BP Oil Fix #19 – Git ‘er Done!

June 30th, 2010. By AbiK

If there’s one phrase that has popped up consistently in all the emails and reader comments I’ve sifted through for fixing the BP Oil Spill, it’s “Git ‘er done!” The implication, of course, being that the folks at BP are either moronic at best or consciously avoiding a fix at worst. And now with 12-foot waves pounding the Gulf surf, compliments of Hurricane Alex, the painstakingly slow process of removing oil-soaked sand, bit by bit, from the shorelines will slow down and efforts to contain the spewing oil will be undoubtedly be on hold as well. No gittin’ ‘er done now.

This Git-‘er-Done Fix is from Wade, who sounds like he’s not one to leave comments loosely about—he seems more like someone who’s just fed up with this whole mess—like many of us. So this is what Wade has to say…

Fix the BP Oil Spill Idea #19

“Hi Nancy, I think you could take a deflated baffle, much like the ones they use in oil tankers. Then it could be inserted into the pipe. Once inside you could fill it with air or a fluid that hardens. When the oil stops you could cap it and weld it. You’ve probably heard a hundred suggestions like this but this is the first one from me so consider it a sign “and get er done”.  Thanks, Wade.”

Got an idea you’d like to share? Let us know. Or email our editor at .

Thanks for sharing your idea Wade!

In Flight Dining Menu: Chicken Cordon Bleu with Fecal Matter?

June 30th, 2010. By LucyC

An interesting item on the wire this week—airline food—sorry—airline meals—(yes, there is a difference, as one (meals) may not necessarily involve the other (food)) are a possible health threat. Well! You could have bowled me over with a feather! Seriously? How can that be when the airlines aren’t serving food anymore? 

Oh wait—that’s in coach. Meals—and I use the term loosely—are still served in first class on most major airlines. And if you’re flying Trans-Atlantic—or international long haul—no matter where you’re sitting. Great. Then you can possibly enjoy food poisoning and jet lag together. That’s always fun. You spend the first three days of your trip realizing that water really does go down the drain in the opposite direction in the Southern hemisphere… 

Apparently, reports obtained by USA Today via the Freedom of Information Act, state that some of the kitchens used to prepare the meals are not clean, employ food handlers that practice poor personal hygiene (I don’t even want to go there), and the food may not be stored at correct temperatures. 

And, of course, it gets worse. Some kitchens ‘were littered with dead cockroaches, flies, and rodent feces’ CBS News reported, which presumably are included in the Read the rest of this entry »

Contest: Who has the Lowest Expedia Settlement Check?

June 29th, 2010. By AbiK

Come on—if it’s you, there’s a 4-DVD set of the Best Whistleblower Movies of All-time awaiting you (hey, we are a legal news site, so no spend-a-day-at-a-spa giveaways…)—it’s Serpico, Silkwood, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich.

We posted recently on the Expedia settlement and my (slight) dismay over my 56¢ settlement check. So far, one reader had commented that his check was for $1.13. But then Steve wrote in—his is 39¢. So I’m thinking, someone out there must be holding a check for a few mere pennies.

Here’s how to play:

Go to our Facebook page—LawyersAndSettlements.com—and post the amount of your check along with a full frontal (no nudity please) image of the check you received. It has to be made out to you, of course, and we have to be able to read it, and, it has to be from “In re Expedia Hotel Taxes and Fees Litigation Settlement”.

Contest will run till July 31, 2010. Prize will be sent out during the first week of August, 2010. Should there be a tie for lowest settlement check amount, the entry (i.e., post) that is received earliest will be the winner.

Game on! Spread the word—someone out there has that winning check…

Sunscreen Scare or Media Hype?

June 29th, 2010. By janem

Is there nothing new under the sun? The media is all over the link between sunscreen and cancer but it’s yesterday’s news (specifically, a number of years ago)–everyone knows that too much sun can cause skin cancer. But here’s the problem: the media could be sending out a misleading message to sun worshippers who believe sunscreen can cause melanoma, so they might soak up the rays sans sunscreen. Duh. Besides, the problem isn’t sunscreen; it’s retinyl palmitate, a compound used by sunscreen manufacturers.

