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drugs
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drugs
unpleasant
Reader Patricia says she bought a fire truck for her son for Easter, and while she was unwrapping the toy — out fell a used crack pipe. She contacted the store and they brushed her off, promising that someone would get back to her... but no one ever did. Now she's come to us for a little recognition that crack pipes aren't supposed to be included with children's toys.
Here's her story:
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Big Lots Fire Truck Comes With Free (Used) Crack Pipe
Reader Patricia says she bought a fire truck for her son for Easter, and while she was unwrapping the toy — out fell a used crack pipe. She contacted the store and they brushed her off, promising that someone would get back to her... but no one ever did. Now she's come to us for a little recognition that crack pipes aren't supposed to be included with children's toys.
Here's her story:
More »
investigations
Wachovia Now Being Investigated For Drug Money Laundering
Wachovia, you old rascal! As soon as you wrap up one unsavory scandal, a new possible scandal comes to light. U.S. justice authorities are investigating the bank for possible money laundering through Mexican and Colombian money-transfer businesses. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that "the bank is possibly facing a deferred-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice that would subject it to 'extensive federal oversight,'" but Wachovia denies that any such discussion has taken place. More »
health
Recalled Heparin Contaminant Confirmed, And Congress Grills FDA On Inspections
Researchers have identified the chemical in the contaminated blood thinner Heparin that killed 81 people in the U.S. and made patients here and in Europe sick:The researchers freeze-dried the heparin and used a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze its structure. In addition to a known impurity of heparin called dermatan sulfate, they found that contaminated lots contain a molecule that looks similar to heparin and showed it was almost certainly oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.
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class action
You Can Still Join A Fen-Phen Class Action Lawsuit
This lady started taking Fen-Phen and lost 30 lbs, but now she's got high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and swollen legs, possibly indicative of primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), the negative side effect American Home Products (now known as Wyeth) were successfully sued for upwards of $14 billion. When she called Wyeth, they told her that she had "waited too long" to file a lawsuit. However, the 2006 Fen-Phen settlement actually has a clause that says there's no statute of limitations on filing a claim. Therefore, you can still join a class action lawsuit against them. Also goes to show you that calling up the customer service department probably isn't the best route to take if you're looking for objective information about suing that company...
PPH Class Action: Not Too Late [LawyersAndSettlements]
(Photo: freerangestock.com)
big pharma
Johnson & Johnson is waiting to hear whether or not a judge in Ohio will allow any lawsuits over its Ortho birth control patch to move forward, and the New York Times says lawyers on both sides think there's a good chance he may find in the company's favor based on the doctrine of pre-emption. The argument goes that it's the FDA's responsibility to monitor the safety and labeling of drugs that go to market, and therefore if something goes wrong, it's the agency's fault and not the pharmaceutical company's.
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Pre-Emption Doctrine Would Make FDA Responsible For All Drug Problems, Shield Big Pharma From Lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson is waiting to hear whether or not a judge in Ohio will allow any lawsuits over its Ortho birth control patch to move forward, and the New York Times says lawyers on both sides think there's a good chance he may find in the company's favor based on the doctrine of pre-emption. The argument goes that it's the FDA's responsibility to monitor the safety and labeling of drugs that go to market, and therefore if something goes wrong, it's the agency's fault and not the pharmaceutical company's.
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pharma
Need 30 mg? Walmart Charges You For Three 10 mg $4.00 Prescriptions
Debra writes:WalMart advertises that generic prescriptions are just $4.00 for up to a 30 day supply. What they don't tell you is that it must be what they consider a "commonly prescribed dosage," so if your doctor decides you need a different dosage they count it as separate prescriptions. For example, if a pill comes in 10mg, 20mg or 40mg strengths and your doctor wants you to take 30mgs. WalMart counts that as 3 - 10mg prescriptions and charges you $12.00 for a 30 day supply.More »
prescriptions
Walgreens Fills High Blood Pressure Prescription With Generic Allergy Pills
Tina claims that last December she had her prescription filled at a Dallas Walgreens store, and was surprised to see that the pills had changed. She "thought they must have changed to a generic" and took them anyway—but when she next refilled the prescription, "the pills were back to what I'd taken for years. It ended up taking Walgreens six weeks to get the pill identified."More »
A woman says she found a strange white substance, which police identified as crack, in her fish sandwich bought at Rally's. The fast food place says, "We take the matter very seriously, and are committed to the safety of our food and customers." [News12]
settlements
11 Drug Companies Agree To Pay $125 Million For Fixing Prices
The Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) coalition filed suit against 11 drug companies in 2002 for artificially inflating the average wholesale price, or AWP, of certain drugs, including ones used to treat serious illnesses such as cancer and HIV. This week, PAL announced that the companies have agreed to pay $125 million to settle—82.5% of the amount will be used to compensate third-party payor's claims, and the remaining 17.5% will be used for consumer claims. Here's a list of the drugs involved, and after the jump is a quick guide to see whether you'll qualify for a claim, pending the judge's approval of the settlement. More »
errors
Free Advice For RadioShack: Lock The Front Door Before Smoking Up
Charlie writes:Yesterday I did the unthinkable. I went to Radio Shack.More »
broken government
The FDA Wants More Money
Unlike Nancy Nord (she's the CPSC boss that tried to hint to Congress that her agency needed more funding through sly winks and interpretive dance numbers), the FDA chief is ignoring Bush's "do not ask for more money" rule and demanding more funds. More »
convictions
Enzyte's Steve Warshak (And His Mom) Found Guilty!
Hooray! Steve Warshak, the snake oil salesman responsible for Enzyte (and consequently for those awful "Smiling Bob" ads) was found guilty today of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. So was his mom. More »
safety
22,000 People Died As Bayer Reaped Profits, Withheld Key Study From FDA
The FDA yanked the heart surgery drug Trasylol off the market last November, but a medical researcher now claims that 22,000 lives could have been saved if Bayer AG hadn't withheld the results of an earlier internal study proving the drug's danger. An FDA committee held hearings in September 2006 to determine Trasylol's safety, but three of the committee members had a financial interest in Bayer, and the drug maker had underwritten the committee chairman's research. More »
pharma
This Is Your Brain On Chantix?
NY Magazine has published a interesting personal account from a patient who was taking the smoking-cessation drug Chantix. The FDA has reported 37 suicides and more than 400 reports of suicidal behavior in connection with Chantix, a pleasure blocking drug that sits in the nicotine receptors and prevents the smoker from properly experiencing their nicotine high. The FDA recently issued a patient advisory about the drug, requesting that patients carefully monitor their moods. The possible side-effects of Chantix now include "anxiety, nervousness, tension, depressed mood, unusual behaviors and thinking about or attempting suicide." More »
bad consumer
Free Advice: Don't Deposit Bags Of Meth In The ATM
Here's a little free advice from your friends at The Consumerist: Don't deposit bags of meth at the ATM. You don't get any interest and they're probably going to figure out who are after they see your name and account number. More »
bad ideas
Coffee Shop Installs Fake Security Camera In Bathroom
A coffee shop in Montreal has removed a "dud" security camera from its bathroom after news of it hit the local papers. Corporate headquarters asked the franchise owner to take it down, and apologized/avoided blame in a press release that said they were "not consulted in advance." The franchise owner had installed it as a sort of junkie scarecrow, to frighten away heroin users who were leaving dirty needles in the bathroom stall. More »
hype
