By Myron Levin on May 23, 2018
Early on Feb. 2, 2016, a van carrying members of the California Conservation Corps paused at a stop sign on a country road near the Central Valley town of Reedley. Then the van rolled into the intersection, where it was broadsided by a 40-ton gravel truck and trailer, killing three corps members …
Posted in FairWarning Investigates, Recent Stories | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Workplace Safety and Health |
By Myron Levin on April 11, 2018
A New Jersey jury today ordered Johnson & Johnson and its main talc supplier to pay $80 million in punitive damages to a mesothelioma victim who claimed he contracted the asbestos-related cancer from years of using Johnson’s baby powder. Capping a 2½-month trial just blocks from Johnson & Johnson’s world headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J., the…
Posted in FairWarning Reports, Recent Stories | Tagged Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
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 |
