According to a new study conducted by consumer interest group Public Citizen, many blue-collar employers are continuing to expose their workers to hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen and industrial by-product of several manufacturing processes, including the production of steel, chrome plating and certain pigments. As part of its study, published in next month's issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Public Citizen monitored a number of companies, determining that over 20 percent violated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) eight-hour permissible exposure limit (PEL) for hexavalent chromium.

In March, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), along with Public Citizen, filed a lawsuit asking a United States Court of Appeals to order OSHA to lower the PEL for the by-product. The case will be argued November 5.