Antioxidant supplements do not offer any advantage in the fight against cancer according to a study conducted at Harvard Medical School and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.   This is just the latest study to question claims made by the makers of dietary supplements.

The nearly decade-long study—The Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study—involved 7,627 women taking beta carotene, vitamin C, or vitamin E in combination or individually over 9.4 years said Reuters.  The study revealed that, despite taking supplements, the women experienced no meaningful decrease in cancer risk over women who did not take supplements, reported Reuters, which noted that Dr. Jennifer Lin and colleagues conducted the clinical trial. (more…)

Some lots of Ultram® ER 100mg tablets are being recalled.  Toronto-based pharmaceutical company Biovail Corporation is voluntarily recalling some lots of the painkillers—generically known as extended-release tramadol hydrochloride—from pharmacies and wholesalers after finding that certain batches were found to be “out-of-specification” by about one percent regarding “maximum dissolution at the eight-hour mark,” said Fierce Biotech.

The specification variance concerns the rate at which the medication dissolves.  RTT News explained that that Ultram uses a so-called “Smartcoat” technology that is designed to release the once-daily pain medication throughout the day. (more…)

Following the fatal Metrolink train crash that killed 25 people and injured 138, seven lawsuits have been filed.  Officials said 220 people were aboard the commuter train on September 13, which was heading from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County, when it ran head-on into a Union Pacific freight train traveling in the opposite direction.  According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Metrolink train’s engineer failed to stop at the final red signal, which forced the train onto a track where the Union Pacific freight was traveling.

KeyT3 reported that the seven lawsuits were filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the victims of the deadly September 12 Metrolink collision.  Two lawsuits allege negligence and wrongful death and seek unspecified damages, said KeyT3, which reported that two lawsuits name the following defendants:  The regional rail authority that operates Metrolink, several contract companies, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  The other suits, which seek a jury trial and general damages, name Connex Railroad—a contractor that provides engineers who run the Metrolink trains—as well as Veolia Transportation—Connex’s parent company—and the train engineer’s estate. (more…)

Evenflo is recalling about 95,000 Majestic™ High Chairs.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced the recall citing fall and choking hazards to children.

The Evenflo Company of Miamisburg, Ohio is recalling the nearly 100,000 Majestic™ High Chairs because the plastic caps and metal screws on both sides of the high chair can loosen and fall out, posing both fall and choking hazards to children and can cause the seatback to suddenly fall back or detach from the high chair.  Children can fall out or collide with objects and suffer broken bones, abrasions, cuts, and bruises and the detached plastic caps and metal screws pose a choking hazard to children.  Justice News Flash notes that in addition to causing injuries, the detached plastic and metal pieces have also reportedly been found in toddlers hands posing a choking hazard. (more…)

Plavix, a popular anti-clotting drug, could soon have new information added to its label detailing genetic factors that might inhibit its effectiveness.  According to The Wall Street Journal, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is considering the changes after various studies showed Plavix failed to work in nearly a third of the cardiac patients who used it.

Plavix is used to prevent blood clots after a recent heart attack or stroke, and in people with certain disorders of the heart or blood vessels.  The medication keeps the platelets in the blood from coagulating to prevent unwanted blood clots that can occur with certain heart or blood vessel conditions. (more…)

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a transfer of $28 million in assets  held by alleged Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff to the trustee overseeing the case.  The funds will be used to pay for the administrative costs related to the liquidation of Madoff’s business.  Meanwhile, as more investors filed lawsuits seeking to recover money they lost as a result of his alleged investment fraud, Madoff faces a year-end deadline to furnish federal regulators with a list of his personal assets.

The 70-year-old Madoff was arrested on one count of securities fraud on December 11.  Madoff – once a chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange – is the founder and primary owner of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. The firm is primarily known for its business in market-making, or serving as the middleman between buyers and sellers of shares. However, Madoff also oversaw an investment-advisory business that managed money for high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds and other institutions. (more…)

A developer is the first Tennessee landowner to file a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for last week’s devastating fly ash spill.  The lawsuit is seeking $165 million in damages from the TVA.

The Tennessee fly ash spill occurred  around 1:00 a.m. last Monday morning after  a wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant in central Tennessee broke.  Though the exact cause of the accident was not known, it was thought that six inches of rain over the previous 10 days and overnight temperatures in the teens contributed to the dam breach. (more…)

A report by the National Research Council is calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to look at phthalates and their effects on human health, reports Science Daily.  A National Research Council panel said that there is now sufficient scientific data to warrant an EPA assessment on cumulative exposure to  the toxic, plastic-softening chemicals, reported Reuters.

The panel said so-called Cumulative Risk Assessment should consider combined phthalate exposure as well as other toxins that cause similar effects, reported Science Daily.  The report noted that currently, the EPA looks at chemicals that are similar in structure and not similar health effects.  In looking at effects, the EPA could also investigate the risk of combined exposures to toxins such as lead, methylmercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls since all are known to contribute to the same effect:  Cognitive deficits linked to reduced IQ scores in children.  Because of this type of correlation, the National Research Council suggested the EPA use the cumulative analysis approach for future assessments on other chemicals, said Science Daily. (more…)

Honey is the latest Chinese food import to raise safety worries in the United States, reports the San Francisco Gate.  According to the report, the United States has imported the majority of its honey from China for years, despite concerns that it might be contaminated with a dangerous antibiotic.

Over 10 years ago, in 1997, a contagious bacterial epidemic infected bee larvae in hundreds of thousands of Chinese hives, resulting in the majority of that country’s honey production being cut by two-thirds, said the SF Gate.  The report explains that while Chinese beekeepers could have destroyed the infected hives, they, instead, applied a dangerous, extremely toxic, banned antibiotic.  According to Michael Burkett, professor emeritus at Oregon State University and an international bee and honey expert, this was the wrong choice, “You hear about people shooting themselves in the foot?  Well, the Chinese honey-sellers shot themselves in the head,” he told the SF Gate. (more…)

Two new reports released by the Annals of Emergency Medicine have concluded that health care workers in emergency departments—so called ERs or EDs—of hospitals are often found to carry a dangerous infectious bacteria, said Reuters.  MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, seem to be much more prevalent in this population than first thought, putting untold numbers of patients at risk for the often dangerous, sometimes deadly infection, Reuters pointed out.

It has long been known that health care workers test positive for MRSA from time to time; however, the two new studies found that the incidence is much more frequent, placing the health care workers deep into the MRSA mix according to Dr. Elise O. Lovell from Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Illinois, said Reuters Health.  In the first study, Lovell and her colleagues found that, based on nasal swab testing from a sampling of 105 emergency department staff at Advocate Christ Medical center, 16 staff—or 15 percent—tested positive for MRSA and included 12 nurses, two technicians, and two doctors, reported Reuters.
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