The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced that it has increased employee bonuses by a whopping 29 percent in the past year, despite earlier objections from lawmakers, its ongoing complaints over inadequate funding, and a number of embarrassing and widely publicized blunders, including one that allowed tainted heparin into the country.

For year ending April 12, the FDA paid out $35 million in staff incentives, a figure that is a significant increase from the $27.1 million it paid the prior year, according to records posted on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Website.  Just last year, lawmakers complained that the FDA was issuing too many bonuses, especially to high-ranking officials. This recent increase, which was shown in the latest records provided by the FDA, has prompted renewed objections by Representative Bart Stupack—Democrat-Michigan—chairman of the panel’s investigative subcommittee.  “It is outrageous that bonuses for top officials at FDA increased by nearly 30 percent over the past year despite the agency’s poor management,” Stupak said   “These bonuses are not going to the men and women in the field who FDA struggles to retain.  They’re going to top agency officials in Washington who have presided over the agency while an unprecedented number of Americans have been sickened by contaminated food and drugs.” (more…)

Mathy and Andy Downing’s daughter, Candace, hanged herself five years ago when she was just 12 years old.  Candace seemed to be a happy girl and left leaving no note or indication as to what had caused the drastic change.  According to her father, “We had no warning.  Absolutely no warning.”

The Downings blame Candace’s suicide on the antidepressant drug Zoloft and are seeking answers as to why their physician, Matheme Selassie, prescribed the powerful drug to a child whose only complaint was some anxiety over school.  Now, it turns out, some answers may be found in their physician’s activities. Selassie was paid around $12,000 to make speeches hyping Zoloft, with some of the payments from Zoloft drug maker Pfizer.  The Downings believe the money influenced the prescription. (more…)

While the Fourth of July holds the promise of family, friends, food, and fireworks, the holiday is not without its tragedies.  Last year alone, nearly 10,000 Americans were treated in emergency rooms for firework-related injuries and today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that 64 percent of these injuries occurred in the one month period surrounding the holiday.

Burns are reported as being the most common injury and comprise over half of all incidents.  Hands were the body part most injured with an estimated 2,000 injuries; eye injuries accounted for 1,400 iand legs, 1,200.  Worse, the past decade shows an increase in these dangerous, and often life-threatening, accidents.  Both 2006 and 2007 each saw 11 deaths due to firework accidents. (more…)

European regulators want tougher warnings for Procrit and Aranesp, similar to those recently added to the drugs in the United States.  On Thursday, a European Medicines Agency (EMEA) panel recommended blood transfusions to treat anemia rather than the drugs, saying the risk of tumor progression and death outweighs their benefits in patients with “reasonably long life-expectancy.”

Procrit and Aranesp are known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA).  All are made by Amgen, but Procrit - marketed as Eprex in Europe - is sold by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ortho Biotech under a licensing agreement. In the United States, Amgen markets a third ESA, called Epogen. (more…)

A bill to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that protects the makers of defective medical devices from product liability lawsuits was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday.  One of the bills sponsors, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J, said in a statement that the Medical Device Safety Act of 2008 would reverse “an unfortunate Supreme Court decision that denied victims any legal recourse.”

Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt)  plan to introduce companion legislation in the Senate. (more…)

Lead tainted artificial turf athletic fields have caught the attention of one US Senator, who has asked the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to expand its investigation into the problem.  Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has also asked the agency to provide recommendations on how parents can protect children who play on artificial grass fields, lawns and playgrounds.

The CPSC began investigating artificial turf in April, after health officials in New Jersey closed down three fields in that state after detecting what they found to be unexpectedly high levels of lead in the synthetic turf, raising concerns that athletes could swallow or inhale fibers or dust from turf surfaces. (more…)

On Wednesday, the  Kroger Company issued a ground beef recall, but only after several Michigan and Ohio health department announcements that E. coli outbreaks in those states were linked to its tainted beef.  By that time, the E. Coli-tainted Kroger ground beef had sickened dozens.  Now, it has been reported that since the recall was announced, there have been 12 additional reports of E. coli food poisoning - four more in Ohio, and another 8 in Michigan - bringing the total to at least 35.   All those stricken have been infected with the same strain of E. coli as that found in the contaminated Kroger meat,  and the include at least 14 hospitalizations.  One patient developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure.

The Kroger recall includes all ground beef products with sell-by dates between May 21 and June 8.  Kroger still has not released figures on the number of meat suppliers it works with to supply its over 2,470 supermarkets and stores in 31 states.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service  (FSIS) followed suit and is also not releasing information about the number or names of suppliers involved in the investigation, deferring to Kroger’s proprietary business relations with such firms. (more…)

Kawasaki Motor Corp. and KYMKO USA have each recalled defective ATVs (all terrain vehicles) because of throttle issues.  Consumers who have one of the defective ATVs should stop using them until appropriate repairs can be made.

Kawasaki is recalling about 6,000 2008 Model Year KFX 50 and KFX 90 Youth ATVs.  The affected models are green or white with black trim. The model name is located on either side below the handlebars. The recalled ATVs were sold at  Kawasaki dealerships nationwide from August 2007 through June 2008 for about $1,750 (KFX 50) and $2,200 (KFX 90). (more…)

Salmonella tainted tomatoes have now sickened 757 people, up more than 200 cases in the past week. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says most of the increase does not represent new infections, but rather results from a backlog of lab tests that were recently finished. However, the number of known infections makes this the country’s largest Salmonella outbreak to be linked to tomatoes.

Unfortunately, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) still has not been able to identify the source of the Salmonella tomatoes. Investigators from the agency have spent the past week inspecting farms in parts of Florida and Mexico and the warehouses and other stops those farms’ tomatoes made on the way to market. (more…)

The Bear Stearns fraud probe that has so far yielded indictments against two of the doomed investment bank’s hedge fund managers might soon engulf other banks.  Federal prosecutors reportedly want to know if Ralph Cioffi and Mathew Tannin, the indicted managers, misled banks that lent money to their failed hedge funds.

Cioffi and Tannin ran the High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund, and its sister offering, the High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, hedge funds that  invested in securities backed by sub-prime home loans.  Both funds crashed last summer, ushering in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and spelling beginning of the end of Bear Stearns. (more…)