FederalDaily - December 1, 2006
Mikulski Demands Probe into Battlefield Drug Risk
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., asked the Department of Defense (DoD) to launch an investigation
into a published report that a drug used by military doctors on the battlefield—Factor VII—may
cause fatal blood clots. Mikulski made the request Nov. 29 to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health
Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr. after a series of articles about the drug’s danger appeared
in the Baltimore Sun. According to the newspaper, there is evidence that Factor VII, used
by military doctors to stop bleeding from traumatic wounds on the battlefield, may cause fatal blood
clots. “Our military medical professionals are working miracles on the battlefields of Iraq
and Afghanistan,” Mikulski said, “But the serious questions that have been raised about
Factor VII must be answered, so our servicemembers and their families can be confident that we are
providing them the safest possible care.” Mikulski is a member of the defense subcommittee of
the Senate Appropriations Committee. To see more, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=266159
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Unions Protest Global Warming Stalemate
Unions that represent more than 10,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) engineers, scientists
and other employees issued a joint letter protesting the lack of progress in addressing the problem
of global warming—caused by unregulated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The union coalition said
on Nov. 29 that the letter asks Congress to support a vigorous program of regulating carbon and other
GHG emissions in line with the principles of the international Kyoto Protocol. The petition also calls
for an end to censorship of agency scientists and other specialists on topics of climate change and
the effects of air pollution. The petition stresses that time is running out to prevent cataclysmic
environmental changes induced by human-caused pollution and urges Congress to undertake prompt action.
Leaders, too, note that the current voluntary and incentive-based programs promoted at EPA are inadequate.
The petition signatories represent more than half of the total agency workforce. The letter is signed
by presidents of 22 locals of five unions: the American Federation of Government Employees, the Engineers
and Scientists of California, the National Association of Government Employees, the National Association
of Independent Labor, and the National Treasury Employees Union. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/index.cfm?page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=682
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ICE Stops Illegal Aliens With Restricted Access Badges
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents arrested six illegal aliens who possessed
security badges, allowing them access to restricted areas within the Atlanta International Airport
and onto the tarmac. The six aliens arrested Nov. 29 were all Mexican citizens working for a private
company, T.C. Drywall, Inc., based in Alpharetta, Ga. The arrests were part of a larger worksite enforcement
operation—the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan by the Department
of Homeland Security to secure U.S borders and critical infrastructure. Agents are still investigating
how the drywall employees obtained the security badges and how they became employed by the company—knowingly
hiring illegal aliens is a violation of immigration law. They had been hired to install drywall inside
the airport security perimeter, ICE said. “Areas of critical infrastructure, such as airports,
are especially important to national security,” said Kenneth Smith, special agent-in-charge of
the ICE Office of Investigations in Atlanta. “These facilities must know that the people who
have access to their sensitive areas are entitled to such access.” To see more, go to: www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/061129washingtondc.htm
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