Current Events

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday ordered manufacturers of surgical mesh used for repairing a condition called pelvic organ prolapse to immediately stop selling their products, the latest turn in a years-long battle over the safety of the implants.

The agency said the companies, Boston Scientific and Coloplast, had not demonstrated a “reasonable assurance” of safety and effectiveness for the devices for use over the long term, and will have 10 days to submit plans for withdrawing them from the market.

The FDA action specifically affects surgical mesh used for the transvaginal repair of pelvic organ prolapse, which occurs when the muscles and tissues supporting the uterus, bladder or rectum become weak or loose. That can allow organs to drop or press into the vagina. The regulatory action does not apply to mesh used for other conditions, such as hernias or stress urinary incontinence.
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(CNN)Three people died and 45 people developed infections from contaminated endoscopes, the US Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The reports of contamination are with a side-viewing duodenoscope used for a medical procedure called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or ERCP. "These flexible lighted scopes are vital for minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat conditions of the pancreas and bile duct," said Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

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(Reuters) - An Indianapolis food company has voluntarily recalled fresh cut melon produced at its facility after reports of nearly 100 illnesses tied to Salmonella contamination.

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A killer germ is raging through some New York hospitals and nursing homes. But public health officials are deliberately keeping the public in the dark about it.

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(Reuters) - The American Academy of Pediatrics called on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Tuesday to issue a full recall of the “Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper” infant rocker, which has been linked to 32 infant deaths, it said on its website.

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Fisher-Price has issued an alert regarding their Rock 'n Play Sleeper due to reports of ten infant deaths linked to the product since 2015.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Fisher-Price are warning parents that the Rock 'n Play Sleeper should not be used when infants exhibit roll over behavior. The infant deaths occurred when babies rolled from their backs to their stomachs or sides while unrestrained in the sleeper.

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Insurers can deny coverage for treatment related to infections caused by breast implants, causing a budding advocacy movement.

“The insurers use the fact that there’s no true medical definition for breast implant illness as an opportunity to try not to pay for it,” said Scot Glasberg, a former president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

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Experts are sounding the alarm about a cluster of four New York City hospital patients carrying an antibiotic-resistant "superbug" form of E. coli.

The E. coli harbored by the patients has an antibiotic resistance gene called mcr-1, which gives the bacteria resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort against some multidrug-resistant infections, according to a team led by Dr. Anne-Catrin Uhlemann.

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The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday sent 20 letters to companies in the burgeoning stem cell industry, telling them they are selling an unapproved product in violation of federal laws.

It also sent a more formal letter of warning to a company that makes umbilical cord blood products that have been used by such stem cell companies, and accused it of legal violations and safety lapses.

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Staff members at the Consumer Product Safety Commission collected 200 consumer-submitted reports from 2012 to 2018 of spontaneous failure of the stroller wheel, which is secured to a front fork by a quick-release lever, like on a bicycle. Nearly 100 adults and children were injured, according to the commission. The agency’s staff members investigated for months before deciding in 2017 that one of the most popular jogging strollers on the market was unsafe and needed to be recalled. 

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A U.S. jury on Wednesday awarded $80 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company facing thousands of similar lawsuits.

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