All Topics

• Beware the eBAY Toys

  Robert Blanchard | August 27, 2007 10:49 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  While some Chinese toys are being pulled from store shelves, it appears that previously recalled toys are reappearing as auction items on eBay. Injury Prevention Journal looked into children's items recalled between the years of 1992-2004 and 190 of them were still available on eBay. The dangerous toys included a collapsing playyard, a car that has a battery that can overheat and burn children;...

• Preemption Attack on Your Rights

  Robert Blanchard | June 25, 2007 4:56 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  One way the big manufacturers were going to avoid any liability for their actions was to stack the courts to rule that State courts could not interfere (with jury verdicts) in areas where the Feds have regulated. Unfortunately for their diabolic plans, some of the conservatives put on the Supreme Court actually believe in keeping the Feds out where the States can do a better job of protecting...

• Beware Phony Botox

  Robert Blanchard | June 14, 2007 12:06 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  A more hellish scenario is hard to imagine: you go in for cosmetic Botox injections and find yourself unable to speak or breathe. Eric Kaplan spent months trapped in his own body after the couple were injected with a "homemade brew" of Botox. The selling of phony and low grade Botox is not an isolated problem, there are reports of low grade Botox being for as little as 10$ for an injection size...

• Another Contact Lens Solution Causes Injuries

  Robert Blanchard | May 29, 2007 5:31 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  As we looked at injury cases from the Bosch and Lomb Renu with MoisturLoc contact lens solution, we noticed a number of cases of Acanthamoeba infection. This is different from the fusarium fungal infection that had been most widely cited in relation to the Renu product, so predictably Bosch and Lomb denied any relationship between its product an Acanthamoeba infections. As if it it just couldn't...

• Baroody Withdraws

  Robert Blanchard | May 24, 2007 3:52 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Safety advocates scored a minor victory in the recent announcement that Michael Baroody withdrew his nomination to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Protests from consumer groups about his ties to industry obviously helped. Can't this administration appoint anyone that is not an industry insider or political hack?

• Beware Infant Car Seat Carriers

  Robert Blanchard | May 11, 2007 10:29 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  You want to do the right thing. Even before your child was born, you ran out and purchased what appeared to be a quality infant car seat. You read the instructions and installed it properly. You never took your new child for a ride without buckling her in. Then the unimagible happens, when using the seat as a child carrier, as designed by the manufacturer, the handle collapses and spills your...

• $65,000,000 Attack on the Jury System

  Robert Blanchard | May 05, 2007 11:09 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Well Fox News and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are at it again, misstating the facts of some crazy lawsuit. The silly complaint filed against a dry cleaner over a pair of pants for $65,000,000 is being touted by big business as an indictment of our entire civil justice system. Nevermind that the suit will soon be thrown out of court and the idiot who filed in on behalf of himself will be fined...

• Food Contamination - Growing Concern

  Robert Blanchard | May 02, 2007 11:12 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  With all the food imports now coming from China we can only expect more instances of food contamination in our food supply. Malamine is an industrial by-product that Chinese suppliers added to exported wheat gluten to make it appear more valuable. In fact it just made the product dangerous and led to the death of many dogs and cats that lived on pet food made with this gluten. Look at any of...

• Antibiotic Ketek - How Many Must Die?

  Robert Blanchard | April 25, 2007 6:43 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  It has been over 9 months since Dr. David Graham, an FDA safety official stated in his June 16, 2006 memo that Ketek should be withdrawn. He said approval of the drug was a "mistake" and contended that "every principle concerning the review and approval of new drugs was abandoned or suspended where [Ketek] is concerned."Dr. Graham believes the benefits of Ketek are outweighed by the risk of...

• Sleep Drugs - Attorneys Slow to Take Cases

  Robert Blanchard | March 27, 2007 11:51 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Despite the recent FDA warning about Sleep Aid medications like Ambien and Lunesta causing hypnotic and potentially dangerous sleep walking behavior, attorneys have been slow to take on these cases. An ongoing theme of the calls to the lawyers' offices invariably involve someone driving while in this hypnotic state. When arrested, the hapless driver is charged with driving under the influence,...