Craig Neilson: Health

Salt Lake County Tops List of Toxic Releases

Thu, 10 Jul 2003 17:31:01 GMT

The EPA has released the 2001 Toxic Release Index. The release shows that Salt Lake County with 60 Facilities releasing toxic chemicals, emitted nearly 732 million pounds of these chemicals into the air and water.
Top 10 Counties with Largest TRI ON-Site nad Off-site Releases, All Industries, 2001
Nearly 696 million pounds of these chemicals belonged to the Kennecott Utah Copper Mine Concentrators and Power Plant in Copperton.
Top 10 Facilities with Largest Total On-site and Off-site Releases, All Industries, 2001
Copper compounds led the list of chemicals released, with a United States total of over a billion pounds.
Top 20 Chemicals with Largest TRI ON-site and Off-site Releases, All Industries, 2001
The top states for toxic chemical emissions are Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
TRI On-site and Off-site Releases by State 2001
Full EPA Report

Utah County Receives SAMSHA Funds

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 20:37:13 GMT

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced a grant of over $300,000 to Utah County to add treatment slots to the drug court to assure service availability. Treatment drug courts provide substance abuse treatment for substance abusing parents and juveniles.
[SAMSHA News Release]

Utah Medicine and Medicare

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 19:35:50 GMT

The organization Public Citizen will hold a news conference tomorrow to discuss a new study showiing that most Medicare doctors in Utah do not participate with the private managed care plans that are envisioned in the Bush Administration's Medicare reform proposal.
Meanwhile a look at the Public Citizen website has some interesting information about Utah doctors. The Public Citizen site compiles information on disciplined doctors and reveals these facts:
Utah ranks 10th in the nation in number of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 MDs in 2001.
Utah's access to disciplinary information was rated B for content and C for user-friendliness.
The largest single offense for which doctors were disciplined from 1992 to 2001 was disciplinary action by another state or agency (24%) and overprescribing or misprescribing drugs (11%).
[Public Citizen / Questionable Doctors]
[Utah Disciplinary Actions]

Utah Medicaid Waiver Touted to help uninsured residents

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 19:21:19 GMT

The Federal Health and Human Services Administration announced the approval of a Utah Medicaid waiver amendment that will provide subsidies to low-income workers with access to employer-sponsored insurance who cannot presently afford it. Individuals would have to make less than around $14,000 to qualify. Also, workers who qualify for the Primary Care Network will have their annual $50 enrollment fee reduced. All of this is an amendment to the 1115 waiver granted to the state in February of 2002 which expanded primary and preventitive services for Utah residents.
[HHS Uninsured Initiative Information]
[Utah Medicaid Program]
[2002 Utah Waiver]
[Utah Programs and Waivers]

States Get Medicaid Tax Relief

Fri, 23 May 2003 18:17:40 GMT

Amerigroup, a multi-state managed health care company focused on communities receiving health care benefits through publicly sponsored programs, breaks down state savings resulting from a portion of the newly passed Tax package that provides $10 billion in fiscal relief for states. Utah should receive a total of $117 million dollars.
[Amerigroup]

Utah Receives FEMA Grant

Thu, 22 May 2003 16:11:04 GMT

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that Utah would be one of 12 states to each receive nearly $250,000 to support development of hazard mitigation plans meeting FEMA guidelines. These funds represent about 75% of the anticipated cost of these plans. Such plans are aimed at controlling response to primarily natural hazards.
[FEMA Announcement]

Chemical Plants Redux

Thu, 22 May 2003 15:52:55 GMT

Finding Offsite Consequence Analysis (OCA) data dealing with word-case and alternative release scenarios for chemical plants is problematic. The EPA offers a Vulnerable Zone Indicator System, which is somewhat misleading. It says Most of us have driven past an industrial plant and wondered what was happening inside. Did you ever think to yourself: I wonder what they're making in there. Could they be using hazardous chemicals? What if there is an accident...The Vulnerable Zone Indicator System allows you to quickly find out if an address of interest to you could be affected by a chemical accident.
The implication seems to be that filling out this form will reveal significant information about any possible chemical threat. A sample submission to this form brought the following information buried in a return email: Results: The EPA's Vulnerable Zone Indicator System shows that the location you submitted is likely to be in at least one RMP facility's vulnerable zone. One is then directed to a page which notes that actual information about which chemical plant and the nature of the danger is not available over the internet. Other options on this page: 1) ask someone at a regulated facility; they may choose to share this information. (Of course you would have to know what the plant is first). 2) Executive summaries of RMPs (Risk Management Plans) which leads to a dead link (and again, in any case, knowledge of the plant involved would be necessary). 3) Federal Reading Rooms (Utah's link leads to a dead page). 4) Utah's State Emergency Response Commission Contacts (at http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/serclist.htm#ut, and 5) right back around to the Vulnerable Zone Indicator System.
Apparently, access to these RMP reports has been limited since 9/11, although proposed EPA restrictions on this information date back to April of 2000.
[Vulnerable Zone Indicator System]
[Washington Post Article 2000]

