LawSquawker • Thomas & Wan's Blawg

Common sense finally won last week when President Bush's pick to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Michael Baroody, withdrew his nomination . As you recall, Mr. Baroody was Executive Vice President at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) - a K Street lobbying behemoth devoted to helping big manufacturers evade accountability for their wrongdoing.

Just a follow up to yesterday's post on food safety, the FDA is now going to look at imported human food and potential for contamination. It's about time...frankly it's a national security issue...all our inexpensive products today come here through our seaports, airports and border crossings. Maybe we should eat things that don't travel half way around the world (just think of the savings in gasoline to haul stuff over here)? Just a thought. CNN has the full story .

So in keeping with the consumer safety topic, here's something of concern...the contaminated wheat gluten in pet food was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tainted or downright dangerous food produces from China. I'm almost shocked, but sadly, I'm not surprised...this from a former FDA official...the AP has the full story : Exporting countries are supposed to help. But governments such as China, where tainted food scandals are common, can have a stunning lack of oversight, said William Hubbard, a top FDA official for 14 years who now advocates for stiffer food safety regulations. He recounted how one supplier drove a truck over tea leaves to dry them with exhaust, which leached lead into the leaves.

So, I thought the Consumer Products Safety Commission was supposed to protect you and me and our families (and our pets) from dangerous, unsafe products. Now, an industry lobbyist has been tapped to run the Commission. I'm thinking of taking the Commission's link off our blog if the Baroody's nomination is approved. Not that people can't have a change of heart and switch sides, but considering his track record, you can't blame me for being concerned. The Stop Baroody campaign is reprinted below: http://www.stopbaroody.com/ President Bush has nominated Michael Baroody - one of Corporate America's leading anti-consumer henchmen - to head the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) - our top government agency protecting millions of Americans from injury and death from unsafe products. For the past 13 years, Michael Baroody has served as Executive Vice President at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) - a K Street lobbying behemoth devoted to helping b...

Well, it's finally happening. The contaminated Hayes Sammons Warehouse located on the EPA Helena Chemicals Superfund Site is coming down. The residents of Mission, Texas have worked very hard to pull down the warehouse, an ugly reminder of the source of their contaminated properties and bodies. Thomas & Wan has the full story here .

The family of Jesus Deleon is suing Motiva Enterprises for negligence and violations of OSHA standards which left their primary bread winner brain damaged. Mr. Deleon was working in an industrial tank at Motiva Enterprises when toxic hydrogen sulfide gas was carelessly allowed into the tank. All of his co-workers were lucky enough to climb out in time, but Mr. Deleon did not share the same fate. He was overcome with fumes and now has permanent brain damage. Thomas & Wan is humbled to represent Mr. Deleon and his family against a negligent and careless company. The Southeast Texas reporter has more .

Well, the FDA is stepping up to the plate and putting scrutiny of drug companies who spend more on advertisements than research. Novartis, the maker of Zelnorm, a drug prescribed for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) reluctantly took Zelnorm off the market on Friday, March 30th. Zelnorm was linked to a statistically significant number of heart attacks, strokes and angina pain. In fact, Novartis even admits that it knew about increased angina pain back in 2002, but the company did not feel it was statistically significant. This recent review of the same data showed differently . This tidbit is very interesting..."In a 2003 presentation, Thomas Ebeling, chief executive of Novartis's drug division, said that Zelnorm's sales in the United States were closely tied to consumer advertising. 'The weeks we go off the air, the growth flattens. When we restart, you see the growth accelerate again,' Mr. Ebeling said." NYT has the full story . If you take Zelnorm, contact you...

Bringing a lawsuit against a corporation for a defective product or toxic chemical has always been difficult--at the very least, a consumer and her lawyers are David against the Goliath corporation. In order to prove a product caused an injury requires many experts trained in the relevant scientific fields. Yet, it's not good enough just to have the number one expert in a field--you've got to have other experts, research, studies and the smoking gun documents from the corporation you are suing (assuming no shredding was done) to prove your case. In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that courts, i.e. judges, would be the gatekeepers of determing what is science and what is not. This was the seminal Daubert v. Merrell Dow case. Since then, some courts have taken Daubert , and made the rules even more stringent--all to the detriment of consumers with valid cases. Barry Yeoman of The Nation has a well-written piece on the real world effects that Daubert and its progeny have had on h...

