Current Events

Analysis of commercially available rice imported into the US has revealed it contains levels of lead far higher than regulations suggest are safe.

Some samples exceeded the "provisional total tolerable intake" (PTTI) set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a factor of 120.

The report at the American Chemical Society Meeting adds to the already well-known issue of arsenic in rice.

The FDA told the BBC it would review the research.

Lead is known to be harmful to many organs and the central nervous system.

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TOKYO — Toyota, Honda and Nissan are recalling more than 3 million vehicles globally for an identical problem with air bags on the passenger side whose inflator may burst, sending plastic pieces flying.

No injuries have been reported related to the problem.

The recall for air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp. affects other automakers including non-Japanese manufacturers, Takata spokeswoman Akiko Watanabe said Thursday. She declined to give details.

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Chrysler Group announced a stunning six recalls today, including roughly 139,000 full-size sedans because their air bag warning lights can illuminate for no reason.

It's unclear whether six announced in one day is a record, but "it certainly is an anomaly," says Eric Mayne, a Chrysler spokesman.

"There's no link. It's just the way the stars lined up," he said, adding that the total number of vehicles recalled is modest and that no injuries have been reported as a result of the potential flaws.

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Toyota has settled one of the last remaining cases brought on behalf of consumers over sudden acceleration defects. Under the settlement, Toyota will pay $16 million — half to the Orange County, Calif., District Attorney's office and half to a local gang prevention program.

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A malfunction in a device from HeartWare International Inc. (HTWR) used to take over the heart’s beating action led to a patient death, U.S. regulators said. The company’s shares declined.

After the patient changed the battery in the left ventricular assist device, power dropped and blood flow fell, setting off a controller fault alarm, the report posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website said. A family member found the woman unresponsive at her house, with the alarm blaring. The problem had persisted for at least three hours before it was addressed, according to a preliminary analysis.

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Rich Products has dramatically expanded a voluntary product recall to include all foods manufactured at its Waycross, Ga., facility, out of a concern they could potentially be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

Rich recalled a number of Farm Rich Products last week after an E. coli outbreak sickened 24 people in 15 states. Two of the 24 cases, affecting consumers in New York State and Texas, have been linked to products included in the original recall.

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The second trial over claims Merck & Co. (MRK) hid risks that its Fosamax osteoporosis drug could cause femur fractures is scheduled to start next week after the plaintiff in the first case suffered a health problem.

The new trial, set to begin April 9 in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, is among more than 3,300 lawsuits alleging Fosamax caused broken legs. Another 1,230 cases allege users sustained jaw-related injuries, Merck has said.

The first femur-fracture trial, which started last month in state court in Atlantic City, New Jersey, ended in a mistrial after the plaintiff, Christina Su, had a “serious health complication” unrelated to her use of Fosamax, Merck said in a March 18 statement on its website.

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A lawsuit filed against Ford Motor Co. alleges that several Ford and Lincoln vehicles manufactured between 2002 and 2010 are subject to unintentional acceleration and also lack "adequate fail-safe systems" to prevent crashes.

The suit filed Thursday in federal court in West Virginia seeks class-action status on behalf of consumers in 14 states.

It describes situations in which Ford's electronic throttle system allegedly caused vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly, leaving drivers unable to stop. It does not include any claims of wrongful death or personal injury.

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Syracuse, N.Y. – Workers at Rosewood Heights nursing home did not properly supervise residents at risk of choking on their food, putting them in danger of serious injury or death, according to a recent inspection of the facility at 614 S. Crouse Ave.

The 242-bed home was cited for 26 violations -- three of them classified as “immediate jeopardy,” the most serious type of infraction – in a Dec. 7, 2012 inspection recently published by the state Health Department on its website.

Twelve of the 26 violations were repeat problems. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS for short, has fined the home $10,000 because of the violations.

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Doctor-owned businesses that act as middlemen between medical device makers and hospitals are “inherently suspect” and some of their practices may violate U.S. anti-kickback laws, a government inspector general said.

Daniel Levinson, the inspector general for the Health and Human Services Department, today issued an unusual “special fraud alert” about so-called physician-owned distributorships, or PODs. The companies sell medical devices that the doctor owners then use in surgical procedures on their own patients.

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Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG), a maker of surgical robots used in more than 300,000 U.S. operations last year, must face claims it marketed the devices to doctors without providing adequate training, a judge ruled.

A Washington state court yesterday denied Intuitive’s bid to throw out a lawsuit over the death of a patient operated on using the company’s da Vinci surgical system, according to court filings. The judge found the state’s product-liability laws require medical-device makers to properly train physicians who buy their products.

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