Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020110
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health got more attention than it bargained for - it's now on the congressional chopping block, accused of wasting taxpayer dollars.
``We could lose the only federal agency mandated to conduct research and training in this field,'' said institute Director Dr. Linda Rosenstock. ``I have grave concerns about what that would do to worker health in this country.''
Every day, 17 Americans die on the job and 137 get job-related diseases. NIOSH is the sole agency whose doctors do research on preventing worker health problems.
Doctors, industry and the Clinton administration are banding together to save NIOSH, arguing that no existing agency can fight the 50,000 job-related deaths, 400,000 illnesses and 3.3 million injuries that occur every year.
The controversy started when John Liu, a policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, declared the institute a carbon copy of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Liu now concedes that was an error. OSHA does no health research, instead using NIOSH data to set and enforce workplace health regulations.
Liu argues that other agencies should shoulder NIOSH's work. The National Institutes of Health easily could add occupational diseases to its roster, while the Justice Department could research workplace homicide, he said.
The institute made headlines when it recently discovered that murder is the leading on-the-job killer of women and the leading cause of death among workers in five states. Typically, the agency is low-key, quietly studying such problems as toxic chemical exposure and carpal tunnel syndrome.
The Heritage Foundation contends NIOSH offers nothing that private companies or other agencies couldn't do as well.
Based on foundation arguments, House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, has recommended NIOSH be eliminated by 2000, with any vital research given to OSHA. His plan would save $339 million over five years.
``NIOSH costs nearly $133 million this year, with no appreciable benefits for workplace safety or the national welfare,'' agreed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in introducing legislation that would roll some NIOSH programs into OSHA.
The fight comes just as General Motors and the nstitute have signed a five-year research partnership to find new ways to protect auto workers. GM said the pact signaled ``a new era of cooperation between government and industry in health and safety research.''
Eliminating NIOSH ``could have disastrous effects,'' the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine said.
Rosenstock said the institute was created in 1970 because other scientists had neglected occupational health.
Its research into asbestos, pollutants from such work as sandblasting and even hospital workers' exposure to tuberculosis led to requirements that certain employees wear protective respirators.
by CNB