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Consumer Alerts: Public Interest and Environment Archives 2006

Small Cars Come Up Short in Crash-Test Safety Study

December 19, 2006

Small cars are back in vogue because of high gasoline prices but most fail to provide the same safety protection that buyers find in bigger vehicles, according to the results of new tests simulating crashes with sport utility vehicles or pickup trucks. SOURCE: New York Times

Carmakers Fight Global Warming Lawsuit

December 18, 2006

The six largest automakers asked a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit by California that accuses them of harming human health and the environment by producing vehicles that contribute to global warming. The American and Japanese auto companies filed a motion Friday in U.S. District Court in Oakland to dismiss the state's suit, and an attorney for the carmakers said Saturday that state officials who want to reduce auto emissions should do it through regulation not litigation SOURCE: Associated Press

Side Effects: Hair-Loss Drug May Affect Marker for Cancer

December 12, 2006

Men who take a drug to reduce hair loss may also be reducing their levels of P.S.A., a marker for prostate cancer. That may sound like a good thing, but while the drug lowers the level of P.S.A., it does not lower the risk of cancer. In fact, a new study reports, doctors could be misled into concluding that a patient's risk is lower than it really is. Writing in The Lancet Oncology, researchers said the drug they looked at, Proscar, could halve the blood levels of P.S.A., or prostate-specific antigen. It is not known whether a close cousin of Proscar, Propecia, has the same effect. The study was conducted by Dr. Anthony V. D'Amico of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dr. Claus G. Roehrborn of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. SOURCE: New York Times

Editorial: Making the Highways Less Safe

December 10, 2006

While avowing professionalism, this cadre of political contributors and industry insiders has brazenly relaxed federal standards for truck safety over the last six years. Rather than tightening drivers' hours as safety specialists advised, the political powers at the truck safety agency have actually loosened them - increasing the maximum driving hours to 77 from 60 over seven days, and to 88 hours from 70 over eight consecutive days on the road. The industry's deep-pocketed lobbyists made sure the Republican-controlled Congress remained as passive as any glassy-eyed driver involved in the annual toll of 5,000 truck-related fatalities. SOURCE: New York Times

Government Considers Banning Lead in Children's Jewelry

December 7, 2006

The staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recommended that the commission effectively ban the lead in children's metal jewelry, citing the risk of lead poisoning. The proposal is subject to public comment and would require approval by the full commission, which is scheduled to vote next week. SOURCE: Washington Post

Banned Elsewhere, Compounds Still Used in U.S.

October 8, 2006

Although chemical bans overseas have prompted some manufacturers to reformulate all their products worldwide, many toys and cosmetics are exceptions. Europe banned or restricted six phthalate compounds in toys. In beauty products, Europe has eliminated 900 compounds, including two phthalates, suspected of causing reproductive disorders, cancer or genetic mutations. The U.S. toy industry said seven years ago, when the European Union first banned some phthalates, that it would voluntarily remove them from products for babies and toddlers. But last year, 15 of 18 vinyl bath toys, teethers that babies chew on and other toys purchased at U.S. stores contained the chemicals, according to tests by the activist organization U.S. Public Interest Research Group. One plastic book labeled 'phthalate free' contained phthalates. SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

Birth-Control Patch Label To Include New Risk Data

September 21, 2006

The Food and Drug Administration said a Johnson & Johnson birth-control patch will carry information about the possibility the product might increase the risk of blood clots in women beyond that seen in typical birth-control pills. The agency said the label will carry a discussion of two recent clinical studies of the patch that were conducted in the wake of concerns about possible increases in clot risk. The two studies show conflicting results, the FDA said. One study suggests the birth-control patch doesn't carry a blood clot risk higher than a birth-control pill, while the other suggests an almost twofold increase in the risk of venous thromboembolism, or blood clots. Preliminary results of the studies were released in February, and the updated findings released yesterday are similar SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal

Smokers Seek Class-Action Suit Status

September 12, 2006

Lawyers for smokers of light cigarettes have asked a federal judge to grant class-action status to a lawsuit against major tobacco companies, allowing tens of millions of people nationwide to seek as much as $200 billion in damages. In the lawsuit, filed in 2004, the smokers accused Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which is now part of Reynolds American Inc., and other defendants of deceiving them for more than 30 years by claiming low-tar cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes. The manufacturers, they allege, knew the health risks were about the same. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday in Brooklyn SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Montana Man Renews Push for Child-Safety Legislation

