Must-read recap: The New Lede's top stories
Our latest stories about health and the environment: building water resilience, Monsanto's failed bid in federal appeals court, and workers dealing with extreme heat
US workers face scorching heat, but few protections
During a scorching June heatwave last year, a worker in Oregon collapsed after climbing down from conducting a roof inspection. Hospitalized with heat stress, he died a few days later. In Washington state, a farmworker was found slumped against a tractor after his shift, dead from a combination of factors that included heat stress, according to a medical examiner.
Now, this summer is again turning potentially deadly for people around the United States as climate change brings dangerously high temperatures. Just this week, blistering temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded from Boise, Idaho to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and millions of people living in the nation’s mid-section and southwest were under heat advisories, according to the National Weather Service.
A recent report authored by Fulcher for Public Citizen calls on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an “Emergency Temporary Standard” to protect workers as rules are developed.
Appeals court overturns a Monsanto win on Roundup cancer issue
A federal appeals court has rejected a bid by Monsanto owner Bayer AG to head off claims brought by cancer victims alleging that Monsanto failed to warn them of the risks of the herbicide Roundup.
In a decision handed down Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a “failure to warn claim” brought against Monsanto in Georgia by Roundup user John Carson is not preempted by requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) as lawyers for Monsanto, and its owner Bayer, have argued.
Bayer has sought – and now failed – in multiple courts to find backing for its argument that it should be protected from allegations that Monsanto failed to warn users of a cancer risk associated with its products. (Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018.)
The company asserts that if it had placed cancer risk warnings on product labels it would have conflicted with provisions of FIFRA that give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight of labeling language. The EPA has said in its view, the herbicides are “not likely” to be carcinogenic.
“It’s another resounding rejection of Monsanto’s preemption defense,” said attorney Brent Wisner, who served as co-counsel for the first trial to take place in the nationwide Roundup litigation, which resulted in a unanimous jury decision finding Monsanto had hidden the cancer risks of its weed killers.
A new “water and climate equity” effort for US frontline communities
In the face of mounting concerns about how climate change is impacting water resources, a California-based organization said last Monday it is launching a long-term research and outreach project aimed at aiding rural, low-income and communities of color around the United States.
The Pacific Institute think tank said through the new “water and climate equity” strategy it will seek “equitable water resilience” for disadvantaged front-line communities, which often are impacted more severely by water insecurity than wealthier communities.
“Millions of people in the United States still lack access to clean water, lack basic plumbing, or rely on water systems with safety violations,” Shannon McNeeley, senior researcher for the Pacific Institute, said in a statement.
“Frontline communities often endure the worst of this water insecurity, with disproportionate impacts to low-income communities, communities of color, Indigenous communities, and rural areas.”
The Pacific Institute said it is collaborating with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and the Kentucky based Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN) as well as the Washington-based nonprofit DigDeep.