Fluoroquinolone was reportedly banned by the FDA in 1997, but Florida food safety experts officials told CBS-4’s Al Sunshine that it is not an imminent threat to public health and it’s more of an issue of keeping unneeded antibiotics out of the human food supply.
Government Policy
Walmart Pulls Contaminated Frozen Catfish From China
By 4.28.07
FDA Serves Search Warrants On Two Pet Food Plants
By 4.27.07
The FDA served search warrants on two pet food plants that manufactured ingredients involved in the recall of millions of cans of pet food.
Papa John's Pizza Guy Delivers Drive By Shooting Instead Of Pizza
By 4.27.07
Bad customer service stories don’t usually involve phrases like “bullet casings were recovered” and “drive-by shooting”. Alas, this one does.
Tell Your Senator To Oppose Nominating Guy Who Hates Product Safety As Head Of Product Safety
By 4.27.07
Eight consumers groups have united to oppose the nomination of Michael Baroody for the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Baroody is the executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, which has consistently worked to undermine the very efforts of the organization Bush knighted Baroody to helm.
RIAA 1, Badgers 0: Judge Orders University of Wisconsin-Madison To Turn Over Student IDs
By 4.26.07
On Tuesday, 16 record companies represented by the Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking the names associated with 53 Internet connections for copyright infringement. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Shabaz signed an order requiring UW-Madison to relinquish the names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Media Access Control addresses for each of the 53 individuals.
UW had initially declined to forward the “settlement” letters to their students, preferring to wait for a court order. The RIAA record companies responded by filing 53 “John Doe” lawsuits against the UW students. “We had every indication that they were going to be going in this direction,” said Ken Frazier, interim chief information officer at UW-Madison. “It’s the step the RIAA would have to take to get the identity of a user of our network.” “We continue to be really concerned for students,” he said. “The prospect of being sued in federal court is a really scary one.”
Acer Laptop Batteries Recalled Due To Fire Hazard
By 4.26.07
It seems Acer fell asleep during the whole Sony battery recall thing and is just recalling them now. Well, I do have a couple of affected Acer laptops, and so far the process is painful. The operators on the other end answer the phone in a language unknown to me (though one time I think I heard the operator say South Africa?) though they promptly switched to very understandable English after I spoke.
Cingular: Can't Pay Your Fraudulent $26,000 Bill? File For Bankruptcy.
By 4.25.07
If you dig through all the fine print in your cell phone contract, you’ll most likely discover a statement that reads something like this: “Should your cell phone be lost or stolen you are responsible for any costs incurred for unauthorized calls made prior to reporting the cell phone missing.”
Hey, Bank of America! Your ATM Gave Me A Fake $20
By 4.25.07
We’d always sort of assumed that someone had to check the to make sure money was real before they put it into an ATM, but apparently a few fake bills have been known to slip by. Wealth Junkie blogger Alexander had $4 in his wallet when he stopped by a Bank of America ATM to get cash for his Costco shopping trip. When a cashier at Costco spotted a fake $20, Alexander knew exactly where it came from.
Walmart's Spying Operation Is Hiring!
By 4.25.07
Former CIA or FBI intelligence expert? Want to train your eye on more… “innocent” suspects than you did during your days in law enforcement? Look no further than Walmart’s Global Security division, which is headed by former senior CIA and FBI senior officer Kenneth Senser and Army Special Operations veteran David Harrison.
Wait, Why Are We Paying Turbo Tax Again?
By 4.24.07
When a taxpayer files electronically through TurboTax, the information goes first to Intuit’s data center, where the file is batched with others and then sent to I.R.S. computers. The process is almost instantaneous, the company said — when everything goes right. “We are just the transmitter of the return,” said Julie Miller, a spokeswoman for the Intuit TurboTax unit. “In the middle there are no additional steps we are taking.”
FDA Knew About Tainted Peanut Butter And Spinach But Was Too Poor To Act
By 4.24.07
Remember that spinach and peanut butter that got recalled? Turns out the FDA knew of the dangers to the food supply for years but, understaffed and underfunded, they only took tiny steps to address the problems.
Court Transcript Of "Peek Squad" Agent's No-Contest Plea
By 4.23.07
We just received the court transcript detailing former Geek Squad Agent Hao Kuo Chi “no-contest” plea in the case of his alleged setting up a cameraphone while on call in a customer’s house and recording a young woman taking a shower.
Tainted Pet Food Hits Human Food Supply
By 4.23.07
California officials quarantined 1,500 animals at the American Hog Farm and are tracking who purchased nearly 100 hogs from the farm this month, when the animals’ feed included pet food that had been tainted with melamine.
Year-Old Frozen Hamburger Recalled Due To E. Coli
By 4.23.07
Yes, even freezing meat for 1 year will not dampen the power of e. coli. From the LA Times:
The meat was produced by Richwood Meat Co. on April 28, 2006, dated either “4-28-06” or “118-6,” for the 118th day of the year, said Mike Wood, the company’s president. Although the product was manufactured a year ago, the patties still may be present in freezers at home or in stores, officials said.
CPSC Recalls Magnetix Magnetic Building Sets, Warns "Small Magnets Are Injuring Children"
By 4.23.07
Mega Brands is recalling 4 million Magnetix Magnetic Building Sets over concerns that children may ingest small magnets that can detach from the sets.
To date, CPSC and Mega Brands are aware of one death, one aspiration and 27 intestinal injuries. Emergency surgical intervention was needed in all but one case. At least 1,500 incidents of magnets separating from the building pieces have been reported.
The recalled sets contain over 250 plastic building pieces. Sets manufactured after March 31, 2006 bearing a warning about the magnets are not included in the recall.
40 Million Taxpayers Forget To Collect The Telephone Excise Tax
By 4.22.07
Remember the telephone excise tax? For 40 million taxpayers, the answer is “no.” From Kiplingers:
Although nearly everyone who had a phone at any time between March 1, 2003, and July 31, 2006, deserved the credit, the IRS says that 30% of taxpayers failed to claim it. That means 40 million taxpayers missed the boat … and a chance to boost their refund (or cut their tax due) by $30, $40, $50 or $60.
You can still pry your money from the government by spending fifteen minutes with Form 1040X. X as in, remember the X-cise tax. Kiplinger’s has a step-by-step guide to claim the credit that is rightfully yours. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Department Of Transportation To Examine Deceptive Airline Schedules
By 4.21.07
The Department of Transportation is accusing eight airlines of publishing unrealistic schedules. At issue is whether airlines are properly disclosing on-time performance statistics as required.
“We want to understand … how it is possible that a flight could be late 70 or 80 percent of the time and actually not disclose that inadequate rate to the customer,” said Andrew Steinberg, assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and international affairs.
If airlines do not demonstrate improvements within the year, Congress has threatened to unleash a barrel of monkeys new rules. The Department can start by having a friendly chat with U.S. Airways, operator of Flight 154 from Philadelphia to San Francisco, which arrived late 100% of the time in February. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
