The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has promised to clean up more than a billion gallons of fly ash that spilled from one of its retention ponds near Knoxville last week.  Meanwhile, an environmental group is faulting the TVA for failing to adequately warn residents in the area of the spill of possible toxins that might be contained in the sludge.

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 TVA Promises to Clean Up Fly Ash Spill, Faces Criticism Over Response

Federal health regulators have approved a new gadolinium contrast agent for use in magnetic resonance angiography, or MRA.  The Food & Drug Administration (FDA)  chose to approve Epix Pharmaceutical’s Vasovist Injection despite the known association between gadolinium contrast dyes and a disorder called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF). The FDA said a boxed warning about the risk of NSF will be included on the labeling of Vasovist.

Vasovist is the first contrast imaging agent for use in patients undergoing MRA, a minimally invasive test for examining blood vessels.  Although MRA can be performed without the use of a contrast imaging agent, the FDA said Vasovist administration provides a clearer image in patients who are suspected of having blockages or other problems with the blood vessels in their abdomen or limbs. The MRA is performed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which relies on magnetic fields to create highly detailed images of the inside the body.   More Vasovist Approved for MRA Procedures

Consumers may be getting scammed when it comes to cell phone text messaging rates, according to a new report in The New York Times.  As the Times article points out, cell phone carries incur virtually no costs when customers send text messages, yet text messaging rates have doubled over the past several years.

Since 2005, customers of Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have seen their text messaging rates jump from 10 cents a message in 2005 to 20 cents a message.  The latest price hikes came just one year after all the major carriers raised individual text messaging rates from 10 cents a message to 15 cents per message. Sprint was the first carrier to increase the text message rate to 20 cents in the Fall of 2007, and all of its three main competitors quickly followed suit. More Text Messaging Rates Questioned

Six men in China are being tried and have been accused of making and selling melamine, says the BBC.  Melamine-tainted milk formula has been blamed for sickening hundreds of thousands of children and killing six infants in that country.  The men have been accused of adding melamine to raw milk to raise its protein levels, said the BBC.

Melamine is an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of fertilizer, fire retardants, and plastics and has been at the center of a global scandal originating in China over the adulteration of a wide variety of food products with an array of dangerous contaminants.  In particular, melamine has been used in that country to falsify protein levels.  Because melamine contains such high nitrogen contents, it can be used to make certain foods—for instance intentionally diluted milk products—appear high in protein in certain tests, enabling producers and manufacturers to pass off sub-standard products as protein-rich.  In sufficient quantities, ingesting melamine can cause kidney problems, including kidney stones and kidney failure, and in the case of at least six children, death.  The melamine milk scandal first broke after tens of thousands of Chinese babies were sickened, hospitalized, or died as a result of melamine contamination. More Tainted Milk Trial Starts in China

In another case of possible listeria contamination, a variety of T. Piekutowski European Style Sausage Krakow sausages are being recalled.  The Associated Press (AP) reports that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that the potentially tainted sausages were produced on December 18 and sold at the T. Piekutowski European Style Sausage retail counter in St. Louis, Missouri.  Reuters noted, according to a statement released by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), consumers might have bought the sausages December 18-19.

The Cattle Network reported that T. Piekutowski European Style Sausage is recalling approximately 750 pounds of Krakow sausage, which were sold in various sizes and wrapped in unmarked butcher paper with no label.  The recalled T. Piekutowski European Style Sausage Krakow sausages were custom-wrapped at the company store and do not bear the company number or the USDA inspection mark, said Reuters.  The contamination was discovered through FSIS routine microbiological testing, said the Cattle Network, which is advising consumers with questions to contact T. Piekutowski European Style Sausage company Owner-Operator Ted Piekutowski at (314) 534-6256. More Sausage Recall over Listeria Contamination

The older population is more susceptible to the dangers of drug mixing than other groups, according to a recent survey.  USA Today reports that one in 25 older Americans—about 2.2 million people—are at risk for serious health problems that include bleeding and muscle weakness because they take dangerous drug combinations that in about 50 percent of the cases include nonprescription medications (over-the-counter or OTC) and supplements.  The researchers work appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Some may assume that, just because a drug is available without a prescription, it’s safe,” lead author Dima Qato told USA Today.  According to the report, Qato is a pharmacist at the University of Chicago, who, along with her team, based the findings on a nationally representative sample surveying Americans aged 57 to 85.   More Elderly Endangered by Drug Mixing

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced three product recalls over fire, strangulation, and fall hazards.

The CPSC announced that Hallmark Cards, Inc., of Kansas City, Missouri has recalled 7,000 Jumbo Snowman Snow Globes, which were made in China, because when exposed to sunlight, the Hallmark Snow Globes can act as a magnifying glass and ignite nearby combustible materials, posing a fire hazard.  To date, Hallmark has received two reports of the Jumbo Snowman Snow Globes igniting nearby materials.   More CPSC Recalls Over Fire, Strangulation, and Fall Hazards

The trustee appointed to oversee the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment business has hired an investment bank to handle the sale of  Madoff’s  trading unit.  According to The New York Times, several potential buyers have already been contacted to gauge their interest in the business, while other firms have already expressed an interest.

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 Bernard Madoff Trading Business For Sale

Custom-made Cranial Implant Kits made by Stryker Corp. have been recalled over sterility issues.  According to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the Cranial Implant Kits are used to correct defects in the jaw and face, or cranium and face.

The Stryker cranial implant kit recall has been deemed a Class I recall by the FDA.  Class I recalls are the most serious type of recall and involve situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious injury or death, the agency said. More Stryker Recalls Crania Implant Kits

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) now says that  5.4 million cubic yards of potentially toxic fly ash was released from a retention pond at its Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, TN when a dam burst there early Monday morning.  According to the Knoxville News, that’s triple the estimate of  1.7 million cubic yards the TVA released earlier this week.

The TVA said it could take months, if not years, to clean up the Tennessee fly ash spill.   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was supervising the cleanup, and was also trying to determine if the area engulfed by the fly ash should be deemed a Superfund site. More TVA Ups Fly Ash Spill Estimate