By Rick Schmitt on January 12, 2017
A few years ago, motivated by a family history of dementia, Bea Pena-Reames began using a dietary supplement that promised improved memory and brain health. It was advertised as safe and effective – but that was not her experience. “I’m typically a joyful person, but I couldn’t shake this depression and intense sense of sadness,”…
Posted in Consumer Protection, FairWarning Investigates, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs |
By Rick Schmitt on July 13, 2016
Congress today sent to President Obama legislation to address the growing safety threat posed by thousands of drones entering the nation’s airspace. The safety measures are contained in a bill to continue the funding of the Federal Aviation Administration, whose legal authority is due to expire on Friday. The Senate today approved the legislation following…
Posted in Airline safety, Aviation Safety, FairWarning Reports |
By Rick Schmitt on July 5, 2016
Federal regulators are investigating a possible defect in Ford Explorers following scores of complaints about exhaust and carbon monoxide pouring into the passenger compartments of the popular SUVs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had received 154 complaints from owners of 2011 to 2015 Explorers, who reported exhaust leaks into their vehicles. According…
Posted in Auto and Highway Safety, FairWarning Reports, Product Hazards and Recalls, Uncategorized |
By Rick Schmitt on June 9, 2016
Over the years, more than 300 children in the U.S., most under age two, have died from strangling on window cords. Despite calls from safety experts and parents groups, manufacturers and retailers have continued to sell window blinds and shades with pull cords. But now, a few companies are breaking ranks
Posted in FairWarning Reports, Product Hazards and Recalls | Tagged Consumer product safety |
By Rick Schmitt on September 24, 2015
A federal judge today rejected an allegation of legal corruption against BNSF Railway Co., ruling that a former company executive didn’t threaten to blackball an arbitrator to win a favorable ruling in a dispute with a fired worker. Judge Ronald Leighton in Tacoma, Wash., said comments made to the arbitrator by the retired BNSF executive,…
Posted in FairWarning Reports, Workplace |
By Rick Schmitt on September 10, 2015
A run-of-the-mill employment dispute could become a major embarrassment for railroad giant BNSF over an allegation that a senior executive threatened to blackball an arbitrator from the industry if she ruled against the company. In a federal court case set to go to trial next week in Tacoma, Wash., a fired BNSF Railway Co. employee…
Posted in FairWarning Reports, Workplace |
By Rick Schmitt on June 4, 2015
After years of inaction, federal regulators are trying to crack down on the use of cheap novelty helmets linked to thousands of motorcycle crash deaths and injuries in recent years. The novelty helmets do not comply with federal safety standards, and provide little or no protection against head injuries in a crash. Still, as FairWarning…
Posted in Auto and Highway Safety, FairWarning Reports, Product Hazards and Recalls |
Strangulation Hazard From Window Blind Cords
By Rick Schmitt on April 16, 2015
After fixing a quick snack for her children one day in October 2013, Erin Shero returned to the downstairs playroom of her suburban Chattanooga, Tenn., home. She wanted to check on the youngest of her five kids, Colton, who was two days away from his second birthday. Thinking he was asleep, Shero reached down to…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Rick Schmitt on June 26, 2014
In April 2012, a team of inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated a seafood company in southern India that had been exporting tons of frozen yellow fin tuna to the United States. What they found was not appetizing: water tanks rife with microbiological contamination, rusty carving knives, peeling paint above the work…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates, Food Supply, Product Hazards and Recalls | Tagged FDA, food inspections, food safety, imports |
By Rick Schmitt on April 22, 2013
Every year, hundreds of motorcycle riders die in crashes they would have survived had they been wearing helmets that meet a government safety standard instead of so-called novelty helmets. Yet sales of the substandard helmets are booming, and federal authorities have failed to crack down.
Posted in Auto and Highway Safety, FairWarning Investigates, Product Hazards and Recalls |
