By Myron Levin on January 16, 2018
In the early 1970s, a Johnson & Johnson official posed a question that haunts the company today. If Johnson’s Baby Powder contained asbestos at a level of, say, 1 percent, how much of the cancer-causing substance would a baby inhale when dusted with the powder? The executive’s handwritten memo reached what, at the time, may…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Environmental Safety and Health, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Myron Levin on November 16, 2017
A California jury today rejected claims that Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier were responsible for the deadly cancer of a woman who blamed her illness on breathing asbestos fibers from contaminated body powders. On a 9-3 vote, the jury in Pasadena absolved J&J of negligence in the sale of Johnson’s Baby Powder and…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Consumer Protection, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Myron Levin on October 23, 2017
Overriding a huge jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson, a Los Angeles judge has ordered a new trial in the case of an ovarian cancer victim who claimed she contracted the disease through longtime use of the company’s talc powders for feminine hygiene. The ruling voids the August award of $417 million in compensatory and…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Health, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Myron Levin on August 30, 2017
How many people are killed or seriously injured because of drivers fiddling with their cellphones? Due to widespread underreporting, no one really knows. In 2015, according to estimates of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 3,477 deaths caused by distracted driving, including 476 involving the use of cellphones. Depending who you ask, this last…
Posted in Notes | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
By Myron Levin on August 30, 2017
Just after noon on March 29, a pickup truck crossed the center line of a rural road in South Texas and slammed into a church bus, killing 13 members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels. A police report said the 20-year-old pickup driver, who survived, had taken medication and was texting. In other…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
By Myron Levin on August 21, 2017
A Los Angeles jury today ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay damages of $417 million to a 62-year-old woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on years of using the company’s baby powder for feminine hygiene. It was the first California trial in the mushrooming legal battle over links between genital use of talc and ovarian…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Environmental Safety and Health, Medical Errors, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Myron Levin on March 6, 2017
Editor's note: See update at bottom of story.
Breaking a string of lopsided courtroom defeats, Johnson & Johnson scored a legal victory Friday when a St. Louis jury rejected the claim of an ovarian cancer victim that her use of talc powders for feminine hygiene caused the disease. The defense verdict in St. Louis Circuit Court followed three plaintiffs’ victories last year with…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Health, Medical Errors, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Myron Levin on February 9, 2017
Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, the top seller of the menthol cigarettes favored by most black smokers, is seizing on the hot button issue of police harassment of blacks to counter efforts by public health advocates to restrict menthol sales. In recent months, the company has quietly enlisted black groups and leaders, including civil rights activist…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Cigarette Smuggling, Consumer Protection, Product Hazards and Recalls, Smoking and Tobacco Industry |
Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent
By Myron Levin and Paul Feldman on December 13, 2016
The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars too close to the sun–melting the wings and casting him into the sea. In the 1990s, a consulting firm called Failure Analysis Associates ran tongue-in-cheek ads aimed at corporate lawyers that retold the myth as…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Auto and Highway Safety, Aviation Safety, Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Health, Food Supply, Product Hazards and Recalls, Smoking and Tobacco Industry, Workplace Safety and Health |
By Myron Levin on October 27, 2016
Health care products giant Johnson & Johnson suffered another big legal defeat late Thursday, when a St. Louis jury ordered the company and its talc supplier to pay about $70 million in damages to a woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on the use of talc powders for feminine hygiene. The award marked the third…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged In Focus, Product Hazards and Recalls |