This is the reason why you should change the channel when commercials come on… Media Study: TV Ads Overstate Benefits of Medication by Patricia Neighmond Morning Edition , January 30, 2007 · The amount of money drug companies spend on TV ads has doubled in recent years. Studies show they work: Consumers go to their doctor with a suggestion for a certain prescription drug they saw advertised on TV. Now a study in the Annals of Family Medicine raises questions about the message the ads promote. You're most likely to see drug ads during prime time, especially around the news. Researchers analyzed 38 ads aimed at people with conditions like hypertension, herpes, high cholesterol, depression, arthritis and allergies. The drug industry says the ads arm consumers with information. Researchers found that the information was technically accurate, but the tone was misleading. "Typically, what we would see with these ads is that before taking a particular prescription drug, the character...

Happy new year...it's been a long time since we've posted, but we're back from weddings, honeymoons, etc. In light of the current cold and flu season, please reconsider what you take as a nasal decongestant. Zicam, a nasal spray/swab, is heavily marketed in drug stores. It contains zinc which has been known for years to cause the permanent loss of your sense of smell, aka anosmia. It's a terrible thing to have, especially since you lose your sense of taste as well. And, it can be dangerous (imagine not being able to smell the gas leak in your house). Or, detrimental to your career (people in the restaurant business). Funny, the parent company of Zicam reported that sales will be down due to the slow start to the cold and flu season...strange that there are companies rooting for you to get sick. Here's more about multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements against Zicam. Here's a Consumer Reports article from this month re safety and efficacy of Zicam. Find out ...

The McAllen monitor has an update on our Mission lawsuit. "Justice delayed is justice denied."--William E. Gladstone, British Prime Minister, 1809-98.

Good news all over the country with the election results...change is inevitable and change is good . A shout out to Ellen Cohen for her victory over a Tom Delay lackey. Pathetic that Martha Wong didn't even call to concede ...it shows a lack of moral character. Great news also for the integrity and independence of the judiciary--South Dakota voters were smart enough to look past fringe special interests and keep the judiciary protected from being sued by unhappy parties. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the South Dakota initiative that would have stripped judges of their legal immunity and made them vulnerable to lawsuits over unpopular decisions.

Well, Corpus Christi, Texas residents are finally fed up with the lack of action by industry and government to their serious pollution problems. A local environmentalist group announced Friday it will post monthly results of an air monitoring program on its new Web site. Citizens for Environmental Justice spokeswoman Suzie Canales said data will report air quality near the refinery zone on the group's Web site at www.cfejcorpuschristi.org . The Corpus Christi Caller has more . The article fails to mention one of the most serious "side effects" of benzene exposure--Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Sadly, we have several clients who worked in the Corpus Christi area in solvent plants, asphalt paving and refineries that were exposed to benzene and now have AML. There are many industrial occupations at risk for benzene exposure and AML. Yet, government doesn't seem interested reducing the safety risks of working with benzene...certainly industry isn't interested...

We voted today--just a reminder to do so if you haven't already--remember, you can't gripe if you didn't vote. It's the American thing to do. Here's something to think about when you do go vote...hypocrites--people who demand tort reform for us common folk but turn around and file lawsuits, some frivolous, when they or their family members get injured (minor car wrecks, "negligent" doctors and demands for pain and suffering). I guess it's only pain and suffering when it happens to them, not us. We call them our Grand Old Hypocrites... HYPOCRITES OF “TORT REFORM” By Emily Gottlieb Deputy Director, Center for Justice & Democracy INTRODUCTION No one likes a hypocrite. Yet one would be hard pressed to find more hypocrites than in the “tort reform” movement. Take a look at the record of a host of lawmakers, lobbyists and even journalists who complain about lawsuits and argue that the rights of injured consumers to go to court should be scaled back becau...

