All Topics

• Federal Agency Withheld Data On The Risks Of Distracted Driving

  Greg Webb | August 06, 2009 2:32 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  In 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a long-term study that would determine the danger posed by cell phone use behind the wheel; they began the study after evidence...

• Maytag Recalls Refrigerators That May be Serious Fire Hazard

  Greg Webb | March 11, 2009 11:39 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Maytag is issuing a recall this week for approximately 1.6 million refrigerators sold from January 2001 thorugh January 2004 at department, applicance, home builder stores. Affected models include...

• South Carolina Legislation May Eliminate Jury’s Right To Decide Punitive Damages

  Greg Webb | March 01, 2009 9:57 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  A bill, which takes away a civil jury’s right to determine whether punitive damages should be awarded in appropriate civil jury trials, was recently introduced in the South Carolina House and...

• Banned Chemical in Toys Still in Marketplace

  Greg Webb | December 03, 2008 8:00 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Children’s products containing the recently banned chemical phthalate already in stores and warehouses will be allowed to remain in the marketplace, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said...

• Employees Seeing Fewer Employer-Sponsored Health Care Plan Options

  Greg Webb | December 02, 2008 8:00 AM | 2 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Many employers are doing away with health benefits, and even those that still offer them are cutting back the options. If an employer does offer benefits, the options are likely limited to plans...

• Medtronic Faces Scrutiny By Congress Over Financial Arrangements with Physicians

  Greg Webb | October 22, 2008 10:23 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Senate lawmakers are pressuring Medtronic to disclose more information about its consulting arrangements with physicians. They cited previous evidence that the company paid surgeons to boost sales...

• Drugmakers Issue Warning on OTC Cold Medicines for Children - After the FDA Prompts the Move

  Greg Webb | October 18, 2008 10:06 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Drugmakers recently announced that they did not recommend over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children under 4 years of age. What they did not say in the announcement was that one year...

• FDA Bans 28 Drugs Made By Indian Drug Manufacturer

  Greg Webb | September 30, 2008 9:00 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is halting the importation of twenty-eight drugs made by Ranbaxy Laboratories, a giant Indian generic drugmaker, due to deficiencies in manufacturing at two of...

• An Estimated 22,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved If Trasylol Removed Earlier

  Greg Webb | March 20, 2008 5:27 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  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...

• FDA Does Not Inspect Chinese Drug Manufacturer Due To Mix-up

  Greg Webb | March 04, 2008 4:57 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  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...