Hexavalent chromium, the chemical featured in the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich, is used in chrome plating, stainless steel welding and the production of chromate pigments and dyes.
It also caused lung cancer, but when industry sponsored study found out they hid the data. But, despite the fact that even the data that the industry admitted to shows that current legal levels are dangerously high, OSHA has refused to set health standards for exposure to the metal, and will now do so on Tuesday, February 28, only because a federal appellate court has forced it to act. The fact that OSHA is acting only when forced by a court to do so, is yet another example of the Bush Administration placing politics ahead of science.
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