The Simplicity and Graco crib recall is over a month old, yet the manufacturer of the defective Simplicity and Graco cribs is only beginning to send out repair kits for the dangerous products. More than 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs were recalled last month, after they were linked to the deaths of several children.

According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) Web site, free repair kit will be sent to crib owners who have pre-registered or who register now on Simplicity’s Web site (www.simplicityforchildren.com) or through Simplicity’s hotline at (888) 593-9274. In addition, consumers will be offered a rebate coupon for a future purchase as an incentive to return a reply card indicating that they have successfully installed the repair hardware. Instructions for installing the new hardware are also included on the Simplicity Web site.

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Blue Ribbon Meats has issued a ground beef recall because some meat processed at its plant in Florida could be contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The company recalled more than 8,000 pounds of frozen ground beef products after a farm that supplies beef to Blue Ribbon Meats informed the company that it may have mistakenly shipped E. coli contaminated beef to the Hialeah, Florida company.

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the products encompassed by the Blue Ribbon Meats ground beef recall include: 10-pound boxes of “WESPAK B.R.’S BRAND SEASONED BEEF PATTIES FOR SALISBURY, 80/20″; 10-pound boxes and 20-pound cases of “JNS FOODS, LLC, B.R.’S BRAND SEASONED BEEF PATTIES FOR SALISBURY, 80/20″; 10-pound boxes and 20-pound cases of “JNS FOODS, LLC, BEEF PATTIE MIX, 80/20″; 10-pound boxes and 20-pound cases of “JNS FOODS, LLC, BEEF PATTIES, 80/20″; and 10-pound boxes and 20-pound cases of “JNS FOODS, LLC, MEATLOAF SEASONED BEEF PATTIES, 80/20.”

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Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price Division has issued yet another recall of toys made with lead paint. The recall of more than 55,000 Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boats in the US, Great Britain and Canada is the fourth Mattel toy recall since August. Meanwhile, several other companies, including Family Dollar stores, also issued recalls for toys with excessive levels of lead.

According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the Chinese-made Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boats are made with surface paint that contains excessive amounts of lead in violation of federal lead paint standards for children’s toys. The Fisher-Price toy is an orange and yellow boat that squirts water. The cartoon character Diego is in the boat’s driver seat. All of the toys are marked with the “Fisher-Price” logo, and bear the product number K3413 and a date between 137-7HF and 223-7HF. The Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boats were sold at retail stores nationwide between June 2007 and October 2007 for around $15.00.

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Vioxx users, anxious that they could have unknowingly suffered health consequences from using the defective drug, have taken Vioxx maker Merck to court in New Jersey. The former Vioxx users want Merck to pay for medical monitoring in order to insure that they have not suffered from a “silent heart attack” as a result of their Vioxx use.

Vioxx was pulled from the market by Merck three years ago after research indicated that it could double a patient’s risk of heart attacks and strokes. Before the Vioxx recall, the arthritis drug had been one of Merck’s biggest selling drugs. The recall came after a Food & Drug Administration 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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The Provigil label has been updated to include warnings about life-threatening skin rashes and psychiatric problems linked to the drug. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) asked Cephalon, Inc., the maker of Provigil, to add the warnings after it had received multiple reports of skin rashes, including a disorder called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, and psychiatric symptoms occurring in people who took Provigil, including children.

Approved by the FDA in 1998, Provigil has been used to treat the excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome, and shift work sleep disorder. The military sometimes uses Provigil to keep pilots and soldiers awake during combat situations, and the drug is known to enhance short-term memory. Provigil is also used off-label to treat other conditions such as “chemo brain”, a type of cognitive impairment that often affects cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

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The Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat was recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today, following reports that several children had suffered serious injuries after falling from the popular infant seat. According to the CPSC, at least 28 children have fallen from the Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat, and three of those infants suffered skull fractures.

The Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat recall involves more than 1 million of the infant seats. The recalled Bumbo Baby Sitter Seats were sold in various retail, toy and children’s stores nationwide, and online, from August 2003 through October 2007 for about $40. The bottom of the Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat is round and flat and about 15 inches in diameter. The Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat is made of a single piece of molded foam, and comes in the colors yellow, blue, purple, pink, aqua, and lime. On the front of the seat in raised lettering is the word “Bumbo” with the image of an elephant. The bottom of the seat has the following words: “Manufactured by Bumbo South Africa Material: Polyurethane World Patent No. PCT: ZA/1999/00030.”

