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Landing a spot at the inauguration

25 Jan 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's second reading Saint Paul alerts the church at Corinth that "time is running out." U.S. Airways Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger sent a similar message to air traffic controllers last Thursday before bringing an Airbus A320 down for an emergency landing in the Hudson River. President Obama spoke with the California pilot on Monday, and Sullenberger told him, "Me and my crew, we were just doing our job.' " Said Obama on Monday, "And it made me think, if everybody did their job-whatever that job was-as well as that pilot did his job, we'd be in pretty good shape." Obama invited Sullenberger and his crew and family to attend Tuesday's inauguration. The probe into the crash landing of the jetliner may take a year, but the lessons learned from the spectacular accident will last much longer, a senior investigator said this week. "I think this one is going to be studied for decades," said Robert Benzon, chief investigator on the case for the National Transportation Safety Board. Benzon said the fact that all 155 people aboard the plane survived removes the guilt and finger-pointing that sometimes accompany aviation accidents. He said lessons learned from the successful ditching into the Hudson River could improve air safety. "In one like this, I think there's potential for a lot of good to come out of it, long-term good," he said. Source: An article by Larry Neumeister for the Associated Press

new york city chesley sullenberger us airways hudson river robert benzon national transportation safety board crashes aviation accidents
Toyota hits a safety bump

31 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, we learn in this Sunday’s gospel, “all spoke highly of him”—that is, before the people turned on him. Toyota Motor Corp., which until recently enjoyed a sterling reputation for reliability and safety, has seen its fortunes take a dramatic turn for the worse recently after issuing a number of safety recalls. This week the company suspended the sale and production of several popular models plagued by problems. U.S. sales of eight models are being suspended and five North American plants are being idled, Toyota said Monday. Losing its reputation for quality would undercut a decades-long campaign to promote reliability and safety that helped Toyota become the world’s largest carmaker and number two in U.S. sales. “This is going to have severe ramifications for Toyota,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “The Teflon seems to have evaporated.” Source: An article by Alan Ohnsman and Mike Ramsey for Bloomberg.com

toyota john wolkonowicz safety auto safety car safety
Toyota hits a safety bump

31 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, we learn in this Sunday’s gospel, “all spoke highly of him”—that is, before the people turned on him. Toyota Motor Corp., which until recently enjoyed a sterling reputation for reliability and safety, has seen its fortunes take a dramatic turn for the worse recently after issuing a number of safety recalls. This week the company suspended the sale and production of several popular models plagued by problems. U.S. sales of eight models are being suspended and five North American plants are being idled, Toyota said Monday. Losing its reputation for quality would undercut a decades-long campaign to promote reliability and safety that helped Toyota become the world’s largest carmaker and number two in U.S. sales. “This is going to have severe ramifications for Toyota,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “The Teflon seems to have evaporated.” Source: An article by Alan Ohnsman and Mike Ramsey for Bloomberg.com

toyota john wolkonowicz safety auto safety car safety
Toyota hits a safety bump

31 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, we learn in this Sunday’s gospel, “all spoke highly of him”—that is, before the people turned on him. Toyota Motor Corp., which until recently enjoyed a sterling reputation for reliability and safety, has seen its fortunes take a dramatic turn for the worse recently after issuing a number of safety recalls. This week the company suspended the sale and production of several popular models plagued by problems. U.S. sales of eight models are being suspended and five North American plants are being idled, Toyota said Monday. Losing its reputation for quality would undercut a decades-long campaign to promote reliability and safety that helped Toyota become the world’s largest carmaker and number two in U.S. sales. “This is going to have severe ramifications for Toyota,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “The Teflon seems to have evaporated.” Source: An article by Alan Ohnsman and Mike Ramsey for Bloomberg.com

toyota john wolkonowicz safety auto safety car safety
Time to clean up our act to stop household poisonings

08 Aug 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord “is our help and our shield,” proclaims the psalmist this Sunday, but a new study suggests young children need some additional protection. The number of kids age 5 and younger treated in hospital emergency departments for household cleaning product-related injuries fell 46 percent from 22,141 in 1990 to 11,964 in 2006, Lara B. McKenzie of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and colleagues found. Child-resistant packaging mandated for the most dangerous products--furniture polish, drain cleaners, and oven cleaners--appears to be partly responsible for the overall drop, the study suggests. At the same time, injuries in young children sustained from cleaners contained in spray bottles did not decline. Spray bottles don't feature the same degree of safety mechanisms that other types of bottles and containers do, study leader McKenzie said. Just as in this Sunday’s gospel Jesus suggests his followers be like servants ever-vigilant for their master’s return, McKenzie suggested parents need to be more vigilant when it comes to storing toxic substances safely in the home. “The locking mechanism on spray bottles isn't really child-resistant, and it may be easy for [children] to manipulate,” said McKenzie, recommending that poisonous substances be stored in locked cabinets after every use, out of sight and out of reach. The researchers cautioned that their study likely underestimated the number of injuries sustained by young children from household cleaners because it did not include injuries treated outside of emergency departments. Source: An article by Crystal Phend for ABC News

