News in category: Protecting Your Family

A study out of the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University, finds that reusable, cloth grocery bags sometimes harbor dangerous foodborne bacteria such as E. coli and coliform from raw-meat.

Health, Safety and Consumer headlines for Friday, June 25.

Seven crib manufacturers are announcing recalls to repair cribs that can trap and suffocate infants. This is the latest industry-wide initiative to fix inherent problems with the drop-side cribs, which the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced will be phased-out. Watch for the cribs on the resale market and in garage sales.

Headlines from around the Internet concerning safety, health, and injury avoidance for Thursday, June 24.

Sandwich shop, Subway, is apologizing for a Salmonella outbreak in central Illinois that has hospitalized 24. Everyone has recovered. At least one is suing.

Flame retardants, found in the blood of pregnant women are correlated with lower levels of thyroid stimulating hormone. The malfunction is linked to miscarriage, premature birth and intrauterine growth retardation.

The one year anniversary of the Tobacco Control Act marks an expanded regulatory role of the FDA in overseeing cigarettes short of banning them or reducing nicotine. Candy flavored cigarettes, misleading labeling and menthol in cigarettes are all top priorities for regulation.

Online suppliers are selling Magic Power Coffee that the FDA warns is enhanced with an additional chemical similar to the active ingredient in the prescription drug, Viagra. Consumers are warning not to drink the coffee.

They didn't want to litigate but a Miami couple has become the first to win a lawsuit over a single home made with defective Chinese wallboard. A Miami-Dade jury awarded the couple $2.5 million in damages and expenses. They had sought over $4 million.

Many jokes are going around about the nutritional content of SpaghettiOs which are now the subject of a Class I recall, the most serious, by the Department of Agriculture because some of the canned kid food may not have been properly cooked. No one has been made sick.

Another drugmaker has found that its products have the same problem that plagued J & J, an unusual musty odor in over-the-counter products. A recall of 52 lots of 500 mg of the diabetes drug, Glumetza, has been initiated.

The news keeps getting worse for Johnson & Johnson and its McNeil Consumer Healthcare division. The company has announced an expanded recall for Benadryl allergy tablets and Extra Strength Tylenol gels. This is a follow-up to a January recall after consumers complained of musty or moldy odors.

Ron Motley is receiving the AAJ's 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award next month in Vancouver. The IB partner and head of Motley Rice revealed some of his motivations in a Frontline interview.

IKEA along with the government is recalling more than 3 million window blinds after a child nearly strangled earlier this year on a hanging cord. That brings to 4.5 million blinds recalled over the strangulation hazard.

Valproic acid (Depakote) is prescribed to control the seizures of epilepsy, but for pregnant women the drug can cause birth defects if taken in the first trimester.