September 7, 2006

Aaron Chatten, who lost his young daughter last year when a car accidentally backed over her, traveled from Glasgow to Capitol Hill this week to make a second tearful public plea for a bill requiring auto-safety features that could have saved his child. 'Next year, we're going to lose more and more kids,' he said. 'And the next year, more and more kids. ... I just really hope it doesn't have to be that way.' In a heartbreaking news conference, a handful of parents from around the country told stories of how they lost children to strangulation by power windows, cars backing up in driveways or vehicles that rolled away unexpectedly. The child safety advocacy group Kids and Cars organized the event. Chatten lost his 14-month-old daughter, Madison Faith Chatten, in May 2005 when a driver who couldn't see her in the driveway of her day-care center backed over her. SOURCE: Billings Gazette

Lens Solution Caused Eye Infections, Report Says

August 22, 2006

Federal disease control experts and leading eye doctors have formally concluded that Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc was the only contact lens solution contributing to an outbreak of potentially blinding fungal eye infections earlier this year. But the researchers' report, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says it remains unclear how the product caused the problems. And an accompanying commentary by two academic researchers, meanwhile, argues that further study is needed to gauge the safety profile of all the various brands of 'multipurpose' lens-care solutions on the market that, like MoistureLoc, are used for cleaning, storing and moistening soft contact lenses. SOURCE: New York Times

F.D.A. Strengthens Warnings on Stimulants

August 22, 2006

Federal drug regulators have ordered that strong warnings be put on the labels of stimulants like Ritalin to caution against their use in adults or children with heart problems and to alert doctors that the drugs cause one child in a thousand to experience hallucinations. The new warnings are not as strong as those approved in February by an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration, but they significantly strengthen the risk information already on the drugs. 'We're not trying to scare people out of using these drugs,' said Dr. Robert J. Temple, director of the Office of Medical Policy at the drug agency. 'Still, I would be extremely reluctant to put people with heart failure on one of these drugs.' SOURCE: New York Times

Carmakers Stall Roof Rules

August 21, 2006

Last year, federal safety officials proposed strengthening a 35-year-old vehicle roof strength standard after studying the contentious issue for more than a decade. Safety advocates immediately criticized the new proposal as toothless and designed more to protect automakers from new cost burdens than American motorists from crushed roofs in rollovers. But at the same time, automakers both foreign and domestic have been quietly lobbying the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to loosen the proposed rules, exempt some vehicles and change testing procedures. The haggling threatens to further delay a meaningful update of roof strength regulations, which have remained unchanged for more than three decades while virtually every other major vehicle safety rule has been updated, often several times. 'It's very sad to see the very slow reaction to the issue of occupant protection,' Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies Inc., said Sunday. 'Is this the best we can do after 35 years?' SOURCE: The Detroit News

What'll It Cost? Insurers Don't Have to Say

August 20, 2006

When Margaret Zilm needed cataract surgery, she wanted to know what it would cost. Her medical policy has a $5,000 deductible, and her money was on the line. 'I thought I should figure out the impact on my budget,' said Zilm of Kansas City, Mo. But one eye doctor's office told Zilm it had no idea what her insurance company would pay. The insurer wouldn't give out the information. And an official at Missouri's Department of Insurance said such figures were confidential under medical providers' contracts with insurers. 'I felt like a criminal for even asking,' Zilm said. Zilm's experience pinpoints a growing problem. Health insurers are aggressively marketing medical policies with high deductibles - the amount people pay before coverage kicks in. Many experts contend these products will motivate Americans to shop for medical care, as they do for cars or computers. But basic data about what services cost generally aren't available. SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman

Federal Judge Rules Tobacco Firms Deceived Smokers and Violated Racketeering Laws

August 18, 2006

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought. Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did order the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites 'corrective statements' on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. She also ordered tobacco companies to stop labeling cigarettes as 'low tar,' 'light,' 'ultra light' or 'mild,' since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them. SOURCE: Associated Press

Taking a Case Beyond the Courtroom and into Legislation

The Issue & Bill Outline
Family's Plea
The Bill

When Eugene attorney Don Corson was working on the wrongful death case of former University of Oregon Law School Dean Chapin Clark, Corson knew what happened should have been against the law. COMPLETE STORY >

