David Michaels

Heading: Winner Announced for the Helen Darbishire Award 2025 - The Forever Lobbying Project. Subheading: Madrid 1st August 2025 - Access to Europe is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025 Helen Darbishire Award is The Forever Lobbying Project. This cross-border investigation exposed how the chemical industry lobbied against EU action on PFAS, so-called "forever chemicals", linked to ongoing environmental and public health risks.

The Forever Lobbying Project led by @stephanehorel.bsky.social of Le Monde with support from @corporateeurope.org has won the Helen Darbishire Award. The project exposed lobbying against an EU PFAS ban on a scale "far bigger than anything the tobacco industry have been able to pull together."

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🎙️Join our webinar 8/7 @ 10am PT w/ @alejandrabee.bsky.social from @npr.org, @kdyjournalist.bsky.social from @kjzzphoenix.bsky.social & @drdavidmichaels.bsky.social (ex-OSHA) to explore the #extremeheat #healthcrisis & what can be done.

Don’t miss it: bit.ly/XtremeHeatWebReg

Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End America’s run as the premier techno-superpower may be over.

History shows us how scientific empires fall: ideology over evidence. Today, the Trump admin is dismantling our research institutions piece by piece. If we don’t act, we know how this ends.

Looking to stand up for science? #31Days of Action is happening now - join us 👉 zurl.co/MeIbs

zurl.co/7P8Ov

Very exciting news!

OSHA: The Optional Safety and Health Administration - Confined Space Is OSHA now the Optional Safety and Health Administration? Giving employers the "opportunity" -- but nowlegal obligation to protect workers?

Has #OSHA become the "Optional" Safety and Health Administration where voluntary programs are prioritized over enforcement, where regulations are weakened so that employers don't have to experience the discomfort of a citation for endangering workers?

jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

Absolutely right!

DOGE Is Bringing Back a Deadly Disease Cuts to agencies that protect workers’ lungs are going to result in the resurgence of a preventable illness.

Even before it was scheduled to go into effect, MSHA announced it would not enforce the new standard, claiming that employers would have difficulty complying because DOGE fired the NIOSH experts who certify the respirators and measurement devices necessary for reducing silica exposure. 2/2

Chair Walberg Leads Letter Pushing for Changes to MSHA Rulemaking

Making Silicosis Great Again

Protecting the economic interests of mine owners but not the lungs of coal miners, House Republicans claim the Mine Safety and Health Administration's new silica exposure standard "places undue and excessive burdens on the mining industry" and should be redone. 1/2

Department of Labor reaches settlement with poultry processor after federal investigation finds children working in hazardous occupations

Big chicken company slammed for hiring children in prohibited
dangerous jobs. Mar Jac - the same company where a 16 year old was killed in a prohibited job- was found to hire even younger kids 13 and 14 in these dangerous jobs. The Biden DOL began this investigation. www.dol.gov/newsroom/rel...

OSHA is making up for enforcement cuts by boosting VPP and Onsite Consultation - programs designed for good employers who want to do better.

Meanwhile, enforcement -- targeting low road employers who cut corners on safety and kill workers -- is suffering.

content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USD...

OSHA claims that they are lowering penalties "to help employers address safety issues more quickly, come into compliance faster, and minimize financial burdens" and to "put resources where they matter most to better protect workers."

But is #OSHA ...

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www.osha.gov/quicktakes/0...

“Restoring Gold Standard Science” is a move from the same toolbox as RFK, Jr.’s “radical transparency.” That is to say, it will do the exact opposite of what it says it will do. Excellent piece from @drdavidmichaels.bsky.social and Wendy Wagner.

Excellent piece articulating how the provisions of the Trump Administration's Gold Standard Standard will be weaponized to weaken the role of science in policy, given the long history of use of these tactics by political and industry actors.

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Fool’s gold Already rocked by decades of political interference, corporate influence, mismanagement, and partisan efforts to undermine its authority, the expert bureaucracy, the “lifeblood” of the US administrati...

In this @theatlantic.com essay, Wendy Wagner and I expanded on the editorial we recently wrote in @science.org, entitled Fool's Gold.
tinyurl.com/2p5j76x8 4/4

Political apppintees have the final say deciding what is "gold standard science." Under the new rules federal scientists who don’t agree can be accused of lacking scientific integrity and could be subject to discipline.

The White House responded to our piece without denying anything we wrote. 3/

The Executive Order will enable dangerous characters like pollution defender EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, climate arsonist Energy Sec. Chris Wright, and vaccination opponent RFKJr to decide what science can be used by federal agencies meant to protect the public’s health, safety and well-being. 2/

Trump’s ‘Gold Standard’ for Science Manufactures Doubt By emphasizing scientific uncertainty above other values, political appointees can block any regulatory action they want to.

President Trump’s Executive Order “Restoring Gold Standard Science” is designed, of course, to do the exact opposite.

@progressivereform.bsky.social scholar Wendy Wagner and I show how the Trump Administration is weaponizing "scientiifc integrity" in @theatlantic.com

It truly is fool's gold. 🧵

OSHA Just Reduced the Value of a Worker’s Life - Inside Climate News The Trump administration slashed fines for safety violations by small businesses and other employers and plans to reduce already rare workplace inspections. Experts say that will lead to more worker i...

New law cuts budget at agency that enforces American employees' rights to safe and healthy workplaces: $ cut 8% & staff cut 12%.

Now it would take OSHA 266 years to inspect all U.S. workplaces, up from 185 years before budget law & 84 years in 1991.
insideclimatenews.org/news/1607202...

Not even wealth is saving Americans from dying at rates seen among some of the poorest Europeans Experts said a new study of wealth and mortality in middle-aged and older adults points to deep-rooted health risks in the U.S.

