Protect Consumer Justice » In The News

Preliminary approval for Chinese drywall settlement

jg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:40:52 +0000

Associated Press: “A Chinese drywall manufacturer would pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve court claims by thousands of Gulf Coast property owners who say the product wrecked their homes, under a deal that won preliminary approval Tuesday from a federal judge,” according to this report from New Orleans. The agreement would pay for repairs of about 4,500 properties, mostly in the Southeast, and also cover health problems stemming from the contaminated drywall.

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Conflicts of interest reported for FDA panel that signed off on Yaz birth control drug

jg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:32:48 +0000

Washington Monthly blog: Jeanne Lenzer and Keith Epstein report some members of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee of medical experts that looked into the potential dangers of the Bayer birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin had potential conflicts of interest. “[A]n investigation by the Washington Monthly and the British medical journal BMJ has found that at least four members of the committee have either done work for the drugs’ manufacturers or licensees or received research funding from them,” they wrote. “The FDA made none of those financial ties public.”

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Chevy to change batteries for next electric car model

jg — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:45:17 +0000

Bloomberg: David Welch reports General Motors will use “a less volatile battery chemistry” on its next electric car model, after government crash tests led to three fires involving lithium-ion batteries in GM’s Chevy Volt this year. Welch writes the Chevy Spark, going on sale in 2013, will use “phosphate-based lithium ion batteries…that are less likely to burn than other lithium chemistry.”

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FDA advisers recommend stronger warnings for Yaz, Yasmin birth control pills

jg — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:28:33 +0000

Washington Post: “A popular new generation of birth control pills should carry stronger warnings about the risks they pose of potentially life-threatening blood clots, federal advisers recommended,” according to Rob Stein. Members of two U.S. Food and Drug Administration committees voted that the current labels on Yaz and Yasmin, both products of Bayer, fail to provide adequate warning about the potential of blood clots. But the committees also voted that “the benefits of the pills in preventing unwanted pregnancies outweighed the risks,” Stein reports.

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Toddlers burned by fireplace glass, industry resists regulation

jg — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:47:55 +0000

FairWarning.org: “Consumer groups and anguished parents are urging the Consumer Product Safety Commission to impose federal safety regulations” relating to fireplace glass,” writes Myron Levin, who adds, “But the fireplace industry, which up to now has policed itself, is resisting.” Levin has reported on injuries suffered by more than 2,000 children under the age of five who have been burned by glass fireplace fronts that can reach temperatures between 400 and 500 degrees.

http://www.safetyresearch.net/2011/12/07/safety-research-sues-for-toyota-investigation-documents/Consumer groups and anguished parents are urging the Consumer Product Safety Commission to impose federal safety regulations

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Safety research group files suit over Toyota acceleration records

jg — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:14:47 +0000

Detroit News: “A safety advocacy group filed suit against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeking records connected to the government’s investigation into sudden unintended acceleration incidents with Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles,” writes David Shepardson. The suit was filed by Safety Research & Strategies, which has been critical of the agency’s investigation into Toyota acceleration issues.

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Cooling fluid fingered as cause of Chevy Volt battery fires

jg — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:22:49 +0000

Associated Press: “The liquid solution that cools the Chevrolet Volt‘s batteries is the likely cause of fires that broke out inside the electric car after government crash tests,” according to a report by AP auto writer Tom Krisher. He attributes the information to “a person briefed on the matter…who asked not to be identified because the findings are not final.” According to that source, the fluid that cools the electric car’s battery “crystallized and created an electrical short that apparently sparked the fires.” We have more on the Volt fires in an earlier post.

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