Vioxx, a defective drug pulled off the market in 2004, is the target of yet another lawsuit. Earlier this week, the state of New York joined with New York City in a Medicaid fraud lawsuit against Merck, the maker of Vioxx, in an effort to recoup the money state health programs spent on Vioxx prescriptions.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ordered Vioxx off the market in 2004 after studies showed that people who took the drug had a higher risk for heart attack. The recall came after an analysis of patients using Vioxx linked the defective drug to more than 27,000 heart attacks or sudden cardiac deaths in the U.S. from 1999 through 2003.

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Risks associated with the Ortho Evra birth-control patch were purposely downplayed by its manufacturer, a move that prompted one product safety executive to resign from Johnson & Johnson. These stunning revelations were made public by a letter the executive wrote to Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon in 2005. The letter was released by the New Jersey Superior Court at the request of plaintiffs suing the company over the defective Ortho Evra birth-control patch.

Johnson & Johnson faces more than 2,500 lawsuits over the Ortho Evra birth-control patch by users who say they suffered strokes or blood clots in their legs or lungs. On September 20, 2006, a study was released that confirmed previous studies showing an increased risk of blood clots associated with the use of Ortho Evra versus oral contraceptives. The study found that women using Ortho Evra were twice as likely to develop blood clots as those using oral contraceptive pills. As a result, the Food & Drug Administration requested the patch’s manufacturer to update the safety label on Ortho Evra to warn users about the risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.

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Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. has announced a recall of its MRL/Welch Allyn AED 20 Automatic External Defibrillators. The devices are used by emergency and medical personnel to treat adult and pediatric patients suffering a heart attack. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed the recall of Welch Allyn’s AED 20 Automatic Defibrillators to be a class I recall.

Welch Allyn initiated the recall of the defective devices on August 24. The company said that the defibrillators may display a “Defib Comm” error message. This will result in a terminal failure of the defibrillator to analyze an unconscious patient’s heart rhythm and deliver the appropriate electrical shock to restore the normal rhythm.

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People who help clean up huge oil spills face long-term health consequences down the road, says a new study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In the first study to ever investigate the health effects of oil spill cleanup, researchers found that volunteers and workers involved in the cleanup of the 2002 Prestige tanker oil spill off the coast of Spain where 1.7 times more likely to suffer respiratory illnesses than the general population.

It has been always suspected that oil spills cause long –term health problems for people affected by them. People living in the zone of an oil spill are often plagued by problems of the nervous system, blood and kidneys long after a spill has been contained. Crude oil contains numerous chemicals like benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that have been linked to cancers and birth defects. And anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals involved in the cleanup of oil spills have reported skin and respiratory problems years later. But no studies have previously been done on the long-term health consequences of oil spill cleanup.

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More than two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, some State Farm Insurance Company policy holders in Mississippi have finally settled claims with the insurer. But the 103 policy holders who were finally able to resolve their claims represent just a small fraction of homeowners who sued insurance companies following Hurricane Katrina. In fact, State Farm alone still faces nearly 2,000 lawsuits in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama over its handling of Katrina claims.

The terms settlement, which covers 103 Mississippi homeowners, are confidential. But the lawyer representing all of the policy holders told the Associated Press that the settlement is proof that “small individuals can stand up to large insurance companies and still have a resolution that is acceptable to them”. Of the 103 policyholders involved in the settlement, forty-seven had already filed suit against State Farm, while the rest where preparing to do so.

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Haldol, a drug used to treat schizophrenia, has been linked to a risk of heart problems and sudden death, causing the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a warning to health care providers. The FDA also said that Johnson & Johnson, the drug’s manufacturer, has updated the Haldol label to include the new side effect warnings.

Known generically as Haloperidol, and sold as Haldol, Haldol Decanoate and Haldol Lactate, the drug was approved by the FDA in 1971 as an intramuscular injection to treat schizophrenia. However, it is well known that physicians often administer Haldol and the other versions of Haloperidol intravenously to treat severe agitation among patients in intensive care units. There have been 28 cases of severe side effects including heart problems, some of which led to sudden death, associated with the intravenous use of the drug. Though the FDA has not approved Haldol or any type of Haloperidol for intravenous administration, such off label use is not illegal.