Chemical Plants, Terrorists, and Greanpeace

Wed, 21 May 2003 16:01:41 GMT

Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey has been pushing a bill in Congress (Chemical Security Act) that would require chemical plants with "worst-case scenarios" filed with the EPA that would put people at risk of terrorist attacks to submit vulnerability assessments, increase security and implement safer practices. Although the bill was supported by a broad range of advocates, from national security proponents to environmentalist groups like Greanpeace, recent lobbying from major chemical associations and industry goups and put the bill offtrack.
In March the GAO issued a report highlighting the risk posed by unsecured chemical plants to terrorist attacks. Utah is listed by the EPA as containing 1 (unidentified) chemical plant whose required "worst-case scenario" submission indicated vulnerability to terrorist attack.
[GAO Report]
[EPA Chemical Plant Information]

Halliburton, Asbestos

Wed, 21 May 2003 15:42:31 GMT

Texas corporate giant Halliburton, recently awarded a no-bid contract to do reconstruction work on postwar Iraq is also being watched carefully by investors because of the impending settlement and limits to asbestos litigation, a problem dogging its subsidiary, Dresser Industries. Sen. Orrin Hatch is prepared to introduce legislation in Congress calling for the creation of a universal asbestos trust fund of $108 billion dollars, to be financed by insurers and companies facing asbestos claims, that would be the sole source for future liability claims. The bill would move thousands of pending asbestos-related claims out of state courts and into a five-judge federal court. The AFL-CIO has denounced the proposal as a corporate bailout.
[Business Week]

Utah Considered for Mercury Storage

Tue, 20 May 2003 17:40:57 GMT

Utah is one of the sites being considered by the Federal Government for stockpiling of mercury. Mercury is used in the manufacture of atomic bombs and has been linked to human neurological, reproductive and immune problems. Other sites being considered are in New York and Nevada.
[Mercury Management]

Provo Foundry Focus of Federal Probe

Thu, 15 May 2003 14:54:05 GMT

McWane Inc. has been in the spotlight recently, the subject of television documentaries and newspaper features, for its remarkable record of workplace safety and environmental pollution. Now the federal Justice Department has opened a probe of the company which has one of its foundries, the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company, in Provo. A former executive of McWane said that in 1999 and 2000, the Provo foundry was falsifying air emission tests. The New York Times reports today than a former engineer for Pacific States said that the plant had systematically lied about smokestack test results to Utah air quality officials. The company is one of the larger employers in Utah County, with 300 employees. (Utah County Web Site).
An info.utah.gov search of Pacific States shows that the company has received several violation notices from the Division of Air Quality, on 10/15/99, 8/11/00, and 11/14/01. Pacific States was issued a new 5 year operating permit (required by Title V of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments) by DEQ on April 10 of this year. (Title V Permits Issued). Utah compliance inspector Robert Simine told the Times, If a company intentionally wants to falsify records or produce more than they are allowed to produce or burn a lot of hazardous waste, then there is no way we can catch them unless an insider decides to report it.
[Allowables for Companies within the PM10 SIP Domain (Excel spreadsheet)
[New York Times (Registration required)]

NRC To Conduct Skull Valley Nuclear Waste Hearing

Wed, 14 May 2003 16:04:15 GMT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will conduct two sessions May 29 on the application of Private Fuel Storage, LLC to build and operate a temporary above-ground storage facility for spent nuclear fuel on the Goshute Reservation about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The hearing will be held in Rockville, MD. PFS has requested the Board to issue a license for a smaller facility than originally proposed, falling below the aircraft crash hazard threshold.

Psychiatric Treatment of Children - Part II

Wed, 07 May 2003 16:10:09 GMT

Utah Representative Katherine Bryson testified before a House Subcommitee yesterday on her view about HB1107, a measure that would prohibit schools from mandating the use of such drugs as Ritalin by students as a precondition of attending school. Her testimony is here.
Meanwhile, Roll Call reports that opposition to any prescription of drugs such as Ritalin or any psychiatric techniques continues to be pushed by The Church of Scientology's Citizen's Commission on Human Rights.

