Author Archive

Startling Study: 91% Canadians have BPA in their Urine

August 19th, 2010. By Hunter West

It may be the title and a line from a romantic Peter Frampton song, but in this context it is anything but endearing.

I’m In You…

In this case, you’d rather the suitor not—especially Canadians who learned on Monday that according to a national survey through the analysis of thousands of representative samples, 91 percent of the population of Canada is found to have bisphenol A (BPA) in their urine.

The good news is that BPA is excreted from the body after about six hours. But here’s the bad news: such a high percentage suggests that Canadians are exposed to BPA on a regular basis and from a variety of sources. What’s more, according to a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the findings mirror those of other international studies.

So it’s something we all have to fret about.

BPA was banned from baby bottles some time ago—and therein lay the most serious concern over the man-made substance. Some studies on animals suggest that low levels of exposure to BPA very early in life can affect brain development and behavior, but scientists are unsure how these findings might be relevant to human health, according to Statistics Canada.

But baby bottles aside, BPA lurks in a lot of other stuff, too: water bottles and Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BPA
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Environment | No Comments »

The Latest Botox Buzz: ‘Teen Toxing’

August 12th, 2010. By Hunter West

Am I missing something here?

The last time I checked, cosmetic Botox was approved for wrinkles in the brow between the eyes.

That’s it. Oh, there are other approved medical uses for Botox—therapeutically in children as young as 12 with abnormal twitching of the eyelid or crossed eyes. It can also help patients 16 and older with involuntary contraction of neck muscles, and by people 18 and up to combat excessive sweating..

However, cosmetically Botox has an extremely limited footprint (or face print, if you will) according to the original approval for cosmetic purposes by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Does that surprise you?

Little wonders that it does, given the astounding degree to which Botox is used off-label cosmetically.

It’s outrageous. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, outline toxin—which is Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Botox
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 3 Comments »

Overdraft Fee Irony: Bank Causes Overdraft, Then Charges for it

July 29th, 2010. By Hunter West

File this one under “WTF”.

Devon Donovan was just a kid with some cash and a savings account. Cash from hours worked as a lifeguard, when she could have been swimming. Hours working as a babysitter, when she could have been hanging out with her friends. When she was given money for her birthday and at Christmas, she put it away to save towards school trips.

In other words, Devon was a kid who got it right. She didn’t spend wildly. She saved her money. And when she went off to college, she kept what she assumed was a couple of hundred bucks or so in that account to save for a rainy day.

That’s what savings accounts are for.

Instead, a bank unjustly robbed her of her savings and the message was clear: we don’t care about your laudable savings habits, we couldn’t give a flying fig that you’re a kid with the right idea and we couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge such good behavior.

Legally, Citizens Bank was in the clear. But morally, is it right? Is it fair for any bank to do what Citizens Bank did to a citizen who deserved better?

Citizens Bank decided, starting in 2007, that it would begin charging a monthly fee of $5 for balances under $500. The notification, as it turned out, was a small line at the bottom of a statement from November 21^st, 2006 referring to the new policy taking effect on January 8^th of the New Year.

There were also new limits on monthly transactions and fees for what were described as ‘excessive transactions.’

Obviously, Devon did not see the innocuous notification on her bank statement. Besides, she Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Banking, Citizens Bank, Overdraft fees
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 4 Comments »

3 for Hall of Shame Forgot their School Lessons (1st up, BP)

July 22nd, 2010. By Hunter West

There are three events going on in the world right now that are downright shameful. And while the three are not at all related, there is enough of a common denominator to illicit a cry of, “what the hell???…”

Item: BP somehow manages to unleash the worst oil spill in US history. The environment, fragile eco-systems and the livelihoods of thousands of innocent people are affected by the misguided actions of a few…

Item: Toyota knew in 1996 that there was a problem with the steering rods in its sport utility vehicles (the 4Runner over here, but marketed under another name in Japan). Toyota quietly switched the rods to a better version, but didn’t tell anybody. It was only when the accidents started happening in Japan that they bowed to a recall in their own country. In 2004, eight years later. Oh, but the 4Runners in the US are fine, they said.

A year later, in 2005, they recalled more than 900,000 vehicles 1996 and prior…

Item: More than 1000 war veterans will have to be tested for communicable diseases such Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BP, BP Oil Spill, Toyota, VA Hospital, Veterans
Posted in Personal Injury | No Comments »

A Muted Win For Avandia Manufacturer—But Stay Tuned…

July 15th, 2010. By Hunter West

So Avandia has been stayed from execution—for now—by virtue of a majority vote by an expert panel of experts brought together by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that debated the drug’s safety and efficacy for two days this week. The Type 2 diabetes drug that has been under much fire for the past couple of years was further challenged by the long-awaited gathering which ended with a vote to leave Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (Glaxo), on the market for the time being.

But the victory for Glaxo is muted.

While the panel voted 20-12 to leave Avandia on the market, it will not likely be left alone. That’s because at least half of those voting ‘yay,’ according to the July 14^th edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), tied their vote of support to increased restrictions on a drug that has already faced significant reduction of sales since 2007. Supporters of the drug who voted to keep Avandia on the market indicated after the vote that they only did so due to the lack, they said, of hard evidence with regard to potential harm.

They also said Avandia should be used only as a drug of last resort.

That’s good news for rival Actos, manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Even though both Avandia and Actos carry black box warnings for fluid retention and the ensuing risk for heart failure, Avandia is thought to carry a greater risk for heart attack than its rival.

So much so, in fact, that the FDA directed the advisory panel to put that matter to a vote, pitting Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Actos, Avandia, FDA, TIDE
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues | No Comments »