Burgess Owens: “it would be good to have a few facts on the record. I think it is important to take another section from the President's…”

“it would be good to have a few facts on the record. I think it is important to take another section from the President's veto message where he states that the administration agreed to the inclusion of funding for this study based on a clear understanding that the study would not be used as a reason to delay OSHA's proposed ergonomic standards. H.R. 987 would reverse this agreement by forcing OSHA to wait up to 2 years before issuing a standard in expectation that the conclusions of a new NAS study were different from those reached by NAS just last year and already reached by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health which completed an exhaustive study in 1997. Both of these studies concluded that musculoskeletal disorders are caused by physical forces in the workplace and that ergonomic solutions can reduce those forces and the incidence of MSDs. These two studies do exist. They keep saying they do not exist. This NAS study was completed in 1998, published in 1999. The conclusion reached here in the study is that: ``better understanding of the course of these disorders would provide information that would assist in formulating strategies for tertiary intervention.'' So the new studies, the continuing studies will seek ways to intervene. There is certainly room in this complex area for studies for a long time to come. I hope that we do not stop after we complete 2 more years of study.”