-Bush Administration’s Refusal to Act, Despite Repeated Warnings, Prompts Need for Emergency Legislation-

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) was joined by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA), and twelve of their colleagues today in introducing legislation to protect workers at food processing plants from exposure to diacetyl, a chemical used in artificial food flavoring linked to a severe, irreversible lung disease that has sickened and killed a number of workers nationwide.

“There are real-life consequences for workers when OSHA drags its feet on issuing health and safety standards - their health and well being is at risk” said Woolsey, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Education and Labor Committee. “OSHA has known about this hazard for years and has yet to take the necessary steps to address it.  Since the administration has no intention of taking action on its own to protect our workers, we will force them to act, and hold them accountable on behalf of the workers.”

Diacetyl is commonly used in the artificial flavoring in microwave popcorn, and has been linked to bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as “popcorn lung.”  “Popcorn lung,” is a debilitating disease that has led to dozens of factory workers falling sick, and several deaths nationwide.  Despite the known risks, thousands of workers are still being exposed to the harmful chemical at factories that make or use these flavorings.

Woolsey’s legislation would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an interim final standard within 90 days to minimize workers’ exposure to diacetyl in popcorn and flavor manufacturing plants. Employers would be required to develop a written exposure control plan that would use engineering controls and respirators to protect workers, and to conduct medical monitoring to determine whether workers’ health continued to be harmed. The bill would require OSHA to issue a final rule within two years covering all workplaces where workers are exposed to diacetyl.

Even with scientific evidence mounting over the past five years of the deadly properties of diacetyl, OSHA refused to begin work on a standard to regulate workers’ exposure to the chemical. The agency has failed to issue an informational bulletin that alerts workers to the potential hazards.

Woolsey’s subcommittee held a hearing in April on OSHA’s failure to issue health and safety standards. Eric Peoples, a 34 year old father of two and former employee of a Missouri popcorn plant who is awaiting a double lung transplant, testified that he was never informed of the hazards of diacetyl while working at the plant.

“I played by the rules. I worked to support my family. This unregulated industry virtually destroyed my life. Don’t let it destroy the lives of others,” Peoples asked the committee.

House Democrats urged the Labor Department to address this serious health hazard in August 2006. For more information and for a copy of the August 2006 letter from House Democrats to the Department of Labor, click here.