OSHA

OSHA

Commentary

"What did we set up the government for?"

May 31, 2011

Cry Wolf Quotes

[Only one percent of cotton workers] have a reaction to cotton dust. The problem is grossly exaggerated. There has not been a known death from byssinosis. There are no autopsy findings that prove the existence of byssinosis in an individual. There are subjective symptoms which the patients express that sometimes result from bronchitis, emphysema or excessive smoking.

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F. Sadler Love, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, The Washington Post.

Research shows that no one level of dust is more hazardous than another -- it's a combination of factors… We think the record shows elevators of various size are using a variety of options to reduce explosions.

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The National Grain and Feed Association spokesman Randy Gordon, The Miami Herald.

[Brown lung is] an allergy. If you are exposed to cotton dust and develop any kind of respiratory problem, it can be corrected providing you have not been exposed for a very very long period.

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Robert Small, President of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, America’s Textile Reporter Bulletin, August, 1978.

[The ergonomics standard is a] overbroad, overdrawn, bureaucratic mess.

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Sen. Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), From Wall St. Journal.