Companies that have long complained that the Federal Government overestimates workers' exposure to dangerous chemicals and toxins may be getting a helping hand from the Bush Administration. The Department of Labor has been quietly pushing a proposed new rule which would re-examine risk assessment methods with regards to workplace chemical hazards, making it more difficult to enact stiffer regulations on worker safety. Opponents of the new rule decry the move as politically motivated, a "parting gift" on the part of the Bush Administration for big business, citing the fact that virtually no other worker-health regulations have been passed during the Administration's previous seven years.
See "U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules", Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, July 22, 2008