In the spirit of election season, we bring you a local Houston, Texas race for State Representative in District 134. For the record, we endorse the sane candidate: Ellen Cohen . Make sure you get out and vote! Current State Rep. Martha Wong represents one of the most affluent and educated districts in Houston. Yet, watching her in debate and reading about her political mishaps is unbelievable--we are starting to feel sorry for her, and we're not even voting for her. Take a look at some of Wong's wrongs: Endorsement problem (s) Signage issues Mailing/lying issues Bribery of High School Students : In an uncomfortable moment, Wong mentioned that she sits on the board of the University of St. Thomas, adding, “so if any of you want to go there…”

When the head of the FDA is lying and cheating, is it any wonder that the food and drug suppliers are getting away with murder? (From the AP) Former FDA chief Lester Crawford has agreed to plead guilty to charges of failing to disclose a financial interest in PepsiCo Inc. and other firms regulated by his agency, his lawyer said Monday. The Justice Department accused the former head of the Food and Drug Administration in court papers of falsely reporting that he had sold stock in companies when he continued holding shares in the firms governed by FDA rules. Court papers say Crawford chaired the Food and Drug Administration's Obesity Working Group while he and his wife owned shares worth at least $62,000 in soft drink and snack food manufacturer Pepsico Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y. In addition, the documents say, he held stock worth at least $78,000 in food product manufacturer Sysco Corp., based in Houston. While he and his wife owned the stock, the panel Crawford chaired met with ...

TV can be good for you--make sure you tune in tomorrow night (Thursday) for this 4-part documentary--it's sure to be educational (plus, I don't think PBS will be running a fund drive, so they won't be interrupting every 10 minutes for a donation). Four-part PBS series will explore medical errors (taken from The Belleville News-Democrat by Roger Schlueter) One million more are injured, many by drug-dosing errors like the ones that recently killed three premature infants in Indianapolis. In fact, it is estimated that medical errors kill as many people each year as breast cancer, AIDS and car accidents combined. The four-part series will explore both the quality crisis and the innovative solutions being undertaken to improve the medical care patients depend on. The one-hour programs will be shown locally in Houston at 9 p.m. on Thursdays through Oct. 26 on Houston PBS Channel 8. Each program will examine critical health-care issues facing the country today, including patient s...

Scary but not surprising... The Food and Drug Administration recently requested a report card on how it is doing. The result? The FDA is in serious disrepair with only itself and the pharmaceutical industry to blame. The Washington Post has the scoop on the report. This is the worst part: R. Alta Charo, a panel member and bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison "also cited 'a lack of collaboration among divisions, tensions [and] inappropriate management' at the FDA, saying officials who focus on safety issues are chronically underfunded compared with those who handle new-drug approvals." "Part of the problem, the report said, is that the money paid by industry to help fund FDA's regulators, under a 1992 law designed to speed up new drug reviews, cannot under the law be diverted to FDA's safety division, which suffers from chronic underfunding." Not sure what "inappropriate management" means...maybe that's a polite ter...

The medical malpractice crisis. Tort reform. Frivolous suits. Runaway juries. These are terms thrown around by politicians and talking heads. But what do they really mean? What is the truth behind the rhetoric? Tom Baker, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, is the author of an outstanding book The Medical Malpractice Myth . This is a must read for any policy maker, voter, doctor or patient. I would recommend it to insurance executives or defense lawyers, but they already know the truth behind the myth. The excerpt is a lengthy read, but it's very well-written.

The EPA is once again in Mission, Texas for more cleanup of the former Hayes-Sammons pesticide plant, an infamous Superfund site. In its latest report, the EPA describes the site as causing "unacceptable threats to human health and the environment." So, despite the fact our lawsuit has been stalled by the pesticide corporations and their lawyers, actions are taking place to remove the pollution. Going up against Goliath is always an uphill battle--at least we've got the government and truth on our side. The McAllen Monitor has the latest .