Toyota recalls 437,000 Prius, hybrids globally - Yahoo News
Toyota recalls 437,000 Prius, hybrids globally - Yahoo News
TOKYO – Toyota says it is recalling about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems — the latest in a string of embarrassing safety lapses at the world’s largest automaker.
“I apologize for causing trouble and worries for many customers over the quality and safety of Toyota,” President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference Tuesday in Tokyo.
Toyota May Start Prius Recalls - WSJ.com
Toyota May Start Prius Recalls - WSJ.com
Toyota also intends to take similar steps in the U.S. and elsewhere involving the popular gas-electric hybrid cars, the person said.
The move goes a step further than the company’s announcement Friday, when Chief Executive Akio Toyoda said the company was looking into complaints about the Prius but hadn’t yet decided what to do.
FDA’s Medical Device Recall System is Deeply Flawed, Experts Say — Attorney At Law
FDA’s Medical Device Recall System is Deeply Flawed, Experts Say — Attorney At Law
Failure to adequately track which all medical devices have been implanted in which patients and other glitches in the FDA’s monitoring system make ordering recalls of the products ineffective and leaves defectively dangerous devices in patients with no real way of tracking them down, according to the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation.
Mattel, Fisher-Price to Pay $2.3 Million Civil Penalty for Violating Federal Lead Paint Ban
Mattel, Fisher-Price to Pay $2.3 Million Civil Penalty for Violating Federal Lead Paint Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. - As part of its commitment to protecting the safety of children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC announced today that Mattel Inc., of El Segundo, Calif. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Fisher-Price Inc., of East Aurora, N.Y. have agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty for violating the federal lead paint ban.
The penalty settlement, which has been provisionally accepted by the Commission, resolves CPSC staff allegations that Mattel and Fisher-Price knowingly as defined in the Consumer Product Safety Act imported and sold children’s toys with paints or other surface coatings that contained lead levels that violated a 30-year-old federal law. In 1978, a federal ban was put in place which prohibited toys and other children’s articles from having more than 0.06 percent lead by weight in paints or surface coatings. In 2007, about 95 Mattel and Fisher-Price toy models were determined to have exceeded this limit. Lead can be toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health consequences.
F.D.A. Finds ‘Natural’ Diet Pills Laced With Drugs
Questions and Answers about FDA’s Initiative Against Contaminated Weight Loss Products
FDA has developed these questions and answers Q & A’s to help consumers, health care practitioners, and the general public understand FDA’s actions regarding weight loss products contaminated with various prescription drugs and chemicals. Many of these products are marketed as dietary supplements. Unfortunately, FDA cannot test and identify all weight loss products on the market that have potentially harmful contaminants in order to assure their safety. Enforcement actions and consumer advisories for unapproved products only cover a small fraction of the potentially hazardous weight loss products marketed to consumers on the internet and at some retail establishments.
See Also NYT coverage of the issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/business/10pills.html
New York Times Video Report on the Peanut Recall
The recent salmonella outbreak has raised some alarming questions about food safety and the F.D.A.’s oversight of the food supply.
FDA limits salmonella warning to Mexican peppers
FDA limits salmonella warning to Mexican peppers - CNN.com
Only Mexican-grown jalapeños and serrano peppers have been linked to the salmonella outbreak, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
Raw jalapeño peppers from Mexico have been connected to the salmonella outbreak.
Mexican officials said the findings were “premature,” even as the FDA issued an advisory stating that a contaminated jalapeño pepper originated in Mexico.
California Is First State to Ban Trans Fats, Starts in 2010
California Is First State to Ban Trans Fats - NYTimes.com
LOS ANGELES — California became the first state in the nation to place a ban on trans fats in restaurants and retail baked goods Friday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to phase out their use over the next few years. Under the new law, the artificial fats must be excised from restaurants beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011.
Brown introduces potentially historic food recall bill
Brown introduces potentially historic food recall bill
United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced his introduction of the Safe and Fair Enforcement and Recall for (SAFER) Meat, Poultry, and Food Act that would give federal authorities new power to issue mandatory recalls of tainted food items. The announcement comes on the heels of recent E. coli outbreaks in Ohio and Michigan.
Understanding the Use of Lead in Consumer Products
CPSC Staff Roundtable: Understanding the Pending Lead Legislation and the Use of Lead in Consumer Products, May 13, 2008
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC staff held a one-day roundtable, “Understanding the Pending Lead Legislation and the Use of Lead in Consumer Products” on May 13, 2008. This roundtable was intended to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the pending Congressional action on lead and the use of lead in consumer products, especially children’s products.
CPSC staff discussed pending lead legislation and enforcement issues, current events abroad, and laboratory testing procedures for lead. Industry representatives discussed the use of lead in consumer products for example, paints and coatings, toys, plastics, jewelry, electronics, batteries and textiles, potential substitutes for lead in their products, best practices that can be implemented to eliminate or reduce the use of lead, and differences between domestic manufacturing plants and their practices and those outside the U.S. The roundtable included question and answer sessions and discussions led by the CPSC staff. A wrap-up session for final comments and questions and answers concluded the day.