safety

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China Closes 180 Food Plants
China Closes 180 Food Plants

China Closes 180 Food Plants

Dangerous chemicals added to products from candy to pickles; most not exported

(Newser) - The Chinese government has shut down 180 food manufacturing plants for racking up a whopping 23,000 violations in the last six months, most of them for using chemicals and industrial materials as food fillers to cut costs. Almost all were small and unlicensed, making it unlikely their products, worth...

Safety of Chinese-Made Toys Is Hardly Child's Play

Flood of recalls raises concerns

(Newser) - The latest Chinese products posing safety problems for consumers are children's toys, joining toothpaste, pet food, and drugs on an increasingly worrisome list, the New York Times reports. Last week's recall of Thomas & Friends train toys brought the total number of toys recalled by the US this year to...

FDA Advisory Panel Rejects Weight-Loss Drug

Possible side effects send Acomplia to the sidelines

(Newser) - Accomplia, a weight-loss drug marketed in 18 other countries, failed to win approval from an FDA advisory board yesterday. The 14-member panel of outside experts ruled unanimously that manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis had not dispelled concerns about the safety of the drug, whose potential side effects include suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and depression.

China Finds Fake Protein in IV Drips

Counterfeit albumin discovered in hospitals and pharmacies

(Newser) - In yet another product-safety scandal, fake blood protein has been found in IV drips in 60 hospitals and pharmacies in northeastern China, the BBC reports. Albumin, or plasma protein, is administered to patients suffering from burns or undergoing open-heart surgery; the counterfeit contained no protein at all. 

Drug-Resistant TB Patient Flies Commercial

Carrier crossed Atlantic twice, putting passengers at risk

(Newser) - A man infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis boarded two transatlantic flights in two weeks, CNN reports, putting his fellow passengers at risk. Planes are equipped with air filters that should catch the rod-shaped TB bacili, but the CDC recommends anyone on Air France 385, from Atlanta to Paris May 12, or...

Corzine: Do As I Say, Not As I Did
Corzine:
Do As I Say,
Not As I Did

Corzine: Do As I Say, Not As I Did

Injured NJ governor pushes seatbelt use in dramatic PSA

(Newser) - Jon Corzine dodged a bullet, and he wants to make sure he isn't alone. The New Jersey governor, gravely injured in an SUV crash last month while not wearing a seatbelt, appears in a new 30-second TV ad that makes it clear he's learned his lesson. Today he joined the...

Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk
Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk

Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk

Scientists tie brief early exposure to laundry list of ailments

(Newser) - Beginning in the womb, exposure to common substances increases the likelihood of numerous health problems—including cancer, ADD, Parkinson's and obesity—years and even generations later, international environmental scientists say. Two hundred prominent experts yesterday took the unusual step of calling for intervention by governments, even those that have downplayed...

At Least 36 Killed in Siberian Coal Mine Blast

Mine is just 25 miles from scene of March explosion that killed 110

(Newser) - A methane explosion in a Siberian coal mine killed at least 36 people today,  just 25 miles from the mine—operated by the same company—where 110 people died from a blast in March. Inspectors had attempted twice to shut down the mine for safety violations, but were rebuffed...

Look, Ma. No Seatbelt!
Look, Ma.
No Seatbelt!

Look, Ma. No Seatbelt!

'Click It or Ticket' proves a sticky wicket for unrestrained motorist-in-chief

(Newser) - The annual national campaign to encourage seatbelt use is off to a slow start thanks to a Texas ranch owner whose access to private roads exempts him from the law. President Bush showed the NATO secretary-general around around his spread in Crawford over the weekend, and although he didn't "...

Rudy Faulted on Safety at Ground Zero

Autocratic mayor sacrificed health for speed, suit charges

(Newser) - Rudy Giuliani's leadership in the aftermath of 9/11 made him America's hero, and the GOP's top presidential candidate. But thousands of the firefighters and construction workers who cleaned up Ground Zero now claim that the mayor's single-minded drive to see the city rebound from the attacks is to blame for...

Use of Antipsychotics For Kids Soars
Use of Antipsychotics
For Kids Soars

Use of Antipsychotics For Kids Soars

Payments to psychiatrists from the drugs' makers soar at the same time

(Newser) - The Times tackles the growing use of antipsychotic drugs in children, contentious because the drugs are risky and have no approved use for minors. But the trend is also questionable because it coincides with increasing payments to psychiatrists by the companies that market the drugs. In Minnesota, these payments rose...

FDA Given New Muscle To Monitor Drugs

Senate bill requires continued scrutiny after approval

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration would be given sweeping new powers to order drug recalls, regulate advertising and mandate changes in labels under a bill passed by the Senate yesterday. The bill signals a fundamental shift in the FDA's role, the New York Times reports, requiring the agency to track...

Doctors Paid Millions To Use Anemia Drugs

Among the world's top-selling medicines, the FDA now says they may be unsafe

(Newser) - Doctors are paid millions of dollars by drug companies to give their patients anemia medicine which regulators now say may be dangerous. Spurred by competiton between several similar drugs, companies reward doctors with rebates, which allow them to make a significant profit, the New York Times reports.

Melamine Death Toll Passes 8,000 Pets

FDA says health risk for humans unlikely

(Newser) - More than 8,000 deaths of cats and dogs that may be linked to melamine-tainted food have been reported to the FDA in the two months since the pet food recall. The statistics come as the FDA tries to assure Americans that the tainted protein concentrates, also fed to hogs...

Final Frontier Tests Terra Firma Ethics

NASA ponders death, sex during long space voyages

(Newser) - As NASA plans a three-year manned mission to Mars during the next three decades, Oregon Trail ethics are being updated. What do you do with bodies of pioneers who don't make it? A new document on crew health from the space agency deals with death and interment where no man...

Glass Bottles Breaking Into Baby Market

Fears about toxic plastics are turning back the clock

(Newser) - Glass is the new plastic—for baby bottles, at least. A rash of health warnings about plastic—toxicity reports, cancer risks, even longterm fertility problems—is turning many moms on to the glass bottles their own moms dropped as too breakable. eBay prices are soaring, and bottle distributors struggling to...

FDA Knew About Food Dangers
FDA Knew About Food Dangers

FDA Knew About Food Dangers

Overwhelmed food-safety arm didn't follow up on peanut butter, spinach

(Newser) - The FDA knew for years about problems at the peanut butter plant and spinach farms that led to major disease outbreaks, but took minimal steps to redress them. The agency's food safety arm can't keep up with the explosion in the amount of food it is supposed to regulate, the ...

ADD Meds Prescribed For Weight Loss
ADD Meds Prescribed
For Weight Loss

ADD Meds Prescribed For Weight Loss

Doctors are using Adderall for pediatric obesity, pleasing parents but raising ethical alarms

(Newser) - Pediatricians are giving Adderall, the pill that got America's kids to pay attention in class, to patients without ADHD but looking to shed extra pounds. One of the drug's side effects is appetite suppression, and "off-label" prescriptions are working for some chunky but otherwise normal teenagers. Parents worried about...

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