All Things Whistleblower: A GAP Blog

The Serious Problems with Ammonia-Laden Beef

This NYT investigative article focuses on the serious problems that have stemmed from a large beef producer’s (Beef Products, Inc.) innovation of using ammonia to treat ground beef product, in an attempt to eliminate serious bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. The thorough piece details how the company developed the technology as a way to utilize fatty beef trimmings into their product - trimmings which typically contain higher amounts of bacteria. However, the article implies that the uniformity of ammonia levels used is not concrete – too high a percentage makes the product unpalatable, while too small a percentage does not eliminate the bacteria, making it potentially lethal.

This serious problem of ammonia-infused beef (which is not required to be labeled as such), was discussed over a year ago in an op-ed by GAP Public Health Associate Amanda Hitt.

Also in food safety news today, there is a serious E. coli outbreak, the cause of which has been traced back to an Oklahoma meat company (WashPost). That company, National Steak and Poultry, has recalled nearly a quarter-million pounds of beef.  

 

Privacy In the Wake of the Attempted Bombing; The FAA's Ineptitude

In the wake of the failed attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up an airplane on Christmas Eve, there have been greater calls for increased security measures to be enacted during passenger screening at airports (NYT). This includes full-body scan imaging. Privacy groups are worried that this may intrude too far into citizen’s personal lives, and that the institution of such technology should be tightly controlled.

Speaking of the attempted bombing, this article (Orange County Register) highlights the incompetence of the FAA when dealing with security threats, as detailed by the case of GAP client Robert MacLean, a former Air Marshal who was fired for revealing that marshals were to be taken off international flights, during a high-risk period, because of monetary issues.

Another key FAA whistleblower and GAP client is Bogdan Dzakovic, a former FAA Red Team leader, whose job was to find vulnerabilities in airport security. After 9/11, the FAA ordered the Red Team not to write up its reports, not to retest to check if security breaches had been fixed, and proceeded to warn airlines when the Red Team would arrive to test security systems. Dzakovic blew the whistle on this, and was retaliated against by being stripped of job duties.

Both MacLean and Dzakovic were interviewed on GAP’s television program, Whistle Where You Work.

Countries Skeptical of World Bank Handling Climate Funds

Developing countries and non-governmental organizations are determined to keep the administration of new climate funds for developing countries away from the World Bank because of the structure and management of the Bank's environmental fund, the Global Environment Facility (GEF). A key stipulation of the recent Copenhagen Accord provides a fund for global warming adaptation in developing countries, which is likely to be structured similarly to the GEF. However, the GEF is often criticized because of the control of donors over how money is spent, its cumbersome administration and red tape, and the alleged usage of its funds as political tools.

This skepticism of the World Bank's management capabilities is well justified, following the scandal that has unfolded involving Indian IT behemoth Satyam Computer Services (now known as Mahindra Satyam). Satyam was banned from providing services to the World Bank for eight years as a penalty for giving improper benefits to staff members at the Bank and for collecting on undocumented invoices. This banning of Satyam was also apparently never communicated to the company's board or the SEC in the US.

Click here for more information on the Satyam scandal.

Marine Corps Safety Whistleblower Still Facing Retaliation

This Associated Press article delves into the case of GAP client Franz Gayl, a veteran of the Marine Corps, who, as a civilian official at the Pentagon, chose to expose the bureaucratic holdup of putting MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. MRAPs are better able to protect troops from Improved Explosive Device (IED) blasts than armored Humvees, the most common protective vehicle in service. MRAP availability likely could have prevented an unknown number of American troop deaths, as 40 percent of all American troop deaths during the Iraq War have been the result of IEDs. Instead of approving funding for MRAPs, the Department of Defense simply added more armor to the inferior Humvees and provided “inaccurate and incomplete” information about MRAPs to Congress.

Gayl was retaliated against for blowing the whistle, and as this article explores, is still facing retaliation. Currently, he is the target of an inquiry for “allegedly mishandling secret information.” However, the information under consideration was not classified at the time of Gayl’s report, but the investigators say the documents should have been kept secret because each contained "classified paragraphs.” Undermining the investigator’s case is the fact that Gayl has had continued access to classified information, despite being investigated for this "mishandling" of classified information. From the article:

"What they are doing to him is shameful," said [Tom] Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project in Washington. "His supervisors might as well be drill sergeants at boot camp trying to break a recruit's spirit."

UN Installs Cameras that Monitor Journalist-Whistleblower Meetings

A room that journalists in the United Nations have been moved to during a renovation has been fitted with video cameras, the footage from which can be used by that organization’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). The OIOS investigates disclosures to journalists by UN staff to outside parties, including the press. This is a direct attempt to stifle whistleblowing disclosures by an orgaznaition that is continually hampered by waste and fraud in some of its projects.  

A day after Inner City Press first reported on the cameras (earlier this week), a U.N. spokesman told the press that the cameras would be moved. However, the cameras are still in place.

Tap Water May Be Legal, But Not Safe

Government scientists have assessed many of the contaminants most often found in water and have determined that many are associated with cancer or other diseases, even in very small concentrations. Yet almost none of those evaluations have been added to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Thus, the list of regulated substances in water has stopped growing since 2000. However, the rate at which pollutants have been dumped into waterways has significantly sped up. For example, if arsenic were present in the drinking water supply at its legal threshold, roughly one in every 600 residents would likely develop bladder cancer over their lifetimes, according to studies commissioned by the E.P.A. And in some places, tap water contains not just one contaminant like arsenic, but dozens.

Some activists have tried to bring about change. Scientists at the E.P.A. began telling top agency officials that the system needed to be fixed in the early 2000’s. The head of the E.P.A. division that analyzed environmental risks was especially alarmed, and he directed his department to start assessing a variety of contaminants often found in drinking water, including an unregulated rocket fuel additive that was associated with some types of tumors. His department’s research indicated that some chemicals posed risks at smaller concentrations than previously known.

However, when some industry heads heard of the research, they began to lobby lawmakers, and the head of the E.P.A. environmental risk division was told he might lose his job if he continued pushing for extensive assessments of chemicals. A study published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found traces of the rocket fuel additive in all of the 2820 people examined by researchers.

Chinese Nuke Plants; State Secrets

Two interesting and relevant stories from the New York Times today:

China plans to build three times as many nuclear power plants in the next ten years as the rest of the world combined. While China has not had a serious nuclear accident, the pace of the expansion has raised safety concerns around the world. The United States was the last country to attempt such a rapid nuclear expansion, which ended with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. China is also planning to build many of their plants close to major metropolitan areas, close to tens of millions of people.

In other news, the Obama administration is following a Bush-era precedent in asserting state secrets privilege to try to shut down a federal lawsuit. The Justice Department asked a federal court to throw out the case of five people who claim they were subject to forced disappearance, torture and inhumane treatment - otherwise known as rendition. However, the Amerian Civil Liberties Union, which is serving as defense counsel, is claiming that the secrets in question were no longer secret, as the government has declassified information about its interrogation methods and the Obama administration has prohibited abusive methods of interrogation and secret detentions.