A weakening of rules regulating workers exposure to toxic substances in their workplace is underway in these final months of the Bush Administration, the Washington Post reports ("U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules"). Contrary to requirements that notice of the proposed changes be published in plans filed last December or in May notice of the proposal first surfaced on July 7 in a vague reference on the website of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. The late notice of the proposal also violated a directive from the White House Chief of Staff that all regulatory proposals be published no later than June 1. In the first 7 1/2 years of the Bush Administration, its Department of Labor adopted only one significant rule regarding toxins in the workplace and then only under court order.
