Senate Advances Bill to Spur Job Creation.

JEFFERSON CITY – Republican and Democratic senators joined to advance a bill expanding tax incentive programs geared to spur job creation coupled with common sense tax credit reforms aimed at protecting taxpayers.

The Senate adopted its version of House Bill 191 by a vote of 27-7. Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, handled the bill and said the Senate reached a good compromise on the priority shared by the governor to help put more Missourians back to work.

"It was a long road filled with potholes, but now folks will have more job opportunities."

The bill expands the Quality Jobs Act, a proven program that provides tax incentives to businesses that create jobs that pay above the county average wage and foot the cost for at least half their employees’ healthcare benefits. The program’s annual cap increased by $20 million, plus senators removed the per company cap to allow for even more job creation.

14th Bank Returns TARP Money

by Paul Kiel, www.ProPublica.org

On Friday, two more banks returned their TARP money: Alliance of Syracuse, N.Y., ($26.9 million) and Texas Capital of Dallas, Texas ($75 million). So far, 14 banks have returned a total of $1.3 billion, according to our running tally of refunds. As we’ve noted before, the returns started coming in soon after Congress passed new restrictions on compensation for top employees at the banks.

So far, only community and small regional banks have returned the money, but that seems likely to change soon. Under the "stress tests," nine banks were not required to raise additional capital. With the exception of MetLife, which never applied for TARP money, all of those banks have taken concrete steps to return their bailout money, either by raising debt without government support or through an equity offering. The largest of those are JPMorgan ($25 billion) and Goldman Sachs ($10 billion). Altogether, Treasury invested $56.7 billion in those eight banks.

Despite the eagerness of those banks to return the money (and be free of the compensation restrictions, which affect the 25 highest compensated employees at the biggest banks), it’s still unclear when Treasury might approve the moves.

Three smaller banks that have made similar steps toward returning the money: Northern Trust ($1.6 billion), California’s City National ($400 million), and SCBT ($64.8 million), which boasts that it is the only bank headquartered in South Carolina to apply to return its bailout money.

Right now, about $111 billion of the TARP is still uncommitted, according to our tally. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has often indicated that he intends to use the returned money (which might boost the uncommitted TARP funds to nearly $170 billion), and Treasury officials are reportedly busy hatching new plans.

Study Reinforces Links Between

Formaldehyde and Cancer

by Joaquin Sapien, www.ProPublica.org

A National Cancer Institute study strengthens the link between exposure to formaldehyde and cancer, a finding which may impact the EPA’s long-awaited risk assessment on formaldehyde.

A study released last week by the National Cancer Institute strengthens the link between exposure to formaldehyde and several forms of cancer, including leukemia. The 30-year study, which tracked the health of nearly 25,000 men exposed to the chemical in industrial plants, is likely to impact a long-awaited Environmental Protection Agency risk assessment of formaldehyde.

Last year we reported on how FEMA trailers used by Hurricane Katrina victims were contaminated by formaldehyde, causing severe respiratory ailments. At the time, FEMA defended its use of the trailers by pointing to a lack of formal rules governing the chemical’s use in wood and particle board.

Now the EPA is developing those rules, and it will probably use its formaldehyde risk assessment to determine an appropriate safety standard.

But the risk assessment has long been sidetracked by the cancer study and the politics around it. The assessment was scheduled to come out in 2004, until Sen. James Inhofe, then chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote a letter to Michael Leavitt, the EPA administrator at the time, persuading him to delay the assessment until the NCI released its study.

At the time, the NCI had just published preliminary findings suggesting a link between formaldehyde and leukemia. Inhofe, recognizing that the findings would influence the EPA’s formaldehyde assessment, argued that the cancer study wasn’t strong enough, saying it needed to "collect a more robust set of data." (He pointed out that the researchers couldn’t explain exactly how formaldehyde could cause leukemia.)

NCI officials told Inhofe that the second round of findings would take about 18 months.

Five years later, the "more robust set of data" is out, and the NCI’s latest round reinforces its previous findings.

The study shows that workers exposed to higher amounts of formaldehyde had a 37 percent greater risk of death from blood and lymphatic cancers, and a 78 percent greater risk of leukemia than those with lower exposures. NCI researchers still have not discovered the biological mechanism by which formaldehyde exposure can cause leukemia.

