Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The July 23 news story "U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules" implied that I accepted Labor Department funding for working on a proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule and that I did not disclose this fact in a July 18 opinion piece that I wrote for the New York Sun.

That is incorrect. From September 2007 to January 2008, the Hudson Institute had an 11 percent share in a Labor Department project reviewing risk-assessment methodologies across federal agencies, and I worked on this project. I have not worked on any aspect of drafting the proposed Labor Department rule, nor have I seen it. If I had been contacted by a reporter for comment on this story, I would have made that clear.

DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH

Senior Fellow and Director

Center for Employment Policy

Hudson Institute

Washington

The writer was chief economist at the Labor Department from 2003 to 2005.