Psychiatric Treatment of Schoolchildren

Tue, 06 May 2003 16:21:05 GMT

The Education Reform Subcommittee will hold a hearing today on The Use of Medication in our Nation's Schools and HR1170, the Child Medication Safety Act of 2003. Speaking at that hearing will be Utah Rep. Katherine Bryson. Bryson has been interested in limiting the psychiatric treatment of children. In the 2003 Utah Legislative session, she introduced a bill (passed by the House) which would, among other things, make it a felony to give psychiatric treatment, nonvocational mental health counseling, case-finding testing, psychoanalysis, drugs, electroconvulsive treatment, lobotomy, or surgery to any individual for the purpose of changing his concept of, belief about, or faith in God. The bill would also have prohibited anyone from giving electroconvulsive treatment to a person without the written consen fo the person... US House Bill 1107 would prohibit school children from being required to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance as a condition of attending school or receiving services. Also speaking at the hearing will be William Carey, MD, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Carey opposes the widespread prevalance of ADHD (Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder) diagnoses and the consequent prescriptions for Ritalin (methylphenidate).
The concern about altering someone's religious faith may be based upon the belief of some that psychiatrists see religion as a form of mental disorder. One organization making that claim is the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, an anti-psychiatry arm of Scientology. Dr. Peter Breggin and his International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology is a highly visible opponent of ADHD diagnoses, as well as other psychiatric techniques. ADHD diagnoses and the prescription of Ritalin is generally supported by reports from the National Institute of Health. (See, for example, http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/sept98/nida-29.htm.
[HR1107]
[Utah HB109S]
[Psychiatry and Religion (CCHR)]
[ICSPP]
[Criteria for ADHD diagnoses - DMS-IV]

Utah Facing Neurosurgeon Crisis

Fri, 02 May 2003 17:25:00 GMT

Because of high-priced lawsuites and the resulting high costs of malpractice insurance, Utah is one of 25 states facing a shortage of neurosurgeons. A study done conducted by several medical groups found that premiums for liability coverage for neurosurgeons in 2002 increased 36% and 70% of neurosurgeons have indicated they have made some change in their practice.
[AANS Report]

Pentagon pushes exemption from environmental laws

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:37:23 GMT

The Pentagon has urged congressional exemption to Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act restrictions in a blanket fashion, rather than case by case. The Department of Defense is asking Congress to use the current DOD reauthorizaion bill to restrict the reach of these laws. Former House Resources Committee chair James Hansen last year waived his committee's jurisdictional claims. A group of State Attorneys General, including Utah, have expressed concern that these exemption would likely affect cleanups of unexploded ornance at thousands of sites nationwide.
[The Hill]

Texas House approve nuclear waste storage

Thu, 24 Apr 2003 15:50:10 GMT

The Texas House of Representatives approved a bill to allow additional low-level nuclear waste disposal. Proponents of the measure said it would isolate the storage to one spot, as opposed to hundreds of sites across the state. Opponents said it would make Texas another nuclear dumping ground. Although Envirocare Inc. is interested in a Texas license, it appears that the favorite is Texas billionaire Harold Simmons who operates a hazardous waste dump in West Texas.
[Amarillo Globe News]

Washington Watch: Utah's Congressional Delegation - 4/ 21

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:52:17 GMT

Sen. Hatch lauds Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a potential candidate for Senate Majority should Tennessee's Bill Frist retire in 2006: He tramped on a few toes in those early years - by the way, they were toes, I think, he should have tramped on.
Santorum, dubbed a compassionate conservative, has strong views on the importance of families and disputes a constitutional right to privacy for consensual sex outside of marriage. Santorum opposes homosexuality, feminism, and liberalism.
[Grand Forks Herald]
[Sen. Santorum Web Site]
Today, the chief of staff for Sen. Hatch, holds a meeting for major parties involved in the legislation to limit asbestos settlements, in an attempt to resolve differrences. Hatch wants a draft bill to be ready by April 28.
[Reuters]
The Kiplinger Letter reports that President Bush's political advisor, former Utahn Karl Rover, will target several congressional districts perceived a vulnerable for Democrates, including Jim Matheson in Utah.
And, speaking of Matheson, the Congressman is one of the sponsors of a House amendment to allow industrial loan companies to offer interest bearing checking accounts to commercial users. It is about offering two entities...parity in terms of offering the same service.
[America's Community Bankers]

Senior Medicare Patrol Projects

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:44:09 GMT

The Federal Administration on Aging is making up to $175,000 available in Utah for a project to train elderly people to become more alert to health care error, fraud, and abuse. Application Kits and more information are available from the Office of Consumer Choice and Protection in the Administration on Aging.
[Senior Medicare Patrols]

Utah with 4 SARS cases

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 16:13:32 GMT

Utah ranks third in the number of SARS cases reported (4), tied with Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Texas. California has reported 24, and New York 16.
[Boston Globe]
[CDC]