Defective & Dangerous Products

• Hertz Announces Product Recall

  Rick Patterson | March 31, 2008 4:50 PM | 0 CommentsLancaster, CA

  Just when consumers are trying to recover from the pet food recall, the Hartz Mountain Corporation has announced a recall on one of their products. This recall involves vitamins, of all things. There is concern that the product might be contaminated with Salmonella. This is not the first recall of this kind by Hertz. Just last November, they recalled particular lots of vitamins due to similar...

• Vytorin and Zetia - Consumers Ripped Off

  Jean Martin | March 31, 2008 10:35 AM | 0 CommentsWilmington, NC

  Doctors are being urged to cut their prescriptions of the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs Vytorin and Zetia in patients. A recent clinical study showed that Vytorin and Zetia were far more expensive yet far less effective than statin drugs. The study did not raise significant safety issues among patients treated with Vytorin, but did suggest that patients need not pay the higher cost for...

• Combi USA Recalls Child Car Seats

  Chrissie Cole | March 30, 2008 2:30 AM | 0 CommentsEastern Massachusetts, MA

  Combi USA is voluntarily recalling over 67,000 infant car seats because the seat can separate from the base resulting in injury, in the event of a crash. Should the seat separate, the child would not be adequately protected.The car seat recall includes the entire line of infant seats from October 2005 to December 2007, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...

• Maine Lawmaker wants Lead Paint Registry

  Dan Frith | March 29, 2008 6:55 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Kudos to Maine's Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings! He is sponsoring a bill that would create a state registry of homes that have been declared lead-free, so that people with children can make sure the home they're buying is safe.And Speaker Cummings knows something about the effects of lead paint on children....His son was diagnosed with lead poisoning about a decade ago. Lead poisoning...

• Hillsborough County Courts Facing Severe Budget Cuts

  Brenda Fulmer | March 28, 2008 1:33 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL

  Hillsborough County Bar members received a plea this week from Chief Judge Manuel Menendez, Jr., urging lawyers to write Senate President Ken Pruitt and Speaker of the House Marco Rubio in an effort to stop legislative proposals that would slash the local court's budget by 10%. Such a cut would result in approximately one-third of staff jobs being eliminated from the Hillsborough County court...

• North Texas Toy-Maker Recalls Rock 'N Ride Rocker

  RLF Staff | March 28, 2008 10:26 AM | 0 CommentsDallas, TX

  A Southlake toy-maker just announced the recall of about 122,000 units of Rock 'N Ride plush rockers because the product could potentially injure young children. The company has received 35 reports of the rocker tipping over, with 10 such incidents resulting in injuries like bumps, bruised and lacerations. The culprint? A faulty plastic base that could make the rockers unstable.The eight...

• Youth suicide prompts the FDA to investigate asthma drug Singulair and possible link to severe mood changes

  Don Briggs | March 27, 2008 11:28 PM | 0 CommentsBangor & Augusta, ME

  Cody Miller was fifteen years old when he unexpectedly ended his own life on August 4th of 2007, just two weeks after starting on the popular allergy drug, Singulair, for his allergies. MSNBC reported today that Merck, the company that sells Singulair, has changed the drug's labeling four times in the past year to include information on a range of side effects such as tremors, anxiousness,...

• Lead Paint Manufacturers Attempt to Escape Responsibility

  Dan Frith | March 27, 2008 6:27 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A Rhode Island jury in 2006 found three companies -- Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries, Inc. and Millennium Holdings LLC -- liable for creating a public nuisance by manufacturing a product that continues to poison children. The state filed the lawsuit against the manufacturers alleging that they had created a public nuisance by selling and promoting lead pigment for use in paint in Rhode...

• Total Body Liquid Diet Supplements Recalled After Reports of Adverse Reactions

  Chrissie Cole | March 27, 2008 1:49 AM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  Total Body Formula, in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced a voluntary recall of Total Body Formula, liquid diet supplements in Tropical Orange and Peach Nectar flavors.The following lot numbers are included in the recall: 4016801, 4016802, 4024801, 4024802, 4031801, 4031802 or 4031803.The recall follows a recent report by the Florida Department of Health that...

• Bush Administration And Congress Renew Steps In Ensuring Consumer Product Safety

  Greg Webb | March 26, 2008 5:51 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  With the importation of many cheap goods, along with the weakness of the nation's regulatory system, millions of products were recalled last year. In the past, the Bush administration has had little motivation in trying to make regulation industries, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), up to date, ignoring the shrinking staff and out of date technology. Now, however, with the...