Toxic Substances

• Electronic Cigarettes Come Under Scrutiny

  Zev Antell | July 24, 2009 11:48 AM | 3 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The debate about the deleterious effects of cigarette smoking seems to be largely settled. The public at large is now deluged with anti-smoking messages and cigarette packs are required to...

• West Virginia Governor Exposed as Pawn of DuPont

  Michael Phelan | August 13, 2008 12:08 PM | 3 CommentsRichmond, VA

  In a story that sounds eerily like the John Grisham book, The Appeal, files released from West Virginia Governor, Joe Manchin's, office reveal that he is in bed with DuPont Company trying to get...

• Nanotechnology: Are Carbon Nanotubes the Modern Asbestos?

  Michael Phelan | May 21, 2008 12:16 PM | 2 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is concerned that the tiny nanoparticles used in nanotechnology pose serious health risks for workers employed in the nanotechnology...

• TVA Duplicity Re: Coal Ash Spill

  Michael Phelan | July 29, 2009 12:59 PM | 1 CommentRichmond, VA

  During a recent hearing before Congress, the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority acknowledged a 'larger cultural problem' at the agency as an inspector general's report says it allowed its...

• Toxic Coal Ash Spill Threatens East Tennesssee

  Michael Phelan | December 30, 2008 11:37 AM | 1 CommentRichmond, VA

  This past Monday, the Tennessee Valley Authority disclosed to the New York Times a 2007 inventory of toxic materials that the Kingston Fossil Plant, a T.V.A. coal-fired electric plant 40 miles west...

• Grass Really is Greener....

  Zev Antell | September 08, 2008 5:35 PM | 1 CommentRichmond, VA

  Litigation involving lead paint has been with us for decades. Long ago it became recognized that when ingested, lead could have deleterious effects on the human body. Essentially everyone knows by...

• Perry Admin Apparently For Environmental Regulations Before It Was Against Them

  Michael Phelan | November 04, 2011 10:26 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, sued BP PLC following a 2005 explosion at the oil company's Gulf Coast refinery. The lawsuit alleged that BP violated Texas' state clean air act. Mr. Abbott just...

• Toxic Denture Creams

  Michael Phelan | July 09, 2009 10:25 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Many years ago, I handled a product liability case against a major pharmaceutical corporation in which our client's physicians opined that she developed a fatal pre-leukemic condition as a result of...

• Tort Reform Means Less Safety

  Michael Phelan | June 12, 2009 8:34 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The naive among us who believe that limiting our Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury would benefit most citizens probably also supported Newt Gingrich's plan in the 1990's to privatize the Food...

• TN Coal Plant That Spilled Toxic Coal Ash Knew About Leaks

  Michael Phelan | January 09, 2009 9:55 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  My last blog was about the coal-burning power plant responsible for the massive spill of coal ash in East Tennessee late last month. The chief executive of the Tennessee Valley Authority...