U.S. tobacco companies tell judge they shouldn’t be required to publicly state that they made cigarettes more addictive. The companies, including Altria Group and Reynolds American, have fought with the U.S. Justice Department about the wording of pending “corrective statements.” The statements were required after U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, in a historic 2006 decision, found that the tobacco industry engaged in a multi-decade fraud to deceive the public. Labels with the statements are set to run eventually in newspapers, on cigarette packaging and elsewhere. Kessler concluded that the companies manipulated nicotine and lied about health effects, and an appeals court upheld her decision. Reuters, The Associated Press
Russia launches a push against Big Tobacco. Officials in the world’s second-largest tobacco market, which is dominated by global tobacco companies, are working on strict anti-smoking rules. A bill that would establish smoking restrictions similar to those seen in much of the West—such as limits on advertising and smoking in restaurants—is expected to be submitted to parliament on Nov. 1 for a vote early next year. A separate effort to raise excise duties nearly 135 percent by 2015 has passed a parliamentary committee. The push “will take time—maybe another generation—but we will succeed in defeating smoking and promoting a healthy lifestyle,” said a spokesman for Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The Wall Street Journal
Smoking in the car — even with a window open — exposes children to unsafe levels of air contaminants. Scottish scientists, who took air quality measurements during 85 car trips, found that smokers cars’ had particulate pollutants that exceeded World Health Organization indoor air standards. Children are particularly susceptible because they have faster breathing rates, a less developed immune system and are largely unable to escape or avoid exposure to second-hand smoke, said one of the researchers, from the University of Aberdeen. BBC, HealthDay News
More people may be at risk from tainted drugs made by pharmacy linked to meningitis outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration reported that products from the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., may have also caused other types of infections in patients who have had eye operations or open-heart surgery. The new warning is based on only two cases, and it was not known for sure whether the compounding pharmacy’s drugs had caused the infections. Officials did not say how many people may be at risk. The company already has been linked to a meningitis outbreak, blamed on contaminated steroid injections, that has killed 15 patients and infected 199 others in 15 states. The New York Times
Despite warning in 2003, Congress refused to regulate compounding pharmacies. A Senate committee was told that 10 of the 29 drugs from compounding pharmacies evaluated in a federal survey failed one or more quality tests. In contrast, an analysis of more than 3,000 samples from drug manufacturers, which are subject to Food and Drug Administration oversight, found only four with quality problems. Yet compounding pharmacies repeatedly have succeeded in fending off regulatory proposals. “They mobilize their members, they scare patients and parents, and they flood Capitol Hill,” said a patient advocate. “They are dedicated to making sure they never have FDA oversight.” Reuters
Mining death and injury rates fell to record lows in 2011. New data from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration showed that fatal injuries in 2011 occurred at a rate of .0114 for every 200,000 hours worked in a mine, down from .0234 in 2010. The injury rate was 2.74 per 200,000 hours worked, down from 2.81. The rate of deaths and injuries was up slightly in coal mines, but still was down from 2010, when 29 people were killed in the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion in West Virginia. As reported previously, 37 miners, including 21 coal miners, died in work accidents last year. That was the second-lowest total since authorities started tracking the statistic in 1910. MSHA, The (W. Va.) State Journal
Accident that amputated four of a worker’s fingers leads to proposed fine of $69,300. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration accused plastics recycler Marglen Industries of two violations — including a willful violation, the agency’s most serious offense — in connection with the accident at its Rome, Ga., plant in May. The worker suffered the finger amputations while performing maintenance on equipment. OSHA said the company failed to develop “a specific lockout/tagout procedure for de-energizing the system” that injured the worker. A government spokesman said Marglen has requested an informal conference to review the case with OSHA. OSHA, Rome News-Tribune
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
