Author: admin

The US Federal government has enlisted the aid of an elite task force to help in its public awareness policy regarding swine flu. Head of the task force...Elmo from Sesame Street.

An interesting article in the New York Times describes how Judges in the United States are facing problems with prospective jurors. Due to the recession, more and more people are complaining they are unable to take 4-5 weeks off work to sit on a trial.

In some cases, the prospective jurors have stated that such an absence from work would be a financial ruin. I am not aware if this is a problem in Canada but I suspect that it could be.

This raises an important legal issue on the mindset of a juror. If an individual is off work for a certain period of time to sit on a jury this would likely have an impact on his or her ability to adequately deliberate.

The article is here.

Playing at the Montréal World Film Festival this fall, A Chemical Reaction is a documentary that tells the story of the historic court case in 2000-2001 between the town of Hudson, which enacted a by-law to ban the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and some of the most powerful chemical companies in North America. (This text is referenced from http://toxicnation.ca/node/246)

The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcvO-o8NTA

Movie website: www.pfzmedia.co

An ex in-house lawyer for Toyota has sued his former employer, Toyota for destroying evidence regarding rollover lawsuits. The lawyer also alleges that the cover up caused him to suffer from a mental breakdown and eventually being fired.

The ABA Journal reported that Toyota destroyed, “design and test data from an engineering subsidiary and withheld records on design and testing of vehicle roofs”.

The claim can be found here.

Pfizer has agreed to pay over 2.3 billion dollars for its now withdrawn drug Bextra. The fines stem from criminal charges that were pending against Bextra that involved amongst other things violation of federal regulations for promotion of the drug.

It’s the largest fine ever in US history.

In a subsequent story Pfizer has been sued in a product liability claim for its anti-smoking drug Chantix. The suit was filed by a family in Dallas for wrongful death also alleging the victims behaviour changed radically after taking the drug. The FDA has recently announced that the drug be labelled appropriately warning users that it has life threatening side effects. A number of similar suits have been filed against Chantix.

In January of this year Eli Lilly paid out 1.4 billion for it’s now former flagship drug Zyprexa.

A few years ago when the use of cell phones was starting to explode reports started to surface questioning the use of cell phones leading to brain tumors and other deadly illness. Suddenly, it all went away and we never heard about it again. Today, a new study conducted says that yes there is still a risk of brain tumors by cell phone use.

The article can be found here.

The popular water bottle company SIGG announced that they continue to use the hormone disrupting chemical bisphenol (BPA) in their product.

The chemical has been linked to cancer, obesity and other chronic illness.

The BPA revelations seem contradictory to the companies About Us statment:

We make bottles to the highest standards of Swiss quality and craftsmanship. We make bottles that are ecologically sound, reusable and ultimately, recyclable. We make bottles that are as fashionable as they are functional.

For the future we see is green an clean, sleek and stylish. Above all, it's a future of consciousness and commitment. Here's to the future.

I reported earlier this month that Apple has faced problems with its iPOD exploding. Particularly, one case in the UK. Today, the BBC reported that Apple responded to reports of a number of iPhones exploding in France suggesting it was not due to a battery problem.

Apple states the devices were damaged due to “external force” meaning somebody did it. However, customers deny this allegation. In one case a security guard in France was hit in the eye with a piece of glass from an exploding iPhone.

A French consumer watchdog group has begun an investigation into the explosions. Furthermore, Europe’s Rapex, which is a rapid alert system concerning dangerous consumer products has issued an alert to over 27 countries.

Apple has sold 26 million iPhones and 200 million iPods to date.

The Star reported, “Ontario is suing tobacco companies for $50 billion to recover costs of treating citizens with smoking-related illnesses since 1955.”

Furthermore, “the Ontario government says smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the province, killing 13,000 people a year - or 36 per day - and costs taxpayers $1.6 billion annually.”

It’s likely that the action will take years to get to the courts. Despite, the fact that it’s readily proven that tobacco use kills and causes serious illness it will be interesting to see what line of defence the tobacco companies will use. Other than the typical i.e., that people chose to smoke and accept the health hazards voluntarily.

The Star article can be found here.

At least 3 deaths and several injuries have been blamed on a number of blinds sold at various retailers in the United States that include Target, Ikea and Pottery Barn. The cause has been attributed to a defect in the design.

Click here for more.