Bush Administration Allowing Chopped Body Parts

I knew the laws under OSHA were weakening ... but not to this degree. This is horrible. We have found a group that will work under these conditions and not complain making them into the perfect worker for these factories.

All for the love of money!!

Great seed glad you found this.

Hard to imagine that our government, the thing that is suppose to protect us and maintain our rights is the same thing that is allowing such things to go on in our country. Bush truely is a disgusting human being. It seems as though the more you look the more atrocious crimes he commited behind the american peoples backs. I truely hope that we don't elect his buddy because things like this just can not continue.

A perfect example of how poor southerners that vote consistently Republican are cutting their own throats, (or fingers, or arms, etc). Just keep towing the party line guys! You'll keep working in your crap paying jobs in third world conditions, because that's the Republican agenda. Up with corporatism, down with the people!

It seems lying to cover crimes and other wrongs to protect public image and profits has really caught on these last few years. Police internal examinations always seem to exonerate the cop no matter what the video shows, doctors covertly killing a malpractice victim to make the problem disappear, Vioxx, Enron, and etc. Do parents no longer tell children not to lie?

Kewell! I was linked to your article through RawStory!......I believe the exploitation of migrant workers and factory food workers was also portrayed in the movie Fast Food Nation....aside from the nutritional deficiencies of fast food, there are serious social considerations to be made...I'm certain that it's possible to have both good food and good labor practice....as consumers....we should be aware of the impact of our choices....

This is exactly why you should not eat chicken nuggets....

Here's a link to a related story in Common Dreams.....

Dear All,
I'm afraid you've oversimplified an extremely complex topic. Having been in the Health and Safety profession for more than 15 years, some statements have been taken out of context. For example, Mr. Whitmore is still an OSHA employee, he has been on administrative leave and during the hearings, he stated this very fact.

Yes, people are killed daily and sometimes it is on the job. People are maimed daily, again this also happens on the job. As in everything, there are good and bad. Most employers put forth great effort and finances to address workplace health and safety. The government does have a role, however, with limited budgets, personnel (not unlike private industry) there are limitations. There is a mechanism for employees to notify the agency and please note that NC has it's own state run OSHA program, the federal agency has oversight, but does not perform inspections on private employers. Complaints filed in this manner are moved near the top of the list for on-site inspections (imminent danger and fatalities/catastrophes are the top of the list) but the caveat is that the employee making the allegations certify that their statements are true (generally by a signature).

My point, we must all be accountable for our own actions or in actions. If the employer is not abiding by the rules, the employees have an option. They can contact the agency. The should contact the agency, it is their responsibility for their long term health! Please do not raise that flag that they fear for their jobs. The name of the complainant is withheld from the employer....OSHA does NOT tell the employer who filed the complaint. The only way the employer will have confirmation is if the employee tells them. Now if you want to slide into the quagmire of illegal immigrant employees, OSHA does not ask for a social security number nor proof of citizenship for individuals filing a complaint.

Please, before jumping on the bandwagon, research the topic and educate yourself...there are many different list serves and professional groups who would love to educate. Start at www.osha.gov or www.aiha.org www.asse.org

Dear Ms. Bernal,

You wrote, "Take a moment to educate yourself about what happened with the workers at House of Raeford. It's the ugly side of America we don't want to see or even believe."

An even uglier aspect to this story indicative of how lack of concern for workers' lives is being addressed in the US, is HOW industry is able to systematically get away with this. The systematic methodology is even harder for people to see or to even believe. A key point that is not being written about are the occupational physicians themselves turning their backs on their Hippocratic oaths for the sake of profit of themselves, their industry employers and workers comp insurers. Deny causation of illness is a big money maker for several occupational physicians. For some it is almost exclusively their bread and butter income.

I am not discussing one or two company doctors gone astray and turning their backs on ethics. I am discussing the occupational physicians' ORGANIZED efforts to promote this situation thru their trade association of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) actually writing the treatment guidelines that directly allow/CAUSE this insidious situation.

As quoted in the Charlotte Observer, [charlotte. com/local/story/587539. html Had to add spaces to get past the link filter] "Our members feel they are being methodically pressured ... to under-treat and mistreat," said Dr. Robert McLellan, president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "...This is a grave ethical concern for our members. It's a grave medical concern."