Children child safety household cleaning products
Food safety gets a boost

05 Dec 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Sunday reading from the Book of Isaiah promises that the long-awaited redeemer who will come from the lineage of Jesse will judge wisely and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. The desire for right judgment is behind the U.S. Senate’s long-awaited legislation on Tuesday giving the FDA greatly increased powers to judge whether food is safe for consumption, welcome news for anyone afflicted by food poisoning. The redeemer will not judge by mere hearsay or appearance, the prophet assures the people in this Sunday’s reading. Outdated food safety procedures, however, involve little more than “scratch and sniff inspections,” says one observer. The new bill requires more rigorous scientific testing of food and places greater responsibility on manufacturers and farmers to prevent contamination--a departure from the current system which relies on government inspectors to catch contamination after the fact. The bill also sets standards for imported foods. Public health experts say that provision is urgently needed given the increase in imported foods. The FDA currently inspects only about one percent of imported food products. The legislation was initiated following a recent spate of outbreaks of food poisoning involving products as varied as eggs, peanuts, and spinach in which thousands of people became sick and more than a dozen died. Food illnesses affect one in four Americans and kill 5,000 of them each year, according to government statistics. Despite unusual bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and a strong push from the Obama administration, the bill could still die because there might not be enough time for the usual haggling between the Senate and the House, which passed its own version last year. Source: Articles by Gardiner Harris and William Neuman for the New York Times, Lyndsey Layton for the Washington Post, and Chuck Jolley for CattleNetwork.com

senate imported food food safety food and drug adminstration fda
Colorado farm’s cantaloupe can’t be trusted

02 Oct 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

There is trouble in the vineyard of the Lord in this Sunday’s readings. The gospel’s vineyard owner faces a workers’ revolt, while the reading from the Book of Isaiah asks why a carefully cultivated vineyard brings forth only wild grapes. A deadly outbreak of listeriosis linked to a cantaloupe farm has health officials asking what went wrong in the harvesting process on a Colorado farm. So far at least 13 people have died and 72 people have been infected in 18 states. "This is the deadliest outbreak of a food-borne disease that we've indentified in more than a decade," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The outbreak has been tentatively traced to Jensen Farm in Holly, Colorado. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said consumers who have cantaloupes produced there should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn’t eat it. Government investigators are continuing to search for the root cause of the outbreak, examining the possibility of animal or water contamination as well as the Jensen farm's harvesting practices. In the meantime the number of people sickened is expected to rise because it can take up to two months for those infected with the bacteria to develop listeriosis. "We do anticipate there will be a rising number of cases in the days and weeks to come," Frieden said. Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women, and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those made ill is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms. There are four different listeria strains associated with the cantaloupe outbreak, something the FDA considers unusual. "The reasons for that are under investigation," said FDA senior advisor Dr. Sherri McGarry. The FDA said the latest outbreak is yet another reason to fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. The act was signed into law on January 4, but when the FDA’s budget was slashed by the U.S. House of Representatives, it became unclear how the agency would pay for a new, modernized food safety inspection process. Sources: Articles by Christina Caron for ABC News and the Associated Press

centers for disease control canteloupes listeria sherri mcgarry jensen farm colorado thomas frieden fda food and drug adminstration food safety cdc food safety modernization act
Colorado farm’s cantaloupe can’t be trusted

