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1 days ago
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112401601.html Lead, chemicals found in toys despite stricter law Group's tests discover that some products still 'slip through the cracks' By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Despite a new law that bans six chemicals from children's products and lowers the lead limit for them, a public interest group has found a number of toys at major retailers that contain the chemicals and illegal amounts of lead. In a report released Tuesday called "Trouble in Toyland," the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) found that while many manufacturers and retailers are complying with the new law, a handful are not, and it is hard for consumers to tell the difference. "We have seen substantial progress over the last year because of the new law and new leadership at the Consumer Product Safety Commission," said Elizabeth ...
1 days ago
Novartis builds a $1 billion vaccine factory in North Carolina, and nearly 49 percent of that cost was borne by you, the taxpayer. Sweet deal for Novartis, eh? Are Swiss pharmaceutical firms also "too big to fail"? http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5AM2XR20091124 Novartis opens new flu vaccine plant in U.S. Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:14pm EST By Jason Arthurs HOLLY SPRINGS, North Carolina (Reuters) - The bioreactors are empty and running just for show for now, but Novartis opened its first U.S. flu vaccine plant on Tuesday, the first in the country to make flu vaccines out of cells instead of eggs. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius toured the plant, whose cell-based technology is designed to be cleaner, quicker and more predictable than the current way most influenza vaccines are made using eggs and will help alleviate the U.S. dependence on imported vaccines. The bioreactors used to incubate the cells with ...
1 days ago
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574555481034996654.html?mod=dist_smartbrief NOVEMBER 24, 2009, 9:11 A.M. ET Glaxo Warns on Batch of Swine-Flu Vaccine LONDON -- Pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday it has advised medical staff in Canada to not use one batch of swine-flu vaccines in case they trigger life-threatening allergies. Company spokeswoman Gwenan White said that they issued the advice after reports that one batch of the swine-flu vaccine might have caused more allergic reactions than normal. "We have advised health care professionals not to use that batch while health authorities and GlaxoSmithKline investigate," she said. Ms. White said the batch at issue, which has been distributed across Canada, contains 172,000 doses of the vaccine. She declined to say how many doses had been administered before the advice to stop using them was given. Ms. White said U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline wrote to Canadian health-care ...
1 days ago
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2326694820091123?rpc=77&pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11604 Vioxx risks could have been detected earlier-study Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:00pm EST * Risks arose more than 3 years before drug was pulled * Study argues for quicker access to drug safety data By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Heart risks from taking Merck & Co Inc's (MRK.N) painkiller Vioxx could have been detected more than three years before the company withdrew the drug from the market in September 2004, had the data been openly available, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They said their analysis illustrates the need for quick, public disclosure of drug safety data. "You could have known there were marked safety problems with Vioxx as early as 2000 and the signal only grew stronger," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University School of Medicine, who worked on the study published in the Archives of Internal ...
2 days ago
Chinese-made toys are slightly less likely to kill your kid this season, according to the US government. That's nice to hear... I guess. It's too bad Chinese drywall can still kill you. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_p4v8Agv2ocyHdnC1JZ8ghohIQA US lauds China for boosting toy safety standards (AFP) – 1 day ago WASHINGTON — The United States Monday praised Beijing for "taking toy safety seriously" two years after millions of made-in-China toys had to be recalled amid fears they were dangerous. "The Chinese government closed down numerous toy factories after the wave of US recalls and they are educating toy makers about our new rules," Inez Tanenbaum, head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), told reporters. Americans will be able to "shop for children this holiday season with a little more confidence than ever before," she said, just days before the US Christmas holiday shopping season officially begins. More ...
