Date: 2007-09-26
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time: Mr. Chairman and Members of the House. this isnt about confusion. This isnt about uncertainty. This is about the absolute failure of a Federal agency that has been established and designed to protect the health and the safety of American workers. the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. and the absolutely failure of that agency to take action. the absolute failure of this administration. the Bush administration. to insist they take action in light of mounting and compelling evidence that workers in popcorn manufacturing facilities and workers maybe now in other food industries have been stricken with a horrible disease that has been directly related to diacetyl. I appreciate they want to throw up all of the other reasons. Maybe it wasnt O.J.. but the fact of the matter is. here it is diacetyl. and we have got to understand that because people are going in for lung transplants. people are losing their ability to earn a living. and people have died from the results of this. and manufacturers and others are paying out millions of dollars. The other side wants to offer an amendment that is based upon very old information. 3 years old. In those 3 years. NIOSH has recommended that actions be taken. The actions were not taken. NIOSH based that on the information at that time. Then the industry recommended that actions be taken to protect the lives and the health and the safety of these workers. and actions were not taken in many parts of that industry. And. lo and behold. on the day that we are -arguing this bill on the floor. we find out that OSHA has finally taken action. And what action has OSHA taken? It didnt take action in the absence of information. It specifically states that they are updating the material safety data sheets because they have to include newer health effects information. information they need to understand the hazards associated. The hazards associated. This is OSHA as of today. OSHA couldnt figure it out yesterday. they couldnt figure it out last year or the year before or the year before. But because Congress is moving. they are now koing to give people a data sheet that says diacetyl. in the data sheet from OSHA today. can cause damage to respiratory tract and lungs if inhaled. and it is highly flammable. This isnt because we dont have information. This is because they refused to act earlier. The gentleman from the other side wants to talk about the fact that they have put together a rulemaking process. No. what they announced was a oneday meeting. a oneday meeting of stakeholders. and then that was the end of it. We dont know whether they are going to go to the rest of the process or not. There is no indication in. their past that they have. They have forfeited their right to suggest that they will set the time and the tempo and the urgency of the protection of these workers and their families. They have forfeited that. We are stepping in here. and in the first interim standard we are asking NIOSH to do what they have already recommended that they do. based upon the evidence they have today. We are asking them to join with the manufacturers who have made these same recommendations based upon the evidence that they have today. And what are they asking them to do? These are the first precautionary things that you do: Isolate the mixing room from the rest of the plant using walls. doors or other barriers. provide the mixing room with a separate ventilation system and ensure that negative air pressure relative to the rest of the plant is maintained in the mixing room. Yes. they are doing this because they have information that this can cause damage to your respiratory tracts and your lungs. The other side wants to suggest in their amendment that if we just knew more. we could do better. It goes on and on. They suggest reducing the operating temperature and. holding the mixing tanks to the minimum temperature necessary. equipping the head space of the mixing and holding tanks with flavor added to oil and held in a pure form. automating the mixing process using closed processes to transfer flavorings. These are all designed to protect these workers. and they would not have happened but for this committee action. but for this floor time and this debate. and but for us voting this bill out of here. This is the least we can do. to ask these agencies to do what was already recommended they should do in 2003. to do at least what the manufacturers have already recommended they do in 2004. And then we ask them to proceed with a permanent standard using their scientific evidence. their data. their knowledge. not ours. And that is the process by which these workers are going to get protection. They are not going to get protection from the gentlemans amendment on the other side of the aisle. and they are not going to get it from stalling the Congress from going forward. This is our opportunity to respond to an urgent medical crises in this industry by these workers and their families. I ask my colleague� to support this legislation when it comes time for final passage and to defeat the Wilson amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.