Lundy Law Blog

Personal Injury Lawyers

Archive for January, 2010

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24
Jan

NYTimes urges “wise consumers” to avoid BPA

This is about a product found in many types of plastics, including those used in baby bottles.

The New York Times (1/21, A38) editorializes, “The Food and Drug Administration has raised its level of concern over the safety of bisphenol-A, or BPA, an industrial chemical found in baby bottles and the linings of canned goods and other consumer products.” Calling this “a welcome shift in attitude by an agency that seemed bent, during the Bush administration, on minimizing the potential for harm,” the Times asserts the action “sheds little light, for now, on how dangerous the chemical might be in the small amounts that leach out” or “how rigorously it should be regulated.” Therefore, the Times urges “wise consumers…to avoid BPA” for as long as it takes the agency “to amass more conclusive evidence” on the chemical’s safety.

Popularity: 21% [?]

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24
Jan

Toyota issues new recall for 2.3 Million Vehicles

If you’ve bought a Toyota between 2005 and 2010, you’ll want to read this!

ABC World News (1/21, lead story, 3:10, Sawyer) reported, “Breaking news this evening. Toyota is recalling 2.3 million cars and trucks tonight, trying to tackle the frightening problem of cars suddenly speeding out of control.” The CBS Evening News (1/21, story 8, 0:20, Couric) noted that “late last year Toyota recalled more than four million vehicles because the accelerator pedal can get stuck in the floor mats. Well, today another huge recall. More than two million Toyotas covering eight model years from 2005 to 2010. The accelerator can get stuck in those vehicles as well, even without a floor mat.”
The most recent recall, according to NBC Nightly News (1/21, story 6, 0:20, Williams), “is in addition to 4.3 million Toyotas recently recalled for a floor mat problem that could cause the accelerator to stick.” The New York Times (1/22, B8, Bunkley) points out, “The first recall was to fix a design flaw that could cause the gas pedal to become trapped under the floor mat.” But Toyota “continued to be dogged by reports of unintended acceleration and stuck pedals even in cases where the floor mats had been removed, a stopgap measure recommended” by the company. The Times says the recall affects some year models of the Avalon, Camry, Tundra, Sequoia, RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Highlander, and “the Pontiac Vibe, a mechanical twin to the Matrix.” Not affected are “Lexus or Scion models” or the Prius.
The AP (1/22, Strumpf, Manning) reports Toyota said yesterday’s “recall is due to potential problems with the actual gas pedal mechanism, causing the accelerator to become stuck regardless of whether the vehicle contains a floor mat.” That automaker “said in certain rare cases, the gas pedal mechanism wears down, causing the accelerator to become harder to press, slower to return or, in some cases, stuck.” The Wall Street Journal (1/22, Linebaugh) reports the last recall adds pressure on the Japanese automaker whose reputation in product safety and quality may be at stake due to a series of recalls in the US. The Los Angeles Times (1/22) and USA Today (1/22, Healey, et al.) also report the recall.

Popularity: 27% [?]

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24
Jan

CPSC considers requiring crib-makers to provide incentives to customers during recalls.

Bloomberg News (1/21, Drajem) reported, “U.S. regulators are considering requiring crib makers to provide customers with refunds and other monetary incentives when the companies’ products are recalled. Recalls of dangerous cribs, which typically involve free kits to repair flaws in the product, have failed to get a full response rate from parents, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said in prepared testimony to lawmakers in Washington today. Refunds or store credits may be more effective at getting crib owners to respond to recalls, she said.”

Popularity: 19% [?]

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21
Jan

CPSC announces recall of 635K cribs.

Parents, beware. In a story appearing on at least 177 news websites, the AP (1/19) reported, “A Barbados-based company on Tuesday recalled about 635,000 cribs sold by Kmart, Sears, Wal-Mart and other stores after the death of a 6-month-old boy and multiple reports of injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 20 models of Dorel Asia cribs with both drop sides and fixed front rails. Some of the Chinese- and Vietnamese-made cribs were recalled because their drop sides can detach, creating a space where a child can be trapped and suffocate or strangle.”

The Los Angeles Times (1/20, Chang) reports, “The safety commission said a 6-month-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, became trapped and died in one of the cribs after the drop-side hardware broke. The agency and Dorel Asia received 31 reports of drop-side incidents and 36 of slat breakage; a total of 10 injuries were reported. In a separate statement, Dorel Asia said it had learned from a safety investigator that the 6-month-old’s crib had been previously broken and that the parents had used duct tape to hold it together.” CNNMoney.com (1/19, Ellis) reported that Dorel “said the circumstances of the infant’s death were ‘highly unusual.’”

Popularity: 18% [?]

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19
Jan

FDA warns dog treats may be contaminated with salmonella

If you have a dog, keep this in mind when you go to the grocery store. ML
The AP (1/15) reports, “Consumers should not use certain beef dog treats distributed by Merrick Pet Care because the pet food might be contaminated with salmonella, health authorities warned on Thursday.” Although “no illnesses linked to” Merrick Beef Filet Squares “have been reported,” officials “warned that contaminated pet food could also infect people if they handled the dog treats and have not thoroughly cleaned their hands.”

Popularity: 18% [?]

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