Tweet up a storm, save some lives

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Alliance for Justice is a member of the Coalition for SensibleSafeguards, a group that fights back against a big business war onregulation which, as the CSS website puts it:  “diminishes economic well-being, underminespublic health and safety, and allows special interests to escape accountabilityfor their actions.”

OSHA graphic

Today marks the sad anniversaryof a case in point.  Two years ago today,the Occupational Safety and Health Administration submitted a draft rule toreduce exposure to silica dust from sand,  which can lead to silicosis, a chronic, incurable, sometimes fatal lungdisease.  Exposure to silica dust also increases therisk of lung cancer and other diseases.
As with all such proposedregulations, this one was submitted to the White House Office of Management andBudget for review.  That’s supposed totake no more than 135 days.  It’s nowbeen 731 days, with no action from OMB, although there have been nine closed-door meetings withindustry groups like the National Industrial Sand Association.
AFL-CIO President RichardTrumka wrote about one casualty of silicosis at The Huffington Post:
Tom Ward was 13 when hisfather came home from what would be his last day of work. Ward's father"barely made it through the door, fell to the floor and, between tears,said, 'I can't do it anymore.'"
Later that year, at age 39,Ward's father suffocated to death -- the effect of silicosis. His work as asandblaster had exposed him to cancer-causing silica dust.Read the entire column here.
How can you help? By kicking upa storm – a tweet storm that is -- on Thursday, February 14.  Join in the effort to call attentionto the need for this rule on Twitter.
Read more about the issue from:
Coalition forSensible Safeguards
Center for Effective Government
Union of Concerned Scientists
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health