A lawsuit was filed on Monday against Mattel — America’s largest toy company — because several of the company’s products were found to contain excessive amounts of lead. A little over a week ago, Mattel recalled hundreds of thousands of die-cast toy cars because the paint used on the toys contained unsafe levels of lead….
Category Archives: Exposure to Chemicals
Merck Loses Second Vioxx Trial
After a long silence, finally there’s news about Vioxx (from a AP article published today): NEW ORLEANS – Merck & Co. lost the second federal trial over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx on Thursday and must pay $51 million to a retired FBI agent who had a heart attack after taking the drug for more than…
Vioxx Plaintiff Gets $13.5 Million
…but, of course, Merck plans to appeal. The 77-year-old man, who blamed his heart attack on Merck’s Vioxx, won $9 million today after already being awarded $4.5 million, bringing his grand total to $13.5 million. This was the 6th trial over Vioxx, and “the first involving people alleging use of 18 months or more.” That…
Rocky Flats Class Action Wrapping Up
Here’s the start of an AP article published at The Denver Channel: After hearing months of testimony, a federal court jury was expected to soon begin deliberating whether the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant contaminated neighboring land with plutonium as claimed by thousands of residents. Residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Rockwell International Corp….
Class Action Over Pfizer’s Depo-Provera
Another headache for Pfizer: Canadian women looking for a trouble-free way to prevent pregnancy may be making themselves susceptible to osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become fragile and more likely to fracture. A $700-million class action lawsuit has been filed against the makers of Depo-Provera, a birth control injection prescribed to more than…
Canadian class action over Bayer’s Baycol
Two Manitoba women have filed a class action against Bayer, maker of the cholesterol-reducing drug Baycol: The German-based company voluntarily removed the drug from the market in August 2001 after 31 deaths were attributed to its use. Five months later, Bayer confirmed that almost 100 deaths were linked to Baycol. It’s believed the drug has…
Philip Morris *wins* a case
AP is reporting that “the Illinois Supreme Court handed the tobacco industry a huge victory Thursday by tossing out a $10.1 billion fraud judgment against Philip Morris USA over the marketing of its “light” cigarettes.” The Illinois case came to the state’s high court from Madison County Judge Nicholas Byron, who in March 2003 ordered…
Vioxx class action in Australia
Australians are launching a class action against Merck over Vioxx: More than 400 Australians have launched a class action for personal damages from the manufacturers of the anti-arthritis drug, Vioxx. The drug has been found to increase the risk of stroke and heart attacks, and was globally recalled in September last year. Law firm Slater…
Pfizer starting huge Celebrex study
BusinessWeek Online is reporting that Pfizer is searching for a definitive answer on celebrex by funding a “multiyear, $100 million study to finally find out if the painkiller is safe.” “The study, being run independently by the clinic, will compare three drugs: Celebrex (the Cox-2 drug from Pfizer), ibuprofen (sold under the brand name Motrin),…
UK suit against Seroxat (Paxil) coming next spring
Reuters is reporting that GlaxoSmithKline is facing a suit over the antidepressant Seroxat in the UK: GlaxoSmithKline faces a 1,500-strong UK class action suit early next year over its anti-depressant Seroxat, The Business newspaper said on Sunday. It quoted Mark Harvey, a partner at Cardiff solicitor Hugh James, as saying he would launch the suit…