Toyota Tacoma recall
The drama continues. Toyota now is recalling 2010 Tacomas because of cracks in the front drive shaft. This could lead to "...separation of the drive shaft..."
Honda airbag
Honda Motors Inc. has issued another recall to replace of more than 430,000 faulty airbag deflators that could rupture, causing death or harm to the driver. This is the third recall Honda will issue for this problem. The latest recall applies to 2001 and 2002 model-year Accord, Civic, Odyssey, CR-V, Pilot and 2002 Acura TL and CL vehicles in the United States.
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215486.html
Suffication of children
On July 2, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled of 400,000 Simplicity drop-side cribs because their risk of suffocation. Federal officials said that plastic hardware can lose its structural integrity and create a potentially deadly gap between the drop side and the crib mattress.
It’s the latest in a series of Simplicity recalls. Simplicity is now out of business.
Similar hazards have been found in cribs made by many other companies. Since 2007, more than 4.6 million cribs have been recalled. .
Yamaha Rhino 450 and 660 models
Yamaha Motor Corp. USA is recalling at the insistence of the Consumer Product Safety Commission 120,000 recreational vehicles. Two models were involved in 46 deaths and countless serious injuries.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission targeted the Rhino 450 and 660 models vehicles as unreasonably dangerous without significant alterations to the defects that caused the serious injuries and 46 deaths inflicted on consumers since fall of 2003.
Most of the injuries and deaths were due to rollovers. The design changes will reduce the risk of rollovers, improve handling and keep riders' limbs inside the vehicles.
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215486.html
Product Recall Due to Plastic Chips in Meals
Several varieties of Lean Cuisine frozen meals were recalled in late November after seven different customers reported finding pieces of hard blue plastic in their meals. According to a spokesman for Nestle Prepared Foods Co., the company that owns Lean Cuisine, at least one consumer was injured when a piece of plastic in the meal cut the person's gums.
Chopped Up Plastic in the Meals
"A tray may have broken and chip-chopped into the product," said Roz Ahearn of Nestle. On the Lean Cuisine website, the company describes the product recall in detail, noting first that the three types of meals being recalled are:
- Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean
- Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selects Chicken Tuscan
- Lean Cuisine Café Classics Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta
Not All of the Meal Varieties
The website notes that the recall is of only meals of these varieties with certain production codes, listed on the site. The production code is given on the right end flap of the meal. Most of the recalled meals have an expiration date in 2009 or 2010.
Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean
8231 5959
8241 5959
8263 5959
8269 5959
8274 5959
8291 5959
8301 5959
Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selects Chicken Tuscan
8234 5959
8253 5959
8269 5959
8292 5959
8296 5959
Lean Cuisine Café Classics Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta
8280 5959
Nestle says that it has determined that the blue plastic contaminating the meals entered a facility in a single lot (batch) of a raw ingredient. Over one million of the three Lean Cuisine meals are being recalled.
(Source: Washington Post)
What do you think about the FDA's ability to screen the food we eat?
Delta Recalls Cribs Linked to Infant Deaths
Delta Enterprise Corp., children's product maker, has recently recalled almost 1.6 million cribs linked to two infant deaths. This has led to a string of recalls of other cribs and bassinets made by other manufacturers.
The defective cribs include problematic hardware used on cribs sold from 1995 to 2005. The hardware includes safety pegs and spring pegs, respectively, for two different cribs. This hardware is what causes serious hazard and injury if not properly installed. If the drop side of the crib falls and disengages, this creates a gap that can entrap and suffocate infants.
Delta's recall is said to be huge--one of the largest in the recent series of recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
What are your feelings about cribs having such dangerous problems? Cribs have been around for a long time and the design isn't rocket science. Have any of you had similar experiences?
Obesity Drug Pulled From European Market
Acomplia (rimonabant), is being pulled off the European market. Apparently, the obesity drug that once looked to be a big hit for Sanofi-Aventis, is too risky.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA), the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) counterpart, announced that "the benefits of Acomplia no longer outweigh its risks," particularly the "psychiatric side effects."
Some say the drug has always included side effects--particularly depression. According to the AP (10/24), a study cited by the EMEA revealed "[that] obese or overweight patients taking Acomplia were at approximately double the risk of developing psychiatric disorders than those taking a placebo." Other side effects can include increased blood pressure, panic attacks or psychiatric problems such as anxiety.
Records indicate that Acomplia has been prescribed to 97,000 people in the U.K. and the drugmaker claims that 700,000 worldwide have used the drug. It has been linked to five deaths and 720 adverse drug reactions in Britain since its 2006 launch.
Sanofi has agreed to pull the drug from shelves and be complaint with EMEA and healthcare professionals.
Why is it that Europe seems to always be one step ahead of the United States concerning product safety?
