Defective & Dangerous Products | InjuryBoard Richmond

I favor free-trade and don't consider myself to be an isolationist, but enough is enough. First we learn that Chinese-made ingredients in pet food are killing our pets. Next we learn that Chinese-made toothpaste is toxic. Recently, we learned that Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains contain enough lead paint to cause permanent brain damage to toddlers who might chew on the toys. Now, the...

Last year, an outbreak of fusarium keratitis resulted in the recall of ReNu With Moisture Loc made by Bausch & Lomb. This past weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked an outbreak of acanthamoeba keratitis to AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution, a contact lens solution made by Advanced Medical Optics of Santa Ana, California. Ancanthamoeba karatitis is...

President Bush's attempt to emasculate the federal agencies tasked with protecting the American people has reached a new nadir. The President nominated Michael Baroody to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). One would think the head to the CPSC would have a track record of promoting consumer product safety. For the past 13 years, Mr. Baroody has been an anti-consumer lobbyist,...

On May 2, 2007, the FDA issued a formal written request to Shelhigh, Inc. to recall ALL of its medical devices remaining in the marketplace. I blogged in April about the April 17, 2007 raid by U.S. Marshals of Shelhigh's Union, N.J. plant. At the FDA's request, the Marshals seized all medical devices found at the plant because of concerns that the devices were not sterile. During the raid,...

The widow of a former shipyard worker who died from exposure to asbestos while building Navy aircraft carriers was awarded $9.25 million by a Newport News, Virginia jury. The deceased worker was in daily contact with asbestos from 1963 to 1974. He retired in 1994 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2004. Mesothelioma can remain latent in the body for 40 years.Sixty percent of the total...

The Bush Administration has placed so many of its industry cronies in charge of federal regulatory agencies that one has to wonder whether there is an agency out there that is being run by someone who isn't trying to undermine that agency's mission. Edwin Foulke was South Carolina's Republican Party Chairman, and an anti-union, anti-regulatory zealot who was well-know for his efforts to weaken...

It turns out that the recent seizure by the FDA of a million parts and medical devices from the Union, NJ manufacturing plant of Shelhigh, Inc. was not the first regulatory action concerning sterility problems taken in recent years by the FDA against Shelhigh. Shelhigh sterility violations resulted in FDA warning letters being issued in 2000 and again in 2005. During the recent raid on the...

FDA's inspections of Shelhigh, Inc., a New Jersey medical device manufacturer, revealed improper sterilization and extension of the expiration dates for the firm's medical devices. The conditions were bad enough that the FDA seized all the medical devices at the Union, N.J. plant. Although a milion products were seized, countless Shelhigh devices have been implanted into patients. These...

U.S. marshals and Food and Drug Administration investigators began seizing heart valves and other implantable medical devices made from cow and pig tissue by a New Jersey company because of concerns about sterility. The seizure from Shelhigh Inc. was expected to net an estimated one million parts and finished products. The FDA said it had found significant problems in the Union, N.J.,...

Ford Motor Company announced it is recalling more than 500,000 Escape sport-utility vehicles after 50 reports of engine fires caused by corroded brake parts. The recall covers model years 2001 to 2004. Ford notified dealers on Tuesday and is preparing to send letters to owners. The recall is a result of a 2006 National Highway Transportation Safety Administration investigation. The recall...

For many years, I have represented young children who have been victimized by the devastating effects of lead paint poisoning. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause brain injury, especially in young children whose brains are not fully developed until seven years of age. The civilized world has know about the hazards of lead for centuries, so it shocks me every time I read that our country...

Bausch & Lomb reported today that its fourth-quarter 2006 financial results will decline by 4% in large part because of its recall of its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution. The May 2006 recall was linked to an outbreak of eye-fungus infection that could cause corneal scarring and blindness. Separately, the eye-care company said it's recalling 12 lots of ReNu MultiPlus lens solution...

The FDA is reporting that ConAgra Foods sent bulk Peter Pan peanut butter from its plant in Sylvester, Georgia, where it was tainted with salmonella, to a plant in Humboldt, Tennessee where it was put into various food products. The Washington Post reports that health officials now warn the public to discard the products which include:* Sonic Ready-to-Use Peanut Butter Topping. Sonic outlets...

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is a potentially deadly condition in which there is inflammation throughout the whole body. One cause of SIRS is exposure to high levels of endotoxins. A recent outbreak of SIRS deaths in patients who had undergone cardiopulmonary bypass (CPG) surgery at a hospital in Virginia was linked by the Centers for Disease Control to a compounding...

I just finished reading a business article on how to compete with large companies. Its theme was that a small firm can actually have the edge over larger firms, because you do not have to worry about managing large scale organizations at the expense of personal relationship building. This might not specifically address to law firms, but it is applicable to how we have built our law firm. New law...