Texas Injury Law Blog

A type of oval-shaped beetle 1/8 of an inch long, known as the Trogoderma variabile and commonly found in dried grains, has been found in numerous containers of the infant powdered formula Similac. If you or someone you know has bought any rectangular plastic tubs or the 8-ounce, 12.4-ounce and 12.9-ounce cans of the powdered formula, call the company's consumer hotline at (800) 986-8850 or go to www.similac.com/recall for further information.

While the company spokeswoman has said these beetles pose no serious health concern, it's still discomforting to imagine a baby consuming warehouse beetles and their larvae. Keep a watchful eye out for signs gastrointestinal distress in your baby if the child has consumed any of this formula.

See the news article here for more information.

Yanta Law Firm

The linked article below provides an informed & historical perspective on the complex food safety regulation protocols that made the recent recall of 550,000,000 eggs so complicated & slow.

Food Safety Legislation Won't Mend Regulatory Divide

Judging from the article, it looks like a lack of reasonably enforceable oversight created the opportunity for producers to potentially game the convoluted system of food safety regulation. Thankfully, the U.S. Congress is attempting to fix the recall routine, to "clarify authority" & streamline the process of holding negligent (in this case, possibly criminally negligent) producers' feet to the fire.

While we welcome any good-faith attempt to keep us safer from unsanitary foods & other unsafe products, we regret that something akin to the current legislation wasn't passed much sooner. Had that been the case, the current spate of egg-borne salmonella enteritidis--the same that has sickened more than 1,500 people--may have been more easily avoided. That being said, we applaud this latest development as a step in the right direction for consumer protection.

Yanta Law Firm: Rebuilding Shattered Lives
800-313-2555

Recently found this in USA Today:

Older Ford F-150s Probed for Fuel Tanks that Can Fall Off

The fuel tanks on that year model range of Ford F-150 pickup truck (1997 - 2001) can fall off due to rusting straps that are supposed to secure the gas tanks to the truck. If you or someone you know owns one of these trucks, stay watchful of the undercarriage and listen for the sound of something dragging underneath the vehicle. We'll keep you posted on the latest developments in this potential recall of 1.4 million trucks. Stay safe.

Yanta Law Firm: Rebuilding Shattered Lives

As a Texas product safety attorney, father of four, and grandfather of one, I have been keenly interested in following a tragic new development regarding child safety risks: Seven infant deaths linked to some very popular infant slings indicate that many of the models of slings may pose too great of a danger to infants, according to Inez Tenenbaum, Chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal government's consumer protection agency. So says EmaxHealth in a recent article on the subject. In fact, some 1,588 posts on the issue of infant sling dangers appear on the CPSC's own website as of today.

According to a Tampa Bay Online March 9th article, Chairwoman Tenenbaum said that the CPSC is on the verge of issuing a general warning to the public concerning the grave hazard.

Further tracing the history of problems with infant slings, the Tampa Bay Online article pointed out another scary fact: as far back as 2008, safety watchdog Consumers Union began warning of other infant sling hazards, in an article published in its Consumer Reports magazine. In fact, its current article on the subject elaborates on 37 other serious injuries to infants carried in those slings. Says the article, skull fractures and other broken bones, plus serious bruises, occurred most often when the infant actually fell out of the sling. Poignantly, Consumer Reports says that the pathetic injury record, along with the absence of any safety standards, put infant slings on that magazine's list of products not to buy for infants.

The magazine repeated its call for a federal government recall of one model, the Infantino SlingRider, on account of the child suffocation risk it poses. Furthermore, it also promised it would publish more information on this timely topic of infant sling hazards in the next few weeks.

Continue reading "Infant Slings Becoming a Deadly Menace" »

(Washington, D.C.) Even though the diabetes drug "Avandia" was implicated in an estimated 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007, the consumer "protection" agency of the federal government - the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - still allowed the drug to be prescribed and used freely throughout the U.S.; so says a just-released Senate Committee report publicized tonight on national network television newscasts.

According to the Washington Post, Avandia brought in revenues of $2,200,000,000 in 2006 for its manufacturer, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), making Avandia the company's 3rd-best-selling drug that year.

After reviewing more than one-quarter million pages of documents, the Senate Committee concluded that "GSK was aware of the possible cardiac risks associated with Avandia years before such evidence became public..."

Yet, instead of warning patients sufficiently and promptly alerting the FDA of the problems, the Committee found that GSK bosses instead intimidated independent doctors and concentrated on manipulating the findings about Avandia causing increasing risk of cardiovascular events. Said the report, GSK even attempted to minimize the good news about the positive effect - reducing cardiovascular risks - that its rival's pharmaceutical, ACTOS, had demonstrated. (Senate Committee report, @ pp.14-15.)

Outlined in a black box, GSK's website said this about Avandia:

"WARNING: CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE AND MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA"

In that warning box, GSK goes on to warn of -

• the need to monitor carefully for heart failure symptoms after Avandia dosage increases;

• its recommendation that symptomatic heart failure patients avoid Avandia; and

• Avandia's relationship to angina or heart attack.