Wednesday, November 04, 2009Last Update: 8:27 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Social Security Administration has been considering ways to quickly identify serious medical conditions that obviously meet the definition of disability under the Social Security Act, and can be identified with minimal objective medical information.
     The agency requests information and comments on the advisability and possible methods of identifying and implementing these "compassionate allowances" for young adults with schizophrenia.
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     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to regulate the leakage of air or matter into air-filtering respirators used by safety workers and health care staff for disease outbreaks. Currently, there is no assurance that the masks will keep disease and particulates out, without specific fit testing.
     The Centers will propose general requirements for leakage testing and performance, to increase the likelihood that such users would obtain an adequate facepiece-to-face seal, and protection, in emergencies.
     The masks also are used to filter particulates for those who work with coal, metals, dust, or other potentially hazardous aerosols.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency will require reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel suppliers and industrial gas suppliers, direct greenhouse gas emitters and manufacturers of heavy-duty and off-road vehicles and engines.
     The new regulation does not require control of greenhouse gases; it requires only that sources above certain threshold levels monitor and report emissions to the EPA. The agency believes that 85 percent of U.S. GHG emissions will be monitored through reporting by direct emitters as well as suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial gases and manufacturers of heavy-duty and off-road vehicles and engines.
     The rule requires reporting of annual emissions of carbon dioxide methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and other fluorinated gases including nitrogen trifluoride and hydrofluorinated ethers.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the salmon-crested cockatoo is at risk of extinction throughout its entire range primarily due to extensive logging and conversion of forests to agricultural lands.
     Because the cockatoo is not endemic to the United States, protection under the Endangered Species Act is limited to encouraging nations to develop conservation programs for their endemic endangered species and creating special rules on domestic commerce of endangered species.
     The agency has proposed to adopt a rule requiring a special permit to import or export salmon-crested cockatoos if the specimens were taken from the wild after Jan. 18, 1990. Captive-bred importation is allowed if it is authorized under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Wild Bird Conservation Act and export is authorized under CITES.
     In addition to logging, the cockatoo also is threatened by uncontrolled, illegal trapping for the domestic and international pet trade where the bird is in high demand due to its ability to mimic human speech.
     The agency requests data and comments from the public on this proposed listing and special rule.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to list the British Columbia distinct population segment of the Queen Charlotte goshawk as threatened, except on the Queen Charlotte Islands where the agency proposes to list it as endangered, under the Endangered Species Act.
     The primary threat to the goshawk is its small population and the impact of logging on its prey populations. As additional forest is logged, habitat quality will continue to decline as will prey species, reducing its nesting success. Ultimately, this is expected to result in even smaller populations than currently occur (352 to 374 breeding pairs).
     Smaller populations would become increasingly vulnerable to factors such as predation, disease, prey fluctuations, hybridization, and inbreeding depression. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requests public comment on the proposed listing.