News In Brief

Agency urges steps to cut EDB hazard in workplace

Culminating a week of renewed controversy over the hazardous chemical EDB, the government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing a 200-fold reduction in worker exposure to the substance.

People affected by the plan work in leaded-gasoline production, pesticide manufacture, transportation and warehousing of fumigated citrus and other produce, and flour milling. Last week the Environmental Protection Agency ordered an emergency ban on use of EDB (ethelyene dibromide) as a pesticide, saying it is contaminating ground water in several states.