No kidding it is a grave ethical and medical concern! The question is, "methodically pressured to under-treat and mistreat" by whom???? Answer: ACOEM.

Regarding the guidelines ACOEM has written for worker back injuries: [www. ncbi. nlm.nih. gov/pubmed /18523501 .]
"Revised chapters of ACOEM guidelines, low back pain and chronic pain, developed in 2007 and 2008 are evaluated,.... "not recommended or suitable for use in practice."

The Fraud We Face in Workers' Compensation in California - California Progress Report
[californiaprogressreport. com/2008/04/the_fraud_we_fa. html]
"On its face, the development of Utilization Review (aka ACOEM treatment guidelines under CA SB889) was a good thing. It was to assist in providing the proper treatment to the injured worker, while acting as "checks-and-balances" for medical providers who would "over-prescribe"; it was designed to prevent medical fraud and to keep doctors honest, not workers.The establishment of the AME physician was also a good idea, but instead of objective, unbiased doctors, the insurance industry has aggressively recruited physicians of lesser quality, competence, and those willing to prostitute their credentials. For the most part, AME physicians are burnouts, washouts, or physicians who no longer wish to treat patients. They have also succumbed to the easy money of the insurance industry."

If you want to know more about who we have given carte blanche to write industry friendly medical policies at the expense of the American public, read the following paper that was published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. "ACOEM, A professional association in service to industry". [moldwarriors. com/SK/IJOEH_Oct07_LaDou. pdf]

If you want to know what kind of input they have had to Bush's science, read how this became a group that peer reviews science for the, White House Office of Management and Budget. [whitehouse. gov/omb/inforeg/2003iq/66. pdf]

If you want to understand how ACOEM's peer review process works and how they have limited financial liability for insurers and employers by specifically bringing in litigation defense expert witnesses to write their "science" for an environmental exposures, read the front page Wall Street Journal article: Court of Opinion, Amid Suits Over Mold Experts Wear Two Hats. [moldwarriors. com/SK/WSJOnlineJan92007. pdf]

Hello???????? Let's stop just complaining about the horrors that have befallen the American workers at the hands of the Bush administration/industry and start looking at WHO and HOW this has been systematically carried out.

AND THEN DO SOMETHING TO CORRECT THE SITUATION. AKA: Get the medical front-men of industry (ACOEM) out of the equation of writing policy for the treatment and care of injured workers!

This physician organization seems to have suscumbed to a "Hypocritical Oath". We, as citizens, are all paying for their fruits of their conflicted interest. And it is our OWN FAULT if we do not do something to stop this insidious and incestuous situation.

Yes. You are definately correct that there are other groups and even other government agencies involved in the systematic denial of worker care. AOEC, ACMT, NIOSH, ATSDR, NORA, CDC, EPA, the list could go on. But, when one looks in detail, ALL of these organizations and agencies are within 6 degrees of the leadership of ACOEM. I know. I have been tracking the flow of information in and out of government, medical associations, teaching hospitals and physician offices for four years, and have been published on the matter within two medical journals.

If we attempt to address the problem with a broad brush, we will never accomplish anything - regardless of who sits in the White House. The network is too complex and intertwined. But...if we look at the key players from one exposure, it is easy to see how all other illnesses/injuries are being improperly handled via the same route of the flow of information. Its tactical risk management, not founded in sound scientific protocol, for the benefit of employers and insurers.

You can read one of my journal published works at:

com/SK/IJOEH_Oct07_LaDou .pdf
(you will have to take out the spaces in these links that I had to put in to get past the filter of this website.)
"American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) A Professional Association In Service To Industry"

For the above, my co-authors are JOSEPH LADOU, MD, DANIEL T. TEITELBAUM, MD, DAVID S. EGILMAN, MD, MPH, ARTHUR L. FRANK, MD, PHD, SHARON N. KRAMER, JAMES HUFF, PHD.

All of my co-authors have long and well recognized histories of working to keep integrity in the practice occupational medicine. Dr. Huff is currently Associate Director for Chemical Carcinogenesis, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIESH).

I was honored that they asked I write with them. The paper goes into great detail of the long and dubious history of ACOEM and the influence it has had over government agencies in establishing public health policy.