A recent study shows even the wealthiest Americans have higher mortality than the poorest Europeans. Researcher Atheendar Venkataramani weighs in, in an article for @nbcnews.com:

READ MORE:

The afterlife of a ghost-written paper: How corporate authorship shaped two decades of glyphosate safety discourse Corporate ghost-writing is a form of scientific fraud: a paper is falsely presented as the work of people other than its actual authors. When such pap…

Some people dismiss ghost-writing as inconsequential. In our latest paper, Sasha Kaurov & I show that is NOT the case. Thanks to @sfoucart.bsky.social @stephanehorel.bsky.social who first alerted me to the #Monsanto Papers and also Paul Thacker.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Immigration Enforcement Undermines Worker Health and Safety - Confined Space Trump's immigration policy is raising workplace hazards for Hispanic workers, and reducing complaints. But belonging to a union helps workers

Trump's militarized immigration enforcement is increasing health and safety hazards for immigrant workers: more violations, more injuries and fewer OSHA complaints.

The remedy: a union

jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

White House moves to kill chemical safety board, despite industry support Citing duplication with OSHA and the EPA, President Trump’s administration is again proposing to eliminate the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, but others disagree

White House again attempts to kill the Chemical Safety Board, despite industry support. Even the American Chemistry Council says ""We value the work of the CSB and want to see it continue." The CSB also has strong labor union support.
cen.acs.org/safety/indus...

He Helped Big Companies Dodge Taxes. Now He’s Writing the Rules.

My profile of Ken Kies, the lobbyist behind the biggest, most lucrative tax dodges of the past 30 years -- and is now the top tax policy official in Trump's Treasury Dept: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/b...

OSHA drastically reduces the already low penalties for employers that violate the law. DOL further aims to conduct among the lowest number of inspections in OSHA’s 50 yrs-taking over 180 yrs to inspect all workplaces once. There will be no more fear of OSHA to motivate employer to comply.

Jul. 7, 2025 Re the Kratsios editorial on the "Gold Standard" Executive Order John P Holdren Formerly the Science Advisor to President Obama (Jan 2009 - Jan 2017) Currently Research Professor at Havard University's Kennedy School of Government Reading the June 24 Editorial by Michael Kratsios on the “Gold Standard” can only reinforce the impression, already well established by President Trump’s pathological prevarications, that George Orwell’s 1984 has finally arrived, 41 years late. How bizarre is it, after all, that an administration that has been cancelling crucial research projects and databases right and left―and whose top officials lie routinely about practically everything―has issued a demand for more reproducible and transparent science? And now we have the President’s under-qualified Science Advisor lecturing the readers of SCIENCE on what scientific integrity and transparency require. As for the “Gold Standard” Executive Order Kratsios praises, the poison pill is not hard to find (as many others have noted): the EO gives political appointees with no science background the power to declare a scientific result they don’t like is the result of “misconduct” or some other alleged shortfall on the “gold standard”. Aside from that, the only proposals in this EO that are sensible call for measures that both Obama and Biden implemented—and that Trump in his first term did not. And now the fox in the henhouse overseeing it all is Michael Kratsios? What a charade!

Skip the editorial by the director of Trump's Office of Science and Technology Policy on "sound science."

Read the letter by John Holdren instead: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Graphic with a photo of Senator Whitehouse and The New Yorker logo that says: Sheldon Whitehouse’s Three-Hundredth Climate Warning. On July 9th, Whitehouse is scheduled to give his 300th “Time to Wake Up” speech.

“The Senator’s wake-up calls about government inaction take on a new urgency in Trump 2.0.”

Link in bio.

Weekly Toll - Confined Space On average, over 100 workers are killed every week in the US due to traumatic injuries suffered at work. Here are how a few died last week.

How workers died last week: Fireworks explosion, flash flood, tanker explosion, electrocution, tree care, shootings, vehicle incidents. On average, over 100 workers are killed every week in the United States due to traumatic injuries suffered at work. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

“We’ve heard some of the representatives of employers say that a voluntary standard is all that’s needed; that with training and better guidance, employers will ensure workers will be protected from extreme heat,” @drdavidmichaels.bsky.social said. “That’s fantasy.” /end

A graphic from “Stand Up for Science” with a black background and white and red text. The top features the “Stand Up for Science” logo. The heading reads “Official Statement –” followed by a quote: “All we know is that Administrator Lee Zeldin made the following statement to the Daily Caller:” Below is a block quote attributed to Zeldin: ‘Unfortunately, a small number of employees signed onto a public letter, written as agency employees, using their official work title, that was riddled with misinformation regarding agency business.’ Below the quote, bold white and red text says: “This was not just a public letter – it was emailed to him by employees at the EPA on Monday morning, and published after it was sent to him.” In the bottom right corner, red italicized text reads “More on next page” with a red arrow pointing right.

A continuation of the graphic with a black background and white and red text. The paragraph reads: “he has not formally responded to his employees, and they have been placed on administrative leave. Though we are still gathering information on this situation, we condemn these actions. These are dedicated civil servants whose career goal is to keep Americans safe.” This is followed by the name and title: – Colette Delawalla, Founder & Executive Director At the bottom, the red and white “Stand Up for Science” logo appears again.

📣 OFFICIAL STATEMENT from our Founder & Executive Director @cdelawalla.bsky.social on the unfolding situation at the #EPA.

Stand with the brave EPAers here➡️ act.standupforscience.net/forms/epa-ad...

#DeclarationofDissent

After several heat-related deaths, 13 regions in Italy have prohibited all outdoor work from 12:30 to 16:00.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., we have no heat rules in most states & the business community says drop the #OSHA proposal. Just trust employers to do the right thing.
watchers.news/2025/07/02/f...