The CDC softened a report on meatpacking safety during the pandemic. Democrats want to know why.
Source: Washington Post
Business
The CDC softened a report on meatpacking safety during the pandemic. Democrats say they want to know why.
By Eli Rosenberg
September 30, 2020 at 9:53 p.m. EDT
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about safety procedures at a meatpacking plant whose workers were falling ill at an alarming rate early on in the pandemic is raising new questions from Democrats about possible political interference at the agency.
On April 22, the CDC issued a report with basic health recommendations to control the spread of the novel coronavirus at a meatpacking plant run by Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, S.D. ... The original version of the report put forth these recommendations about worker safety, according to a copy acquired by The Washington Post. But the final report sent to the plant included language that had been softened with qualifiers such as “whenever possible” and “if feasible.” ... The plant, which slaughters and processes pork, was one of the biggest coronavirus hot spots in the United States around that time; 904 cases and two deaths were linked to the plant as of April 21, according to the Argus Leader.
Democratic members of the House Committee on Education and Labor say they believe political pressure from the office of CDC Director Robert Redfield explains why some of the language in the report was changed. ... They, along with Democratic senators from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, sent letters to the CDC and the Agriculture Department this week to request more information about why the changes were made and whether Smithfield Foods or additional federal agencies were involved.
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OSHA, the federal agency charged with upholding worker safety, has defied worker advocates and appeased business groups by declining to issue a coronavirus safety standard for companies to adhere to. ... Instead it has issued recommendations that are similarly softened with phrases like “if feasible.” ... While complaints about safety issues have poured in to the agency — it has received 9,139, according to recent data — it has only issued a handful of citations. ... It recently cited Smithfield for its plant in South Dakota, where at least 1,294 workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and four have died, for one violation of failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards. Smithfield has said it plans to contest the $13,494 citation, calling it “without merit.”
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Eli Rosenberg
Eli Rosenberg covers work and labor for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2017 after a decade in New York, where he worked at the New York Times, the Daily News, and the Brooklyn Paper. He has covered misinformation campaigns, politics in the Trump era, immigration issues, and disasters across the country. Follow https://twitter.com/emrosenberg
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/30/cdc-meatpacking-smithfield/
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