A new (!) report has found that vitamin A and its derivatives, retinol and retinyl palmitate, may speed up the cancer that sunscreen is used to prevent.

On May 24, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published its  2010 report on sunscreen that calls into question the protection offered by most products and raises a red flag about a chemical additive called retinyl palmitate that could increase cancer risk. EWG recommends that consumers choose vitamin A-free sunscreens and it also lambastes the FDA for its failure to issue regulations regarding sunscreen containing vitamin A.

“There was enough evidence 10 years ago for FDA to caution consumers against the use of vitamin A in sunscreens,” Jane Houlihan, EWG’s senior vice president for research, told AOL News. “FDA launched this one-year study, completed their research and now 10 years later, they say nothing about it, just silence.” Incredibly, the FDA denied the allegations. As reported by AOL News,  an FDA spokesperson said, “We have thoroughly checked and are not aware of any studies…[the spokesperson] checked with bosses throughout the agency and found no one who knew of the vitamin A sunscreen research being done by or on behalf of the agency.

But documents from the FDA and the National Toxicology Program showed that the agency had done the research in 2000, and they have been made public!

In October 2000, a report by the National Toxicology Program said that ” Retinyl palmitate was selected by (FDA’s) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for photo-toxicity and photocarcinogenicity testing based on the increasingly widespread use of this compound in cosmetic retail products for use on sun-exposed skin.”

I don’t see any studies done on people who slathered on sunscreen, stayed out of the sun, and wound up with melanoma.  So why hasn’t the FDA gone after the maker of retinyl, which is Read the rest of this entry »

Sick of Being Green

June 29th, 2010. By AbiK

Perhaps literally.

No, it’s not easy being green. Kermit had it right all along. Not that being green doesn’t have it’s pluses—you know, for things like the air we breathe, the landfills we fill, the fossil fuel extraction we continue to rely on…but I bet you that, in addition to folks who compost, recycle and are driving a Prius, a lot of you are carrying around those “green” shopping bags. You’ve gotten them “free with purchase!” from Target. You’ve succumbed to the need to feel chicly green and snagged the Sephora reusable black bag. You’ve even got various canvas (think L.L. Bean, Land’s End…or sans label at the dollar store) bags that serve as catch-alls for everything imaginable. But now as you’ve proudly made a ritual out of toting your reusable sacks to the grocery store, this news comes out: you may be toting around harmful bacteria.

Huh?

That’s right. A new study out from the University of Arizona revealed that those “green” bags may be housing more than just your groceries. According to the study—as reported on over at azcentral.com—researchers tested 84 bags that they’d collected from shoppers in Tuscon, LA, and the San Francisco Bay area. And guess what? They found that a little more than half of them were contaminated with “potentially harmful bacteria“—and twelve percent of them contained E. coli.

Cross-contamination’s the issue. Think about all the times you’ve picked up a package of chicken breasts—even put it in a “protective” plastic bag (yes, the ones you go from end to end pinching and prying to open up)—only to find that pinkish gooey liquid streaming out somehow when you got home? Ordinarily, you’d just throw the bag out. Not so if you’ve bought into green living—it would defeat the purpose, of course. Then, imagine where you store those reusable bags—most people I know leave them in their cars so they remember them. But as Charles Gerba, UA professor and co-author of the study points out, your car, especially in summer, is a hot breeding ground.

Now, the simple answer to this is to wash your reusable bags after use—particularly after they’ve held raw meats (and hopefully your bags are made to withstand multiple washings).

The study did not compare, by the way, the impact of repeatedly washing recyclable bags vs. the impact of throwing out plastic bags. And, to be fair, some have claimed the study is “junk science” as it was funded by the American Chemistry Council—translation: the folks who represent plastics manufacturers.

That’s fine, but I don’t think—even without a study—that anyone would argue the likelihood of microscopic contaminants being left behind in a woven bag after perishable food had been lying in it. It’s just common sense. And, as such, it’s just common sense to ensure you’re washing those bags…