A Hidden Hazard To 12 Million U.S. Workers?

Monday, July 11, 2011 The Dirt On Shop Towels: Are Industrial Workers At Risk? Once a week, a batch of freshly laundered red towels, sealed in plastic, arrives at the Atlas Garage on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, while 100 or so soiled rags begin their journey back to a commercial washing facility. Riaz Khan, 33, has spent the last 11 years caring for cars at this neighborhood shop -- checking oil, changing tires and performing other skills of his trade. While he has always been conscious of the gasoline and other fumes he breathes daily, it never occurred to him that the 10 or so "clean" towels he goes through in a typical eight-hour shift might be exposing him to toxic heavy metals, let alone at concentrations of up to 7,700 times current EPA limits. "They're just like disposable towels," he said as his cousin, Fayaz Khan, 32, checked out a customer's car, wiping down a dipstick with a red rag. "We use them and toss them in the bin. And they are washed really well." The towels did look, smell and feel quite clean. But could they actually harbor hidden hazards for the some 12 million automotive, printing and other manufacturing and industrial workers in the U.S.? Nuclear Regulatory Commission Keeps Reports From Public Eye: 'You Can't Get Them From Us' Meatless Monday: Jack and the GMO Beanstalk Is Sheryl Crow A Hypocrite? Singer Accused Of Donating 'Blood Money' WATCH: Massive Sea Monster, 'The Most Fearsome Predator That Ever Lived' Somalia Drought Is 'Worst Humanitarian Crisis': U.N. BLOG POSTS Bill McKibben: Bring Your Obama Buttons: Momentum Builds for White House Tar Sands Action Happily, President Obama can stop the pipeline, and even in a dysfunctional D.C. no one can stop him. Before the so-called Keystone XL pipeline can be built, he has to issue a certificate saying it is "in the national interest." Paul Sylvester: Big Infrastructure Projects Have High Risks but High Rewards The Lower Churchill Project is an audacious plan undertaken by two Canadian provinces. It should remind us that the ability to tackle big infrastructure projects is still alive in North America, and inspire us to embrace similar projects elsewhere. Lennard Davis: In New York State Some People Who Drink Water Are More Equal Than Others In upstate NY, there is a class of citizens protected from chemicals in drinking water, and then there are the vast majority of people who are experimental subjects being tested to see if known carcinogens will do anything harmful to us. Robert Koehler: The Five-Fingered Ways of Knowing The Language of Spirit Conference takes place at the point where Western modes of perception break down, where traditional wisdom meets quantum physics. Daniel Klein: Texas Wild Boars & The Ethics Of Eating Invasive Species Most farmers in TX want to kill all feral pigs. We've heard from vegetarian vegetable farmers who use trapping to save their crops.

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