The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has asked Congress for a hearing to explore the views of David Michaels, who has been nominated by the Obama administration to head OSHA.

Michaels is a professor in the George Washington University School of Public Health.

Chamber Executive Vice President R. Bruce Josten wrote a letter to congressional leaders of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to express the organization's concerns about the nominee.

In the letter Josten stated, "Professor Michaels is a high-profile advocate for more regulations, even when the science and data that is available to support such regulations may be inadequate or uncertain."

Josten and the Chamber are critical of Michaels' actions and writings, including positions laid out in his book, Doubt Is Their Product. Among topics covered in the book is the development of ergonomics regulation that was considered and passed (but never implemented) during the Clinton administration.

The letter states:

"Instead of acknowledging that the scientific and medical record relied upon for this regulation left many questions necessary to issue a regulation unanswered, such as what level of exposures are associated with injuries, or what would be appropriate remedial measures, he [Michaels] described the science as settled and the efforts by business advocates to raise concerns about the science as nothing more than a delaying tactic."

Josten also writes that Michaels heads a scientific and public policy project funded by groups "many of which are associated with liberal or democratic agendas."

He claims that while the project "posts a disclaimer on their website indicating that their opinions are not cleared in advance by their funders, the positions taken by the project are consistent with public positions identified by these funding resources."