This New York Times Article Highlights Workers' Struggles With the Long-Term Effects of Chemical Hazards in the Workplace

The article, titled "As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester," begins by outlining the life of former furniture assembler Sheri Farley, who suffered neurological damage from the glue fumes she was exposed to. Farley gets stinging pain and swelled feet from sitting and standing for too long. She is just one of the thousands of Americans that have been exposed to toxic, life threatening fumes due to working at manufacturing plants.

While OSHA is doing their best to prevent immediate work-related injuries, they are having a hard time addressing slow killers that "incapacitate more than 200,000 workers in the United States annually. More than 40,000 Americans die prematurely each year from exposure to toxic substances at work - 10 times as many as those who die from the refinery explosions, mine collapses and other accidents that grab most of the news media attention." OSHA has attempted to curb the usage of nPB with data releases and urgent letters to offending companies yet do not have the executive power to enforce their requirements.

Evidence that supports how detrimental toxic fumes like n-propyl bromide, or nPB (occassionally called 1-bromopropane or 1-BP), are to working Americans have been shown to numerous manufacturing plants, but said plants have yet to find any less dangerous and cost-effective alternatives. Occupational illnesses, injuries, and fatalities "cost the American economy roughly $250 billion per year due to medical expenses and lost productivity." Companies are unwilling to lose jobs to foreign entities and are reluctant to stop using hazardous substances in fear of profit losses.

Read more about this continuing struggle here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/us/osha-emphasizes-safety-health-risks-fester.html