John Tierney: “I think what we really have here is ready, aim, delay, delay some more, delay forever, if we can. They talked about this…”

“I think what we really have here is ready, aim, delay, delay some more, delay forever, if we can. They talked about this being an effort not to prohibit, but it is in fact an effort to delay this for up to 2 years. They talked about wanting to make sure they have all the studies before there are some sweeping regulations. The irony is that their proposed study would merely review existing information in literature. This is the same group standing up saying delay, we want to await the National Academy of Sciences report that rejected the National Academy of Sciences report saying that there should be statistical sampling in the census. They threw that out. But now, because it is to their benefit to wait and delay, they want to wait for the National Academy of Sciences report. There are reports out there, Mr. Chairman. Let me say that the National Institute of Safety and Health has already had the most comprehensive compilation of review research on this issue to date. And the relationship between those types of injuries and the exposure to the workplace risk factors was shown. They have identified over 2,000 studies of work-related injuries and hazards, two thousand. They selected 600 of the studies for detailed review based on well-accepted criteria, that included strength of association, consistency, temporality, and coherence of evidence.”