News tagged with 'EPA'

In a new report, the federal government says that Chinese drywall has elevated sulfur emissions. But, the preliminary findings stop short of linking it to health problems. More results will be released in November.

A conference on distracted drivers begins in Washington Wednesday, and truckers are sure to square off with safety advocates over computers in the cab.

Sheller, P.C. law firm, also an InjuryBoard Member, was instrumental in aiding the government to recoup record numbers of dollars for federal and state governments, taxpayers and whistleblowers in two historic cases against Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has been slapped with a record $2.3 billion civil and criminal fine for promoting four drugs for off-label use, paying off doctors and billing the government. Pfizer is a "repeat offender" says the government.

Court documents released Monday help tell the story of a cocktail of drugs and half dozen doctors attending to Michael Jackson to help him fight insomnia. Propofol and a dozen other drugs led to his death, and Jackson becomes one of more than 20,000 deaths a year due to prescription drugs.

Kristen Diane Parker, a former Colorado surgery technician accused of stealing syringes filled with pain medication and switching them with used syringes, despite knowing she had hepatitis C, has been denied bail. Parker's actions put nearly 6,000 patients at risk.

The average American has a cancer risk of 36 in 1 million if exposed to toxic air pollution, according to a new report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Air toxins are known to or suspected of causing cancer and other serious health problems.

The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that a public health emergency exists at the Libby asbestos site in Montana. This is the first time the agency has made a determination under the Superfund law, which governs sites contaminated or threatened by hazardous substances.

Environmental Protection Agency tests of drywall made in China confirm it contains sulfur, not found in U.S.- made drywall, in addition to the metallic element, strontium, at ten times the level of domestic drywall. 

On the day the Labor Department announced another half-million job losses, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health are releasing their findings about unemployment’s impact on health. Losing a job can translate into compromised health, researchers found, even if a new job is secured. 

Children of mothers who took the anti-seizure medication valproate, had lower IQ scores as three-year-olds, researchers find. Valproate should not be the first line of epilepsy defense for any women of childbearing age they conclude. 

Two U.S. senators have filed new legislation aimed at initiating a recall and imposing an immediate ban on importing “tainted building products from China." The tainted Chinese-made drywall has been creating problems in homes from Florida to Louisiana.

The FDA is warning against the sharing of insulin pens and cartridges after the practice at some Army hospitals apparently led to the sharing of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis C.

Drs. Margaret Hamburg and Joshua Sharfstein, both Harvard Medical School grads, have been chosen by President Obama to be the commissioner and deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.  They still must face confirmation hearings.

It may be the most significant criminal prosecution ever brought against a corporate polluter. The town of Libby, Montana is finally having its day in court. Town residents claim that the vermiculite mining operation, W.R. Grace, withheld information about the dangers of asbestos that blanketed the entire town with a fine dust.  More than 1,200 died or developed lung disease from asbestos fibers.