Remember the Erin Brockavich story? This is the group that legitmized the "science" she fought against in their "unbiased, and properly peer reviewed" journal, JOEM. A snippet from the above referenced paper on this point:

"Scientific Fraud
One recent event is considered by many scientists and clinicians to be nothing less than scientific fraud on the part of JOEM and its editorial staff. JOEM recently published a retraction of a 1997 article authored by two Chinese scientists, Jian Dong Zhang and Shu Kun Li.144 The article appeared to be a reversal of an earlier study by Zhang that found a significant association between chromium pollution of drinking water and higher rates of cancer in China. After its publication, the fraudulent article influenced a number of state and federal regulatory decisions on chromium. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal found that Zhang and Li were not the actual authors of the article published in JOEM.145 The article was actually the work of ChemRisk, a San Francisco–based consulting firm whose clients include corporations responsible for chromium pollution. In this case, ChemRisk was working for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a San Francisco– based utility whose dumping of the industrial chemical chromium(VI) had contaminated the drinking water of the small town of Hinkley, California. Hinkley residents' lawsuit against the company, the subject of a popular movie, cost PG&E more than $300 million to settle.123
The retraction published by JOEM stated that, It has been brought to our attention that an article
published in JOEM in the April 1997 issue by Zhang and Li failed to meet the journal's published editorial
policy in effect at that time. Specifically, financial and intellectual input to the paper by outside
parties was not disclosed.145

JOEM's retraction statement deliberately avoided the many accusations of scientific fraud. The Wall Street Journal article stated that, "In a black eye for scientific publishing, the medical journal that published an influential study exonerating chromium-contaminated water from causing high rates of cancer is planning to retract the article." 145 The fallibility of JOEM, and of its sponsor, ACOEM, as servants of industry is corroborated by these and many other examples."

Enough for now, but THIS is the group that writes much of the protocol of how injured workers are treated for illness, injury and workers compensation. What goes on in establishing public policy for workers in poultry plants, other industries, offices and even schools with regard to the treatment of injured workers only goes on with the blessing and heavy involvement of ACOEM.

Corporate owned media keeps the truth from the public. The Bill Moyers show was outstanding, but we need to thank the Charlotte Observer for the original investigative report they did to expose the truth. Write the Publisher and the Editor and express your appreciation. Papers like this are disappearing -- pray this one doesn't!!

They have been exposing corporate abuse for years and recently did an investigation of bad home building practices and mortgage fraud.

Our tax dollars are being spent to support government agencies that protect ONLY the corporations, not the PEOPLE that they were meant to protect. Is it possible to wrench control of government from these corporations? Sadly, I'm beginning to think that it is not. I hope and pray that I am wrong.

Opps! The link did not come thru correctly:

http:// moldwarriors.com /SK/IJOEH_Oct07_LaDou. pdf

Again you will have to take the spaces out.

Thanks for all of the above information !!

I remember that story from the Charlotte newspaper. I was working in Charlotte when it broke. In fact I seem to remember a seed on NV about it. Something about the man in the plant who was in charge of making the decision about what injuries needed what treatment not being a medically trained person but rather a personnel manager or something I think.

This is like the stories people were telling 100 years ago, during the American gilded age. You guys aren't making much progress, are you?

Delores and Sam,
Illegal immigrants not having rights (as Sam states) nor knowing that they can contact the agency without fear of reprisal (as Delores mentions). This is what I consider to be complex. We have the chicken and the egg scenario. If we didn't have unscrupulous employers hiring undocumented workers, we wouldn't have undocumented workers getting maimed/killed and being scared to do anything about it. How do we stop this?

I have worked for OSHA, I have worked in industry and I continue to work to advance health and safety in the workplace. I have provided my services to non-profit agencies that assist these types of workers so they do know they have an option regardless of their citizenship status.

I am not heartless nor do I lack compassion. In no way did I defend House of Raeford, their actions are deplorable and exploitation unconscionable. Yes, Sam, they should have their feet held to the fire...they willfully and blatantly violated OSHA standards (God's rules too, but that is for a different blog). Based on the Observers series they qualify in my book as worst of the worst.

We can all sit around lament the poor workers, dirty rotten employers, or lob insults but as I mentioned, we must be accountable. What can each of us do to change this situation? There is no simple action...more compliance officers, more regulations these will not make a difference. Education is the key and acting on that knowledge will make the difference.

PS Sam, when traveling abroad, it is tantamount to know the laws...either the National Geographic channel or the Discovery channel has a frighteningly timely series about people being incarcerated in foreign countries.