Daniel Thau Teitelbaum

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM): A Professional Association in Service to Industry

Abstract The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) is a professional association that represents the interests of its companyemployed physician members. Fifty years ago the ACOEM began to assert itself in the legislative arena as an advocate of limited regulation and enforcement of occupational health and safety standards and laws, and environmental protection. Today the ACOEM provides a legitimizing professional association for company doctors, and continues to provide a vehicle to advance the agendas of their corporate sponsors. Company doctors in ACOEM recently blocked attempts to have the organization take a stand on global warming. Company doctors employed by the petrochemical industry even blocked the ACOEM from taking a position on particulate air pollution. Industry money and influence pervade every aspect of occupational and environmental medicine. The controlling influence of industry over the ACOEM physicians should cease. The conflict of interests inherent in the practice of occupational and environmental medicine is not resolved by the ineffectual efforts of the ACOEM to establish a pretentious code of conduct. The conflicted interests within the ACOEM have become too deeply embedded to be resolved by merely a self-governing code of conduct. The specialty practice of occupational and environmental medicine has the opportunity and obligation to join the public health movement. If it does, the ACOEM will have no further purpose as it exists, and specialists in occupational and environmental medicine will meet with and be represented by public health associations. This paper chronicles the history of occupational medicine and industry physicians as influenced and even controlled by corporate leaders.

Dermal Absorption of Benzene: Implications for Work Practices and Regulations

Abstract Because the risk of leukemia for workers exposed to 1 ppm of benzene for 40 years is estimated to be 70% greater than the risk for unexposed persons, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommend that the allowable airborne exposure level be 0.1 ppm. Using an experimentally determined dermal flux (permeability) value for benzene through skin, the authors calculated the amount of benzene absorbed through a known surface area (e.g., hands) during exposures where solvents contaminated with benzene were used for cleaning. Even at current contamination levels, which are less than 0.1% in most products, the amount of benzene absorbed through the skin over a long period can be significant, depending on exposure time and exposed skin surface areas. In the example given, the risk for leukemia was increased by 42%. Therefore, the authors recommend that the liquid benzene concentration that triggers labeling, worker education, and protective measures to minimize skin exposure be reduced from 0.1% to 0.01 %.

IBM, Elsevier Science, and Academic Freedom

Abstract Elsevier Science refused to publish a study of IBMworkers that IBM sought to keep from public view. Occupational and environmental health (OEH) suffers from the absence of a level plaYing field on which science can thrive. Industry pays for a substantial portion of OEH research. Studies done by private consulting firms or academic institutions may be published if the results suit the sponsoring companies, or they may be censored. OEH journals often reflect the dominance of industry influence on research in the papers they publish, sometimes withdrawing or modifying papers in line with industry and advertising agendas. Although such practices are widely recognized, no fundamental change is supported by government and industry or by professional organizations.