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The Dole Food Company is issuing yet another recall for bagged salad because of E. coli contamination. The Dole salad recall comes just a year after Dole recalled bagged spinach that was responsible for an E. coli outbreak that sickened hundreds of people across the country. Dole said that it informed the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of the E. coli-tainted salad mix on Sunday and issued the recall late yesterday. The company is now working with the FDA to determine the source of the E. coli contamination.

Dole is recalling its Hearts Delight Salad mix, a blend of romaine, green leaf and butter lettuce hearts, because a bag of the salad sold in Canada tested positive for E. coli contamination. The recall affects all bags of Hearts Delight salad mix sold in the US and Canada with a “best if used by” date of September 19, 2007, and a production code of A24924A or A24924B. Around 4,530 bags of the recalled Dole salad mix were sold in the US in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee starting September 8. Another 528 bags were sold in Canada in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. But Dole is cautioning that the Hearts Delight Salad mix could have been sold in other states and provinces, because some was purchased by wholesalers who may have distributed the salad mix to a wider area.

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The safety of drug coated stents could be affected by the type of drug that coats the device. A new study has found that stents coated with the medication siromilus appear to be slightly safer than those coated with another drug called paclitaxel. However, because the study looked at a wide variety of patients, the authors say that it is not yet possible to say that the siromilus-eluting stents are definitively safer.

Drug coated stents were developed as a way to keep blood vessels open after an angioplasty. Currently, there are two Food and Drug Adminstration approved drug eluting stents available in the US. Johnson & Johnson’s Cypher Stent emits sirolimus, while Boston Scientific’s Taxus Stent emits paclitaxel. Stents are lattice-like devices that act like scaffolding to hold a blood vessel open. The drug coating is supposed to keep scar tissue from closing the artery, a common problem with the bare metal version. In 2006, the safety of drug coated stents was called into question when the Cleveland Clinic published an analysis of fourteen stent studies covering more than 6,000 patients that found those with drug coated stents were four to five times more likely to suffer from blood clots than those implanted with bare metal stents. Since then, use of the drug coated stents has dropped dramatically.

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Food poisoning outbreaks and recalls of defective toys, drugs and other products have prompted consumer groups to demand greater governmental oversight of the industries responsible for those recalls. But now in a stunning turnabout, many of those industries are also pushing for more funding and authority for agencies like the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). However, all is not as it seems, and some new regulations could actually rob consumers of their rights and supersede state laws that offer the public more protection against defective products.

Just a few years ago, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and food processors where pleased by the Bush Administration’s hands-off regulatory policies, and generally sided with the administration to block new consumer protection rules. But now, some industries are finding that it might be in their best interest to work with Congress to craft new regulatory legislation aim at defective products. This new attitude towards regulation is motivated mainly by self interest. For instance, some industries forced to compete with cheaper imports that don’t meet voluntary safety standards now want those standards to be mandatory. Also, in response to the huge number of product recalls in the last several years, some states have made an end run around the federal government and passed their own safety legislation. By pushing for stricter federal rules, states might be convinced to hold off on passing their own tough rules.

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Chrysler and Honda have each announced recalls for more than a half million SUVs and cars with defects that could cause crashes and serious injuries. Chrysler is recalling 300,000 SUVs due to a breaking problem that occurs when the vehicles are being driven uphill. The company is also recalling cars for problems with front door latches and locks. For its part, Honda is recalling more than 180,000 Civics because a wheel-bearing seal can leak and cause the wheel to fall off, as well as nearly 20,000 others with a break light problem.

The Chrysler recall involves more than 156,000 2006-2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander SUVs, as well as 90,000 2007 Jeep Wrangler SUVs and 50,000 2007 Dodge Nitro SUVs. The company has received around 20 complaints of vehicles experiencing a delay in breaking when drivers tried to come to a stop after coasting up hill. There has been one crash tied to the braking problem, but no injuries so far. Owners of the recalled SUVs will be notified by mail this month, and Chrysler will reprogram the computer connected to the antilock breaking system in the recalled vehicles.

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