Virginia updates tagged with 'Defective Products'

The Washington Post reported on a British study, in late May, 2008 that new microscopic nanotubes that are being made for a wide variety of consumer products can cause the same kind of damage in the body as asbestos, and its deadly cancer of the lung lining called mesothelioma. These findings were made by well respected British researchers in a recent study of mice and the study is sounding alarms among workplace experts. Nanotubes are increasingly being used in electronic equipment, and sporting goods equipment and other products.

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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industries, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), up to date, ignoring the shrinking staff and out of date technology.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...

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MEGA Brands America Inc. issued a recall on about 2.4 million Chinese-manufactured toys last week due to small magnetic components falling out of its toys, resulting in a choking hazard. MEGA Brands is recalling about 1.1 million Magtastik and Magnetix Jr. preschool toys, along with 1.3 million MagnaMan magnetic action figures. The toys were sold between January 2005 and December 2007 at toy...

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Charlottesville, Va. (March 17, 2008) A lawsuit was filed today in the Circuit Court of Prince William County, Virginia on behalf of the Estate of Hayden Ellias, the 10 year-old boy who died when an unsecured soccer goal fell over and killed him. The estate is represented by attorneys Shawn S. Kasserman with the Chicago, IL law firm of Corboy & Demetrio and J. Gregory Webb and Paul R. Thomson,...

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A San Francisco Superior Court jury has ordered Georgia Pacific Corp., an asbestos manufacturer, to pay over $7 million in damages, in the largest asbestos-related verdict ever. The decision came after the manufacturer exposed a onetime film actress and singer, Joan Mahoney, to fibers, causing her to contract terminal cancer, mesothelioma, while she was working in a home-remodeling business with...

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A California state appellate court stood by its earlier ruling, instructing Ford Motor Co. to award $82.6 million in damages to Benetta Buell-Wilson claiming faulty design caused her wreck, even after the Supreme Court asked them to reconsider. The three appellate justices said the case used by the Supreme Court for precedent did not contain anything that warranted a change in their judgment....

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In late February, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court ruled patients injured by most medical devices cannot sue the manufacturers. This decision expands upon the Bush administration's policy reversal in 2004, contending that if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a product, the manufacturer of the product is therefore protected against lawsuits at the state level. The recent...

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Consumer groups are publicizing a recent lawsuit settlement against Sears in an effort to encourage lawmakers to toughen legislation on consumer product safety. The lawsuit against Sears occurred due to the company's installation of millions of kitchen ranges that were prone to tipping over, thus causing more than one hundred people injuries from burns caused by hot matter spilling from the...

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In a 2006 study, Trasylol, a drug made by Bayer for use in operating rooms to control bleeding, was shown to have contributed to the deaths of thousands of patients over a fourteen-year period. The Canadian government conducted a clinical trial on the drug that had to be stopped due to the deaths of so many patients. There was concern long before the trial as well. After major studies identified...

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A San Francisco jury Monday returned a $20 million verdict in favor of an asbestos victim. The jury determined that the sole remaining defendant at trial, Georgia Pacific Corp., was responsible for 30% of the verdict. The plaintiff was a former film actress and singer who toured the world seven times entertaining our troops as a USO singer. The plaintiff and her husband started a part-time...

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failed to inspect a Chinese facility that supplies the active ingredient of heparin, a widely used blood thinner, because the facility's name was confused with another just like it. The FDA says, however, that the heparin case is one of their top priorities and a team of inspectors is on its way to investigate the plant as part of an effort to deduce what...

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The Food and Drug Administration reported last week that the number of deaths associated with heparin, a brand of blood thinner, has risen. The brand of heparin associated with the problems is made by Baxter International. Baxter produces most of the heparin used in the United States. Heparin is made from pig intestines, which, of course, could be supplied by U.S. farmers. Baxter buys its...

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Mesothelioma is an aggressive lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A New Jersey jury recently returned a $30 million verdict in favor of a 50 year old advertising executive who died from mesothelioma. The decedant's exposure to asbestos was when he worked summer jobs at GM warehouses handling asbestos-containing automotive parts. The decedant's father also worked full-time at the...

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A handful of well-known baby products made out of vinyl plastic, such as baby bibs and lunchboxes, have recently been found to contain high levels of lead. Some other baby products were also found to contain high amounts of lead: a Medela-brand cooler used to store breast milk, a carrying case sold with the First Years breast pump made by RC2, a Playtex baby bottle cooler, and a vinyl pacifier...

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A Chinese factory, which has not been inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, is the source for the active ingredient of heparin, a drug used widely in dialysis, heart surgery and chronic care in hospitals. Heparin is a blood-thinning drug whose production was suspended after 350 patients reported bad side effects from it. Late last year, heparin was recalled after many pediatric dialysis...

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