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Petition Urging to Protect Gulf Spill Clean-up Workers

Petition Urging to Protect Gulf Spill Clean-up Workers
The Obama administration has been urged by a liberal group's online petition to take a stronger hand on providing protection for the Gulf of Mexico oil leak responders. This petition has won the support of 31 congressional candidates and 11 Houase Democrats and thousands more since its launch.

The new worker-safety campaign has been the brainchild of the PCCC or Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group who is targeting the White House and other Democrats for their failure to support the public option in the health care reform bill.

The petition got started by comparing between the denial of protective gear that harmed various 9/11 clean up workers and the denial of the requests for respiratory protection by BP for the Gulf oil leak responders.

Now, the Obama administrative has been demanded to act firmly with BP to allow allow every clean-up worker to wear respiratory protective equipment if they want and the workers must have the necessary equipment and trainings so that they can do the job safely.

Environmental and public-health groups have long been concerned about the long term health problems that the Gulf cleanup workers could suffer from the crude and oil dispersal's.

OSHA however has cited that most Gulf oil spill clean up workers do not need respirators. The danger is already there with the heat stress and the use of heavy respiratory protection will only make the matter worse.

The real question here is the safety of the workers, whether it is now or later in life. Whatever protection there is, they should be protected.

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