Posts Tagged ‘ FDA ’

Pet Turtles, Salmonella and the Ban No One Knows About

October 30th, 2009. By Hunter West

There’s a ban on small pet turtles? 

Really? 

Okay, so the ban is only on pet turtles less than four inches in diameter. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted the ban after reports surfaced that children were putting the cute little things in their mouths. However, it wasn’t a choking hazard that seemed to drive the ban. 

No, it was the fact that children became sick after coming into contact with their pet turtle in such an intimate fashion. 

Sick with salmonella from turtles.  

Turtles carry salmonella, it seems—originating in their feces, according to a recent MSNBC report. So children, by placing the baby turtles in their mouths, were coming into direct contact with salmonella. 

So they were banned 34 years ago. 

Just the small ones, mind you. In 1975.

Oh, you didn’t know either? Join the club. Few consumers know about the ban—and fewer vendors appear to be enforcing the ban, or complying with it. According to MSNBC small turtles Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FDA, Salmonella, Turtles
Posted in Food Illness, Personal Injury | 1 Comment »

Lasik Surgery: FDA keeping a watchful eye…

October 19th, 2009. By AbiK

Lasik surgery’s been around for a while now (since the late 80’s, with the first Lasik laser being approved for use in 1998). And reports indicate some 6,000,000+ have had Lasik. I only know of one person who’s had it done and she raves about it. So much so that I even looked into it myself, but my ophthalmologist rejected me. It was worse than being dumped. So, while I cursed him at the time, the fact that the FDA is now beginning its study of Lasik long-term effects and post-procedure “quality of life” has me feeling a little better.

But it’s also got me thinking…what’s going on? Why now? The FDA doesn’t just casually decide to start snooping around in someone’s backyard…right?

Any time the FDA starts snooping around something (and this time it’s in tandem with their sending out warning letters to 17 Lasik facilities that were not properly reporting problems with Lasik procedures) I raise an eyebrow. Yes, I’m a bit jaded in the line of work I’m in. But you have to wonder why Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FDA, Lasik
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues | 2 Comments »

Can You Trust the FDA? maybe…maybe not

September 29th, 2009. By Hunter West

It’s enough to make your blood boil. 

Last week it was revealed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) admitted that it bowed to political influence when it approved a medical device its own scientists had deemed repeatedly as affording little benefit to the patient. 

The name, or indication of the device matters little. Neither does the identity of the manufacturer involved, or the four members of Congress who applied what was described as relentless pressure (read lobbying) to get a product approved. Who they are doesn’t matter. 

What matters are the process, and the loss of principle. 

In a nutshell, a device that was deemed unsafe by FDA scientists because it often failed was approved anyway by the agency. Behind the approval was the relentless lobbying of a handful of Congressmen who represented the state where the manufacturer involved calls home. The Congressmen involved also, according to a September 24^th report in the New York Times (NYT), received political contributions from the executives of the manufacturer involved.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FDA
Posted in Drugs/Medical | No Comments »

Flies, Frogs or Rodent Hair in food? Here’s what to do…

September 4th, 2009. By AbiK

The recent news of frog (toad?) remains in Fred DeNegri’s Diet Pepsi sounded less than appetizing. But I imagine “alarming” would be the more appropriate word for it if you were sitting in Fred’s shoes sipping back that fizz-laden refresher and…WHAM! Frog in your face!

Most of us (ok, me) would’ve hurled the can across the lawn and screamed a few high-pitched obscenities. But, let’s step back a moment—just what are you supposed to do? Who do you call? How do you call Pepsi (or its bottler) to task? The DeNegri’s had enough sense to do the right thing, but many of us don’t.

Here’s a little primer on “who you gonna call?” when something’s in your food or drink that shouldn’t be… Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FDA, food safety, Pepsi
Posted in Defective Products | No Comments »

Grassley Likely to Stay on Finance Committee

May 4th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

May 4, 2009

Update

In great news to start off the week, Congressional Quarterly’s Kathleen Hunter is reporting that Senator Charles Grassley will likely hold onto his position on the US Senate Finance Committee until 2011.

“Grassley said last week that he preferred to remain as the top Republican on the Finance panel for the remainder of the 111th Congress but might reconsider if something was “going to happen in the interim” that would keep him from taking over the top Judiciary post in 2011,” she wrote.

“Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions will take over the top Republican spot on the Judiciary Committee for the remainder of the 111th Congress and then yield to Charles E. Grassley of Iowa in 2011, under a deal reached between the two, a senior GOP aide confirmed Monday,” Hunter reports.

This news has to be a big let down for Big Pharma and all the hangers-on whose financial dealings with drug and device companies have come under the microscope through Grassley’s relentless investigations.

Tags: FDA
Posted in Emerging Issues | 3 Comments »