Defective & Dangerous Products

• Two Questions that Concern AMO and Acanthamoeba Infections

  Armand Rossetti | June 12, 2007 2:24 PM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  The cornea is the only tissue in the body that Acanthamoebae (or Acanthamoeba) can invade in individuals with healthy immune systems. Otherwise, those individuals can usually avoid Acanthamoeba infections that affect the skin, brain and lungs. This blog briefly addresses two questions: 1) Why is the cornea more susceptible to Acanthamoeba than other tissues in the body; and 2) How could a...

• Its in the Water? Researchers Blame the EPA for Contact Lens Infections

  John Hopkins | June 11, 2007 8:58 AM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  So, AMO and Bausch want to blame the EPA and the water for their problems with ReNu® and Complete® contact lens solutions. Conveniently, researchers in Illinois stood ready with a study that gave the opportunity to blame the Environmental Protection Agency for the whole problem. The researchers, Drs. Tu and Joslin reported infections from acanthamoeba that were drastically higher than normal....

• Contact Lens Solution Linked to Acanthamoeba Keratitis

  John Hopkins | May 30, 2007 9:12 AM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  On May 25, AMO (Advanced Medical Optics) announced a recall of their "No Rub" solution, Complete® MoisturePlus ™ Multipurpose Solution. Although the company stands by its product and casts the blame on contact lens wearers who "improperly store, disinfect or handle" their contact lenses, the CDC forced them to recall the solutionThis recall is not so distant from Bausch & Lomb's recall of...

• Who is Marie Evans?

  Armand Rossetti | February 10, 2007 2:32 AM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  In 1957, if you asked anyone at the top at Lorillard Tobacco in North Carolina, who Marie Evans was, you probably would have gotten a response, "I don't know; Never heard of her." But she was a real nine-year-old little black girl, innocently playing with other kids, hundreds of miles away, at the Orchard Park housing complex in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a poor community in Boston. One Lorillard...

• Is Secondhand Smoke Setting Future Consumers Up For the Kill?

  Armand Rossetti | February 07, 2007 7:34 AM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  Currently, smoke-free laws are in place in several states and thousands of U.S. communities. Smoke-free statutes and ordinances now protect over 50% of the U.S. population. But what about millions of children who are exposed to secondhand smoke on a daily basis? After decades of court battles against tobacco companies, the first battle occurring in 1954, are they still capitalizing on these...

• Big Tobacco, Scorched Earth Tactics & the Engle Case

  John Hopkins | February 06, 2007 5:05 PM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  The Florida Supreme Court has issued its mandate in the Engle v Liggett case. This case involved a class action by Florida smokers against Big Tobacco. Florida smokers who qualify as "Engle class members" must now take some action against Big Tobacco in less than one year. The Supreme Court made certain findings of fact and law that may place Big Tobacco at a distinct disadvantage and Florida...

• Babies should not be left asleep in car seats

  John Hopkins | December 08, 2006 1:18 PM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  The British Medical Journal reporst that babies left in car seats to sleep may be at risk for suffocation. Apparently, because babies' heads tend to loll forward, pressing the jaw against the chest and this can cause the already relaxed throat muscles to permit severe airway constriction. The study group stressed that the findings should in no way cause people to fail to use car seats for...

• Tobacco Will Kill More People than AIDS by 2015

  John Hopkins | November 28, 2006 8:41 PM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  A study by the World Health Organization has concluded that tobacco smoking will kill 50 percent more people than AIDS by the year 2015 and will be responsible for 10 percent of all deaths globally. The report is a chilling prediction of a disease process created and manipulated by Big TobaccoTobacco, currently blamed for some 5.4 million deaths a year, is set to kill 6.5 million in 2015 and 8.3...

• Advanced Medical Optics does the right thing

  John Hopkins | November 22, 2006 10:28 AM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  Often I write about Big Corporations who place profits over people. It appears that some of the members of Corporate America can, in fact, demonstrate responsible and prudent conduct. Reuters reported today that Advanced Medical Optics recalled nearly three million units of their Complete Moisture Plus contact lens solution. Chris Muller, a senior marketing executive stated that, although they...

• Experimenting with Young Lives Does Not Show Good Judgment

  John Hopkins | November 21, 2006 4:21 PM | 0 CommentsWest Palm Beach, FL

  The US Army has taken to using a drug, used to coagulate blood, in combat field hospitals. The drug, Recombinant Factor VII, is designated for use with rare forms of hemophilia. Hemophilia is a disorder that can cause patients to literally bleed to death from something as incidental as bumping against a table. The drug was the subject of an FDA warning last December in which the FDA said that...