Inhofe’s office did not respond to a phone message requesting comment on the study.

We asked the EPA how the NCI’s latest findings would impact the completion of the formaldehyde assessment. In an e-mailed statement, an EPA spokesperson told us that the agency was reviewing the NCI study but still didn’t know when the risk assessment would be completed. The agency began working on it in 1997.

Formaldehyde is one of dozens of chemicals sitting in a backlog awaiting final EPA risk assessment through the agency’s Integrated Risk Information System. These assessments are used as the country’s gold standard for how dangerous a chemical can be to human health. The federal government and local and state governments reference them when determining whether and how to regulate a chemical.

In April 2008, the Bush administration announced a change in the assessment process that would allow the White House and other federal agencies greater influence in the scientific research, a policy that was criticized by environmentalists.

Back when the EPA delayed its formaldehyde assessment in 2004, the agency was working on a different formaldehyde rule -- this one addressing emissions from industrial facilities.

Instead of using the EPA’s current formaldehyde science, agency officials relied on "risk information developed by an industry-funded organization" called the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, according to a 2008 report from the Government Accountability Office.

The industry-backed risk estimate said that formaldehyde was 2,400 times less potent than the original EPA risk assessment. According to the GAO, the industry estimate also helped "exempt certain facilities with formaldehyde emissions from the national emissions standard."

The rule was eventually struck down in court after being challenged in a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Now the Formaldehyde Council, an industry trade group that represents chemical manufacturers, is pushing for further delay. In a statement about the NCI study, it said that the health effects of formaldehyde need to be reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

Once again I exercised poor judgment. A week ago, when the weather was in the 70s, I decided it was time to uncover the strawberry patch and let a little sunshine work its wonder. Fortunately, wasn’t’t able to dispose of the mound of leaves I had used for mulch, and did have a blanket to sweep back on the patch.

I’ve never been good at outguessin’ the weather. Or should I say lucky. I don’t know anyone who can predict with any consistancy exactly which way the wind will be blowin’ tomorrow or even in a couple a hours. Part of the never endin’ adventure of livin’ in this part of the country.

By the way, the patch is doin’ fine, at least it was just before this last cool spell. I was informed last year, 4th of July is the due date for strawberries. I’m lookin’ forward.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing

Services

To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Exercise Won’t Make Arthritis Worse

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have osteoarthritis of the hands, and my fingers have bony knobs on the knuckles. They look bad and hurt part of the time. I was a registered nurse and did lots of lifting of patients. Is the arthritis genetic or from the lifting? I go to the gym two to three times a week and have been doing so for two years. Am I making it worse? -- C.S.

ANSWER: Osteoarthritis is the most common kind of arthritis. At age 65, one-third of people have evidence of knee osteoarthritis, and close to 100 percent of women have evidence of osteoarthritis of their hands and fingers. Not all these people have symptoms. The tiny bumps on the knuckle below the fingernail are part of the arthritis picture. Genes are involved. Age, misalignment of bones and injury are other contributors. Exercise is not responsible. Continue your exercise program. Strong muscles protect joints, and exercise keeps them limber. Only if an exercise is painful should you stop it.

A joint is the place where two bone ends meet. The ends are covered with cartilage, and the entire joint is surrounded by a tough covering called the joint capsule. Cartilage makes it possible for one bone end to move over the other painlessly. Joint fluid, contained in the joint by the joint capsule, oils the joint and also keeps it operating without friction. In osteoarthritis, the joint cartilage begins to fray and crumble, and the joint fluid thins.

There is no cure for osteoarthritis; there are treatments. Tylenol is one of the best and safest drugs. Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (Aleve, Advil, Motrin, etc.) are widely prescribed. They can cause ulcers, so they have to be used in moderation. Voltaren gel is an anti-inflammatory applied to the skin over an affected joint. Less is absorbed this way, so it has fewer side effects. The doctor can inject a bothersome joint with cortisone.

Artificial joints are always worth consideration when arthritis severely limits motion and is quite painful. The joint at the base of the thumb is often bothersome in women. An operation that inserts a small piece of cartilage or other synthetic material can cushion that joint and bring great relief.