao Chen, Sandra Orsulic, Timothy Brauns, Pierre Leblanc, Nathalie Scholler, Glenn Dranoff, Jeffrey Gelfand, Mark C Poznansky. A novel mycobacterial Hsp70-containing fusion protein targeting mesothelin augments antitumor immunity and prolongs survival in murine models of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 2014; 7 (1): 15 DOI:10.1186/1756-8722-7-15

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The agreement will be signed between OSHA and the Concerned Beauty Professionals at noon on Monday, March 31 at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 250 14th St. NW, 5th floor, Atlanta 30318.

"OSHA and other federal, state and non-U.S. government agencies have taken action to address the emerging problem of formaldehyde exposure to hair smoothing products," said Teresa Harrison, OSHA's acting regional administrator in Atlanta. "This alliance demonstrates OSHA's commitment to the safety and health of workers in this industry."

OSHA requires manufacturers, importers and distributors of products that contain formaldehyde to include information about formaldehyde and its hazards on product labels and in the material safety data sheets sent to employers. Formaldehyde presents a significant health hazard if workers are exposed. It can irritate the eyes and nose; cause allergic reactions affecting the skin, eyes and lungs; and is linked to nose and lung cancer.

Federal OSHA has found formaldehyde in the air in salons where hair smoothing products were used. Some of these products have formaldehyde listed on their labels or on material safety data sheets, as required by law. However, through investigations, the agency's air tests showed formaldehyde at levels greater than OSHA's limits in salons, even though the products tested were labeled formaldehyde-free.

Companies and groups interested in learning more about OSHA's activities to improve employee safety and health in Georgia may contact OSHA's representatives in the Atlanta-West Area Office at 678-903-7301, the Atlanta-East Area Office at 770-493-6644, or the Savannah Area Office at 912-652-4393.

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with unions, consulates, trade and professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA inspections. For more information, visithttp://www.osha.gov/dcsp/alliances/index.html.

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….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.