Under pressure from U.S. regulators, automaker consents to safety meaures. Chrysler Group said it will recall 1.56 million Jeeps with fuel tanks behind the rear axle to satisfy regulators who say the vehicles pose unacceptable fire risks in rear-end crashes. The move reverses Chrysler’s previous rejection of a U.S. request to recall up to 2.7 million Jeeps. The recall covers 1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty SUVs. Chrysler said dealers will install towing hitches on vehicles lacking them, putting more metal between fuel tanks and the rear of the car to absorb an impact. Chrysler said dealers also will inspect and, if needed, replace non-Chrysler towing hitches on 1.14 million 1999-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees. The Wall Street Journal
Lack of U.S. guidelines for chemical exposures at oil spills forces health officials to improvise. Since 2010, ruptured pipelines have spilled oil into neighborhoods in Utah, Michigan and Arkansas, forcing officials to decide quickly whether residents would be at risk if they breathed the foul air. Because there are no clear U.S. guidelines for oil spill evacuations, health authorities relied on a patchwork of data designed for other situations. After the spills, people complained of headaches, nausea and respiratory problems — short-term symptoms that health experts say usually disappear as the air clears. What health experts don’t know, however, is whether the fumes could also trigger long-term health problems that become evident years later. InsideClimate News
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Food and Drug Administration probe focusing on possible risks of schizophrenia treatment. The agency said today the investigation was triggered by the deaths of two patients who passed away three to four days after receiving the Eli Lilly & Co. treatment Zyprexa Relprevv. The medicine, approved by the FDA in late 2009, comes with warnings that patients must stay at the doctor’s office for at least three hours after it is given so they can be monitored. The agency said high doses of the drug can cause, among other things, delirium and cardiopulmonary arrest. In a website post, the FDA said both victims were found to have received “appropriate” doses but had “very high” blood levels of the drug in their systems. Bloomberg, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal
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An Open Letter to Gun Owners:
By David Hemenway on May 23, 2013
David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, calls on gun owners to work side by side with non-owners to fight the scourge of gun violence. “If, as many of you say, you disagree with the gun lobby’s positions,” Hemenway writes, “please do something about it.”
Posted in Commentary, Firearms | 10 Comments