Defective & Dangerous Products

• Chinese Tires Recalled

  Michael Phelan | June 26, 2007 3:10 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Federal agencies ordered Foreign Tires Sales, Inc. to recall up to 450,000 tires it imported from China and sold to U.S. distributors. The reason for the recall is because the Chinese manufacturer unilaterally decided not to install gum strips into its tires, thus increasing the risk of tire separation. The recalled tires were sold under at least four brand names-Westlake, Compass, Telluride,...

• Don't Buy Chinese-Made Products

  Michael Phelan | June 26, 2007 11:15 AM | 1 CommentRichmond, VA

  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...

• Dangerous Youth ATV's Still Sold Despite Warning

  Bryan Slaughter | June 18, 2007 9:27 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Hopefully, when a company discovers or is warned that one of its products is dangerous and potentially deadly to its users, it will take the steps necessary to protect its customers. We would hope that a company would be especially careful regarding a product it markets and sells to children. Unfortunately, a company called Kazuma Pacific Inc. doesn' t appear to be concerned that its Youth ATV...

• Tainted Contact Lense Solution Recalled

  Michael Phelan | May 29, 2007 3:24 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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...

• Ford Deceived Consumers About Safety of Explorer Law Suit Claims

  Greg Webb | May 29, 2007 9:17 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Consumers in California, approximately 414,000 in total, have brougt a major lawsuit against Ford Motor Company alleging that Ford deceived them about the safety of the once best-selling Ford Explorer SUV. Explorers built in the 1990's were prone to roll over for several reasons, including a high center of gravity, the lawsuit alleges. In a May 24, 2007 article, The Sacramento Bee reported...

• Don't Let K-Street Takeover the CPSC

  Michael Phelan | May 09, 2007 12:23 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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,...

• FDA Requests Recall of ALL Shelhigh Medical Devices

  Michael Phelan | May 03, 2007 3:23 PM | 2 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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,...

• Virginia Jury Awards $9.25 Million for Asbestos Death

  Michael Phelan | May 01, 2007 9:32 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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...

• Industry Foxes Guarding the Regulatory Chicken Coops

  Michael Phelan | April 27, 2007 11:30 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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...

• Strike Three for Shelhigh, Inc. and Contaminated Medical Devices

  Michael Phelan | April 20, 2007 1:34 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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...