02 Oct 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

There is trouble in the vineyard of the Lord in this Sunday’s readings. The gospel’s vineyard owner faces a workers’ revolt, while the reading from the Book of Isaiah asks why a carefully cultivated vineyard brings forth only wild grapes. A deadly outbreak of listeriosis linked to a cantaloupe farm has health officials asking what went wrong in the harvesting process on a Colorado farm. So far at least 13 people have died and 72 people have been infected in 18 states. "This is the deadliest outbreak of a food-borne disease that we've indentified in more than a decade," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The outbreak has been tentatively traced to Jensen Farm in Holly, Colorado. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said consumers who have cantaloupes produced there should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn’t eat it. Government investigators are continuing to search for the root cause of the outbreak, examining the possibility of animal or water contamination as well as the Jensen farm's harvesting practices. In the meantime the number of people sickened is expected to rise because it can take up to two months for those infected with the bacteria to develop listeriosis. "We do anticipate there will be a rising number of cases in the days and weeks to come," Frieden said. Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women, and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those made ill is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms. There are four different listeria strains associated with the cantaloupe outbreak, something the FDA considers unusual. "The reasons for that are under investigation," said FDA senior advisor Dr. Sherri McGarry. The FDA said the latest outbreak is yet another reason to fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. The act was signed into law on January 4, but when the FDA’s budget was slashed by the U.S. House of Representatives, it became unclear how the agency would pay for a new, modernized food safety inspection process. Sources: Articles by Christina Caron for ABC News and the Associated Press

centers for disease control canteloupes listeria sherri mcgarry jensen farm colorado thomas frieden fda food and drug adminstration food safety cdc food safety modernization act
Hundreds die in Pakistan factory fires

16 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The servant of the Lord suffers for his service, we learn from this Sunday’s first reading. Factory workers in impoverished Pakistan suffer in dangerous, exploitative conditions to try to make a living. Early Wednesday, over 300 workers lost their lives in fires in textile and shoe factories. Many were trapped behind locked doors, raising questions about the woeful lack of regulation in a vital sector of Pakistan’s faltering economy.The textile factory fire, which killed at least 285 workers, was the worst industrial accident in Pakistan’s history, officials said, and it came just hours after another fire at a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore had killed over 20 workers.Flames and smoke swept through the cramped textile factory in Baldia Town, a northwestern industrial suburb, creating panic among the hundreds of poorly paid workers who had been making undergarments and plastic tools. They had few options of escape—every exit but one had been locked, officials said, and the windows were mostly barred.In desperation some flung themselves from the top floors of the four-story building, sustaining serious injuries or worse, witnesses said. But many others failed to make it that far, trapped by an inferno that advanced mercilessly through a building that officials later described as a death trap.The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on the government to mount an immediate investigation. “The head of the firefighting operations in Karachi has noted that the factory was dangerous, flimsily built, and had no emergency exits,” said Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the rights group. “Why did all of that escape official attention earlier?”Workplace safety is guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution, but labor leaders say that government oversight has crumbled rapidly in recent years along with a general decline in governance. Sources: Articles by Zia Ur-Rehman, Declan Walsh, and SalmanMasood for the New York Times and Imtiaz Shah for Reuters

pakistan fires human rights commission of pakistan workplace safety zohra yusuf lahore baldia town industrial accidents
Brazil endures trial by fire

03 Feb 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday prays for rescue and deliverance from the Lord, who will be “a stronghold to give me safety.” Alas there was no rescue or safety for 235 young Brazilians who perished after being trapped in a nightclub fire over the weekend in the university town of Santa Maria. Reformers are determined to change lax enforcement that allowed the club to operate with no fire alarm, no sprinklers, no fire escape, fire extinguishers that did not function, and only one exit. In a statement from his lawyer Wednesday, the owner of the Kiss nightclub, where the fire broke out, deflected blame to "the whole country" as well as to architects and inspectors charged with making sure the building was safe. Jader Marques said his client, nightclub owner Elissandro Spohr, "regretted having ever been born" because of his grief over the fire but still blamed Sunday's tragedy on "a succession of errors made by the whole country."Police investigating the blaze have said it likely started when a country music band performing at the club lit a flare, which ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling. That initial error was compounded by the near-total lack of emergency infrastructure, police have said. Many of the deaths occurred when the crowd panicked and created a stampede.The tragedy raised questions about the reliability of safety regulations in a nation set to host the World Cup and Olympic Games. Past building- and fire-safety plan permits issued to the club showed that the single exit, the foam insulation, and other contributors to the tragedy didn't violate laws."Do I agree with the fact that there was only one exit? No," said Major Gerson Pereira, an inspector with the local fire department. "Do I agree that the roof was covered with flammable material? No, I don't. I would have liked to shut down this place, but then the firefighters could be sued" because no law had been broken.Homily hint: When tragedy strikes on a grand scale, as it did in the Brazilian night club fire, our hearts go out to those directly affected. But in communities everywhere, smaller scale tragedies claim lives daily—home fires, auto accidents, violent encounters. Perhaps asking for a simple show of hands at some point in a service from all whose lives have been touched recently by such tragedies, so that we can support those who are grieving in our midst. Sources: Articles by Julianna Barbassa for Associated Press and Ana Flor for Reuters

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