Amid the ongoing, massive, and global melamine tainting scandal decimating China’s dairy industry, its health minister is urging officials to correct the food safety system now that the deluge of Chinese children hospitalized for melamine poisoning has eased somewhat.

Health Minister Chen Zhu said that, as of Wednesday, 2,390 children remained hospitalized after suffering kidney stones and painful complications from drinking infant formula containing the industrial chemical melamine, which is used to make plastics, fertilizer, and fire retardants.  Melamine has gained notoriety in recent years for its ability to cheat nutrition tests.  Because melamine possesses high nitrogen contents, it is used to falsify protein levels in foods and was added to watered-down baby formula to create the impression of high protein levels in the diluted products and is now turning up in a wider variety of foods containing dairy products.  Melamine can cause kidney problems—including kidney stones and kidney failure—when ingested and is also to blame for the death of four and the illnesses of some 54,000 children in China. (more…)

The Johnathan’s Family Restaurant in Burlington, Ontario is the source of two confirmed cases of E. coli.  Three other possible cases have been reported in the Canada’s Halton Region.  The links to Johnathan’s were confirmed after it was found that dining at the restaurant was the common element in four cases, said Mary Anne Carson, director of Halton Region Health Protection Services.  A fifth person was still being interviewed, she said.

Johnathan’s “voluntarily closed” after being contacted by the health department, Carson said, adding that it will remain closed until the inspection is completed.  Restaurant owner Greg Tasoulis said he had no option, “A health department representative came and said ‘I want you to close the restaurant down,’” saying that the closure has put 30 employees out of work.  “How do they know it doesn’t come from the lettuce I got from our supplier,” Tasoulis argued.  “What if it’s not us? The cost is tremendous to us … over 5,000 people come through here in a week,” said Tasoulis. (more…)

A panel of experts is saying that this country’s epidemic of the potentially dangerous superbug Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, will probably worsen before any improvement is seen.

Cases of the C. diff diarrhea bug have now been seen in all 50 states, says L. Clifford McDonald, MD, of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality and Promotion.  And “we haven’t hit bottom yet,” says Lance Peterson, MD, of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute in Illinois. (more…)

Diprivan, a drug given to stop prolonged epileptic seizures, may put patients at a higher risk of cardiac arrest and deaths, a new study says.

Diprivan, known generically as propofol, is commonly given in lower doses as a sedative during surgery.  However,  Diprivan has been used for many years to stop seizures in people with refractory status epilepticus, or RSE, a condition in which people fail to respond to two more commonly used drug. RSE seizures can cause permanent brain damage. (more…)

Plainville’s Natures Fair Restaurant in Cicero, New York is closed until next Friday following a salmonella outbreak in which 20 people, including an employee, fell ill.  The outbreak began in mid-August and has continued through October 19.  Some of those who fell ill were hospitalized.

While the restaurant is closed, owner Mark Bitz says it will clean the place top to bottom, test their employees, and also review its practices. Onondaga County Health Commissioner Doctor Cynthia Morrow says she is not certain from where the salmonella originated, but noted that, “We do know that a similar strain, not an identical strain, but a similar strain was found in Minnesota turkeys.  We believe that it’s most likely associated with the turkeys but we don’t know that yet,” said Morrow.  Morrow said that she expects a few more cases.  Salmonella is often linked with turkeys, but health officials cannot confirm that turkeys are to blame in this case. (more…)

Last year saw a spate of toy recalls—more than 20 million—over a wide variety of issues, including toxic lead paint and magnets, that proved deadly when swallowed.  One of the most deadly recalls involved the Auqa Dots toy, which were recalled last November after several children swallowed the toy’s beads and fell into temporary comas.  The toys, when swallowed, metabolized into the so-called date rape drug.

Now Spin Master and Mega Brands are reintroducing LookPixos, a toy marketed by Spin Master Ltd. of Toronto.  Like Aqua Dots, LookPixos allows children to arrange small beads into designs, that, when water is added, allows them attach together permanently. Pixos are a new version of the same toy, but are being marketed under a different name. (more…)

Sony is recalling more lithium-ion batteries used in Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell laptop computers because  they pose a fire hazard.  According to the company, the batteries can overheat and cause a fire.

The Sony recall includes 35,000 lithium-ion batteries in the United States and, and an addition 65,000 worldwide.  According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC),  there have been 19 reports of the batteries overheating, including 17 reports of flames/fire (10 resulting in minor property damage). Two consumers experienced minor burns.  According to Sony,  the problem stemmed from a manufacturing problem that caused defects. (more…)

The distributor of recalled Simplicity bassinets has been named a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the Illinois Attorney General.  The lawsuit alleges that SFCA Inc, which acquired Simplicity Inc. last year, ignored a nationwide recall of Simplicity bassinets that had suffocated two infants.

In August, dozens of retailers recalled the defective Simplicity bassinets.  The massive recall affected nearly 900,000 bassinets and was prompted by the death of a six-month-old girl from Shawnee, Kansas who was strangled on August 21 when she became trapped between the bassinet’s metal bars.  In 2007, a four-month-old baby girl from Noel, Missouri, became trapped in the bassinet’s metal bars and died. It was determined that metal bars on the  Simplicity bassinets were spaced farther apart than federal standards allow. (more…)

Avandia has been linked to more than a dozen cases of liver failure, most of which proved fatal.   Reports of liver failure and deaths linked to Avandia have prompted the consumer group Public Citizen to file a petition with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) asking that the diabetes drug be removed from the market.

Public Citizen said yesterday it had identified 14 cases of Avandia-induced liver failure in the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System.  Of the 14 cases of  liver failure, 12 resulted in deaths.   (more…)

Consumer groups are saying that the hazards from all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) continue to increase and that, for the eighth year in a row, serious injuries caused by ATVs are on the rise. Children under age 16 continuing to suffer most of those injuries, according to a report released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  Worse, estimated deaths on ATVs also increased.

“Every year, more and more families are devastated by deaths and injuries caused by ATVs. This tragic problem continues to be in dire need of an aggressive and immediate solution,” stated Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety for Consumer Federation of America. “Congress, CPSC, state legislatures, the ATV industry, and the consumer and health care community still have miles to go before we adequately reduce the hazards caused by ATVs.”  American Academy of Pediatrics President David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP pointed out that, “This new report shows more of the same—continued high death and injury rates among children on all-terrain vehicles.  ATVs continue to kill and seriously injure children at alarming rates.  The CPSC’s meager efforts to stem the tide have been entirely ineffective, and industry has done nothing to make these dangerous vehicles safer.” (more…)