Author Archive

FDA Taking Baby Steps on BPA

January 21st, 2010. By Hunter West

Last week the US Food and Drug Administration did an about-face on its stance with regard to bisphenol-A (BPA), saying Friday that it has had “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children,” and would join other federal health agencies in studying the chemical in both animals and humans. 

This, in contrast to its report of 2008, when the agency deemed the chemical safe. 

Not that the FDA is saying that BPA is unsafe. Far from it. “If we thought it was unsafe, we would be taking strong regulatory action,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the principal deputy commissioner of the drug agency, at a news briefing late last week. 

However, it is a hint—baby steps here—that the FDA is taking a harder line on issues than it appeared to take previous to the Obama Administration. Needless to say safety advocates are buoyed by the change of position, short of being overjoyed given their entrenched view that the FDA has not gone far enough. 

The chemical industry from whence the BPA originates, is also not happy with the news. 

Hardly surprising, as both camps line up and defend their respective positions—the chemical industry saying that the FDA’s concerns are unfounded, while the safety advocates say the FDA hasn’t gone far enough. Then there’s the FDA, trying to come up in the middle and be fair to everybody. 

But at least they’re looking. Rather than remain cocooned in a kind of Pleasantville (the movie, with apologies to any real ‘Pleasantvilles’ out there), outfitted with blinders and assuming that everybody, everywhere will be doing Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BPA, FDA
Posted in Personal Injury | No Comments »

Biggest News from Detroit Car Show: Driving’s Become a Distraction

January 15th, 2010. By Hunter West

Get ready for a new round of lawsuits everybody. Because the nation’s roadways are about to become a lot more dangerous. 

Consider this statement from an automotive industry engineer: 

“Customers are expecting more and more, especially business people who expect to find in the car what they find in their smart phone,” said Mathias Halliger, the chief engineer for Audi’s multimedia interface systems, in comments published in the New York Times last week. “We should give them the same or a better experience.” 

Experience? 

Really… 

Let’s get one thing straight. Driving is not a video game. Driving is not a virtual ‘experience’. Driving is being in control of a hurtling goliath of metal weighing several tons hurtling down a road shared by other vehicles, or pedestrians hurrying across an intersection. Kids on bikes. Old men with their walkers. 

It’s bad enough that car stereos are more complex, now that you can plug your iPod or mp3 player into the system. Now there are GPS systems that serve to distract drivers even further from the task at hand—which is driving safely. 

Many states and cities have banned talking on a cell phone unless a Bluetooth or other hands-free device is used. Texting while driving is so stupid; its stupidity is a foregone conclusion. That’s been banned too, in many areas across the country. As the bans step up, safety advocates have been breathing a sigh of relief. 

Well for them—and for the rest of us—this horror movie has just become a whole lot scarier, with automotive Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Audi, Auto Accidents, Car Accidents, Car Crash, Ford
Posted in Accidents, Defective Products | 2 Comments »

Abuse is Abuse, Regardless of Gender

January 14th, 2010. By Hunter West

In late 2009 an upscale New York restaurant was hit with a lawsuit by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for alleged harassment against male employees by other male employees. The alleged abuse includes attempts to grab buttocks and genitals, pushing one’s body against another in a sexually suggestive fashion and the verbalization of crude, lewd and obscene comments. 

In Arizona, another EEOC lawsuit charged that male employees in the kitchen at a food preparation facility abused other male employees—including allegations of simulated rape. That incident resulted in the payout of a settlement benefitting the allegedly harassed workers.

It used to be that harassment was all about abuse against women—which is serious, of course. But equally serious is abuse against men. And it’s about time. 

Abuse, is abuse regardless of which gender is involved. And it’s a relief to see that men are now having the balls to admit to being harassed, either by male or female and are standing up for their rights. 

Thus, the courts should reflect just what is going on out there. And what is going on out there, along with harassment against women, is harassment against men. 

Face it, men have been abused for years. But the man never came forward. Doing so would be ‘unmanly,’ an Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Abuse, Sexual Harassment
Posted in Personal Injury | 3 Comments »

Sex Toys Need to Be Safe

December 31st, 2009. By Hunter West

It’s a titillating subject to be sure and one that would be expected to serve as the butt of many a joke in the locker rooms of the nation. The fact remains, however that sex toys comprise a legitimate product component in the retail industry—and like any product that is used for the purposes to which they were designed, it needs to be safe. 

It may not be. 

Earlier this month in Canada (known affectionately as the Great White North where it gets so cold in the winter that residents alternate between outdoor sports and the indoor variety with their…well…never mind), a Liberal Member of Parliament issued a communiqué to the Canadian Health Minister with regard to sex toys manufactured with the dreaded bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates. 

The latter are chemicals used to make plastic sex toys soft and flexible. 

All playfulness aside, the safety concern for sex toys is not unlike previous health issues that have surfaced over the chemical’s use in things such as baby bottles, the lining of food cans and Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BPA, Health Canada, Phthalates, Sex Toys
Posted in Personal Injury | 3 Comments »

Max Did It His Way for Libby

December 29th, 2009. By Hunter West

The final vote on what will be an historic event precluding the passage of President Obama’s health care bill Christmas Eve was preceded by a close vote in the Senate in the wee hours last Monday morning. It passed by the slimmest of margins—and that’s after weeks of lobbying and wrangling individual senators to gain their support.

The Republicans have been crying foul. Other critics say that the bill reeks of political pork and pet projects in exchange for support and precious votes. 

On the surface the criticism seems justified—although defenders point out that a union of states (which is what the United States of America is) remains a democracy and negotiation is just part of the process. True, say the critics—but that kind of stuff just drives the price of health care reform through the roof by advocating for the few, to the detriment of the many.

But dig a little deeper and you suddenly begin to understand…

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) is chairman of the Finance Committee and principal author of the health care bill. So one has to wonder if he had anything to do with a cryptic proposal, which The New York Times described on Sunday as ‘inconspicuous’, expanding Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards.”

“The intended beneficiaries are identified in a cryptic, mysterious way,” writes Robert Pear in the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, Libby, Libby MT, Max Baucus, Senator Baucus, WR Grace
Posted in Asbestos Mesothelioma | No Comments »