[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: Impact of lead on firing-range workers (NAS study)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

National Research Council
Press Release
December 3, 2012

Current OSHA Standards for Lead Exposure Inadequate
To Protect Military Firing-Range Personnel, Other Worker Populations
 
WASHINGTON -- There is overwhelming evidence that the general industry standards for lead exposure, set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) more than 30 years ago, are inadequate to protect employees at U.S. Department of Defense firing ranges and other worker populations, says a new report from the National Research Council. Blood lead levels below the level deemed safe by OSHA’s standards have been shown to cause nervous system, kidney, heart, reproductive, and other health problems, said the committee that wrote the report. 
 
OSHA established lead exposure standards in 1978 for most industrial workplaces, including  firing ranges. But a large body of research on the health effects of lead exposure has emerged since then. In light of these studies, DOD asked the National Research Council to evaluate whether the OSHA standards adequately protect the military’s firing range employees, who are exposed to lead recurrently when they handle ammunition, conduct maintenance on ranges, and inhale lead dust released into the air by gunfire.

…

For the entire press release, see
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=18249



For a link to the entire study, see
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18249#description


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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