Heparin
Baxter Issues Urgent Nationwide Voluntary Recall and lists the following adverse reactions:
Adverse patient reactions have included: stomach pain or discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased or low blood pressure, chest pain, fast heart rate, dizziness, fainting, unresponsiveness, shortness of breath, feeling your heart beat strong or fast, drug ineffectiveness, burning sensation, redness or paleness of skin, abnormal sensation of the skin, mouth or lips, flushing, increased sweating, decreased skin sensitivity, headache, feeling unwell, restlessness, watery eyes, throat swelling, thirst and difficulty opening the mouth.
What has been hidden in the announcement is that the consequences to the reaction this blood thinning product can be serious and life threatening.
The FDA has little budget to check out the drugs it approves and must rely upon the representations given by the very company that is under intense pressure to aquire a quick release of the product. Unfortunately, some states including Texas proclude litigation concerning products with FDA approval. This is an intense legal fight by the attorneys representing victims of dangerous pharmacuticals.
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215852.html
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215852.html
Aqua Dots recall
Spin Master Recalls Aqua Dots. Small colorful beads can be made by children that then are used to construct objects. The idea is attractive and I'm sure many responsible adults bought the product to help their children in creative play. Unfortunately the small Aqua Dots are colorful and just the right size to be candy. The covering of the dots metabolizes into a drug often referred to as the "date rape" drug. It causes the children become confused, then suffer lose of muscle control. Depending on the amount consumed, it can cause amnesia, coma and even death.
Obviously our regulatory agencies are not providing enough protection for consumers and their children. Hopefully the Administration will not further compromise the last line of defense by what it refers to as "Tort Reform"--a code word for taking away the Constitutional right of consumers to sue for damages resulting from unreasonably dangerous products.
Chrysler and Honda Recall
A recent article on the internet publication Gadget laid out the danger for consumers: Honda and Chrysler is recalling thousands of potentially unsafe vehicles which are affected by brake problems.Chrysler issued a press statement about the matter and they mentioned the problem as potential braking problems while driving uphill, now that’s something we should worry about and some 300,000 vehicles are affected by this problem.While the Honda Motor Co issued a separate statement that they are recalling 180,000 Civics and they are having faulty Wheel bearing which might potentially make the vehicles wheel less while on road .
Chrysler is recalling 156,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Commander SUV’s produced during 2006-2007 .they are also recalling 50,000 Dodge Nitro SUV’s and 90,000 Jeep Wrangler SUV’s produced this year.
The classic test for manufacturers is the balance between possibility and gravity of harm to consumers and the effert and cost to avoid the danger. One would think that Chrysler and Honda have the resources and experience to assure their customers tthe basic safety involved of adequate braking.
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215486.html
Laceration by saw
When I first started practicing law in the early 70's safety issues existed concerning circular saws. One would think that products liability lawsuits would have provided enough motivation for manufacturers to use low-tech research and development to assure that their products would not injure consumers. A new recall has hit the media. See below:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: Skil® brand Circular Saws
Units: About 811,000
Manufacturer: Robert Bosch Tool Corp., of Mount Prospect, Ill.
Hazard: The trigger switch on the circular saw can be locked on or the switch can be turned on without the use of the safety lock-out. This can cause unexpected operation of the saw, posing a risk of laceration.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received five reports of the saw staying on after the user released the trigger. No injuries have been reported.
Description: The recall involves Skil® brand circular saws with model numbers 5650, 5700, 5750 and 5755. The model number and date code are printed on the nameplate located on the front of the saw. The recall includes the following date codes:
28101 - 29231
38101 - 39231
48101 - 49231
58101 - 59231
68101 - 69231
No other models or date codes are included in this recall.
Sold at: Home centers and independent hardware retailers nationwide from January 2002 through December 2006 for between $70 and $80.
Manufactured in: United States
See www.bailey-law.com for law concerning products liability and current product recalls
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215486.html
International Consumer Protection
China has polluted our food system with poisons and the trail to the guilty has been covered with bureaucratic morass. Recently reports of recalled products has pointed to China as the number one culprit for unreasonably dangerous products. We need to enforce sanctions and judicial remedies against manufacturers outside our borders. The following article is a classic example of the looming problem associated with unregulated integration of the world's economy.
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215486.html
As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times
A toy factory worker in Dongguan, China, where some of the Thomas & Friends trains are made.
By ERIC S. LIPTON and DAVID BARBOZA
Published: June 19, 2007
WASHINGTON, June 18 — China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.
Times Topics: Consumer Product Safety
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times
A worker at a factory in Dongguan, China, uses a marker to touch up the paint on toy trains. Several Dongguan factories make Thomas toy trains.
The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas & Friends trains and rail components — about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the last two years by RC2 Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill. The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children.
Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.
Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record.
It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.