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Ortho Evra manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, recently settled a lawsuit with the family of a 14-year-old girl killed by the defective birth control patch. The case is just one of many Ortho Evra lawsuits settled by Johnson & Johnson prior to going trial. It likely hints at the company’s desire to avoid trials where its actions –or lack thereof – regarding safety problems with the defective Ortho Evra birth control patch could be called into question.

When Ortho Evra was introduced in 2002, Johnson and Johnson touted the once-weekly patch as a convenient alternative to daily oral contraceptive pills. The drug’s original safety label stated that the patch’s health risks were similar to those related to oral contraceptives. But in 2005, the Food & Drug Administration warned that women using Ortho Evra were exposed to approximately 60 percent more estrogen than those who used oral contraceptive pills. High levels of estrogen can greatly increase the risk of developing blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and other serious injuries. As of November 2005, the FDA had received twenty-one reports of life-threatening blood clots and other ailments associated with the use of Ortho Evra. Then in 2006, a study was published that showed women using Ortho Evra were twice as likely to suffer blood clots as those taking oral birth control pills. That study prompted the FDA to request a change on the Ortho Evra label to include a stronger safety warning.

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A Trasylol clinical trial has been halted according to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) because patients enrolled in the study who took Trasylol had a higher risk of death from bleeding. The FDA’s decision to end the Trasylol clinical trial is just the latest disturbing news about this defective drug, which has also been linked to kidney failure.

Trasylol, known generically as aprotinin, is marketed by Bayer AG. Trasylol was approved in 1993 and is used during heart bypass surgeries to prevent bleeding. The drug works by blocking enzymes that dissolve blood clots. Trasylol has been undergoing an FDA safety review since 2006 when studies linked the drug to serious side effects, including kidney failure, heart attacks and stroke. Last December, the FDA updated the Trasylol label to include a black box warning – the agency’s strictest safety notice – stating that the drug placed patients at a high risk of kidney failure. The black box warning also cautioned that the use of Trasylol should be reserved only for patients who were at risk for significant blood loss during bypass surgeries.

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A Ketek clinical trial was rife with irregularities including fraud, but the drug’s maker, Aventis never acted on reports about problems with the study. Now, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a Warning Letter to Sanofi-Aventis, the successor of Aventis, outlining various instances of misconduct by doctors involved in the Ketek clinical trial, and criticizing the drug maker for ignoring those issues.

Ketek, a powerful antibiotic, was approved by the FDA in 2004 to treat sinus infections. This approval came despite serious concerns with the way clinical trails of Ketek had been conducted. However, the FDA maintains that it did not rely on the Ketek study detailed in yesterday’s Warning Letter when it approved the drug. Shortly after its approval, however, Ketek was linked to serious side effects, including sometimes fatal liver damage. The FDA eventually confirmed 53 cases of liver failure in patients using Ketek, including five deaths. This past February, the FDA finally added black box warnings to the Ketek label and severely restricted its use

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Popcorn Workers Lung, also known as bronchiolitis obliterans, has been plaguing workers in the snack foods industry for years. An often fatal disorder, Popcorn Workers Lung has long been associated with diacetyl, a chemical used to give microwave popcorn and other snack foods a buttery flavor. But despite all the evidence linking diacetyl exposure to the onset of bronchiolitis obliterans, no agency of the federal government has sought to regulate the toxic substance. But now, Congress is taking matters into its own hands, and is considering legislation that would force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to set limits for diacetyl exposure in the workplace.

Popcorn Workers Lung is a potentially life threatening ailment, for which the only cure is a lung transplant. In 2003 and 2004, the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health found an association between the toxic substance and the development of bronchiolitis obliterans among hundreds of workers at six Midwestern popcorn factories. In April, the Centers for Disease Control reported that workers at food flavoring factories, as well as popcorn plants, were at risk for the disease.

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