Tainted love: Johnson & Johnson recalled 33,000 bottles of baby powder after the Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in one container, The New York Times reports. The company, which once marketed its baby, body, and wellness products as being “for all you love,” has long denied that its talc-based products ever contained cancer-causing asbestos, but it faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from customers who say their products caused them to develop ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to asbestos.

A bill that would safeguard the miners’ health care benefits that are threatened by coal company bankruptcies has taken a step forward in Congress. The House Natural Resources Committee yesterday passed HR 934, the Health Benefits for Miners Act - clearing the way for the bills to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. Also approved by unanimous voice vote: HR 935, the Miners Pension Protection Act.

In a proof-of-concept experiment, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used microscopic man-made particles to predict the severity of patients’ chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by measuring how quickly the particles move through mucus samples. The technique, say the researchers, could eventually help doctors deliver more effective treatments sooner.

Fatalities due to motor vehicle accidents on U.S. highways decreased by 2.4 percent last year, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It was the second consecutive year of reduced crash fatalities.

After the tenth suicide among its ranks this year, the New York Police Department has decided to offer its officers free and confidential mental health services. Police Commissioner James O'Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today that no-cost mental health counseling and prescription services would be available to officers through a program called Finest Care, which will be coordinated by New York-Presbyterian.

A Florida engineering company is facing $185,239 in OSHA-assessed penalties after one of its employees drowned in a water- and mud-filled catch basin at a worksite in Pembroke Pines, Florida. OSHA cited Westwind Contracting Inc. for exposing its employees to excavation and confined spaces hazards. According to the agency, the company failed to:

With the World Series getting underway tonight, drone owners who are eager to get a birds’ eye view of the action should keep in mind that…they can’t. For the safety of baseball fans attending the World Series – and so that batted balls sailing toward the outfield will do so unimpeded - the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a No Drone Zone for all games played at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Residents of Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts will learn first-hand about the natural gas explosion that rocked their area last year from the federal agency that investigated the incident. In a community outreach event scheduled for this Friday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m., the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will discuss the agency’s completed investigation of the Sept. 13, 2018 natural gas fueled explosions and fires.

Employers who are struggling to understand how the evolving cannabis legalization landscape will impact their workplaces are getting some guidance from the National Safety Council (NSC). Regardless of whether cannabis consumption is allowed by their state, the NSC says employers should prohibit cannabis use for those in safety sensitive positions.