The Jury - Our Final Safeguard

In our system of checks and balances, the jury is our final check and our last safeguard against unjust laws and tyranny. American Jury Institute

Contents:
A Jury's Rights, Powers, and Duties
Civil Trials and the Jury
The Jury Selection Process: The Call to Jury Duty The Jury Experience—Do I want it Your Regular Job and Compensation

The Trial: Selection of the 12 Jurors Expectations of Jurors during the Trial Reaching a Verdict

COMPLETE STORY >

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	< BACK TO Public Interest and Environment Main Consumer Alerts: Public Interest and Environment Archives 2006 Small Cars Come Up Short in Crash-Test Safety Study December 19, 2006 Small cars are back in vogue because of high gasoline prices but most fail to provide the same safety protection that buyers find in bigger vehicles, according to the results of new tests simulating crashes with sport utility vehicles or pickup trucks. SOURCE: New York Times Carmakers Fight Global Warming Lawsuit December 18, 2006 The six largest automakers asked a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit by California that accuses them of harming human health and the environment by producing vehicles that contribute to global warming. The American and Japanese auto companies filed a motion Friday in U.S. District Court in Oakland to dismiss the state's suit, and an attorney for the carmakers said Saturday that state officials who want to reduce auto emissions should do it through regulation not litigation SOURCE: Associated Press Side Effects: Hair-Loss Drug May Affect Marker for Cancer December 12, 2006 Men who take a drug to reduce hair loss may also be reducing their levels of P.S.A., a marker for prostate cancer. That may sound like a good thing, but while the drug lowers the level of P.S.A., it does not lower the risk of cancer. In fact, a new study reports, doctors could be misled into concluding that a patient's risk is lower than it really is. Writing in The Lancet Oncology, researchers said the drug they looked at, Proscar, could halve the blood levels of P.S.A., or prostate-specific antigen. It is not known whether a close cousin of Proscar, Propecia, has the same effect. The study was conducted by Dr. Anthony V. D'Amico of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dr. Claus G. Roehrborn of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. SOURCE: New York Times Editorial: Making the Highways Less Safe December 10, 2006 While avowing professionalism, this cadre of political contributors and industry insiders has brazenly relaxed federal standards for truck safety over the last six years. Rather than tightening drivers' hours as safety specialists advised, the political powers at the truck safety agency have actually loosened them - increasing the maximum driving hours to 77 from 60 over seven days, and to 88 hours from 70 over eight consecutive days on the road. The industry's deep-pocketed lobbyists made sure the Republican-controlled Congress remained as passive as any glassy-eyed driver involved in the annual toll of 5,000 truck-related fatalities. SOURCE: New York Times Government Considers Banning Lead in Children's Jewelry December 7, 2006 The staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recommended that the commission effectively ban the lead in children's metal jewelry, citing the risk of lead poisoning. The proposal is subject to public comment and would require approval by the full commission, which is scheduled to vote next week. SOURCE: Washington Post Banned Elsewhere, Compounds Still Used in U.S. October 8, 2006 Although chemical bans overseas have prompted some manufacturers to reformulate all their products worldwide, many toys and cosmetics are exceptions. Europe banned or restricted six phthalate compounds in toys. In beauty products, Europe has eliminated 900 compounds, including two phthalates, suspected of causing reproductive disorders, cancer or genetic mutations. The U.S. toy industry said seven years ago, when the European Union first banned some phthalates, that it would voluntarily remove them from products for babies and toddlers. But last year, 15 of 18 vinyl bath toys, teethers that babies chew on and other toys purchased at U.S. stores contained the chemicals, according to tests by the activist organization U.S. Public Interest Research Group. One plastic book labeled 'phthalate free' contained phthalates. SOURCE: Los Angeles Times Birth-Control Patch Label To Include New Risk Data September 21, 2006 The Food and Drug Administration said a Johnson & Johnson birth-control patch will carry information about the possibility the product might increase the risk of blood clots in women beyond that seen in typical birth-control pills. The agency said the label will carry a discussion of two recent clinical studies of the patch that were conducted in the wake of concerns about possible increases in clot risk. The two studies show conflicting results, the FDA said. One study suggests the birth-control patch doesn't carry a blood clot risk higher than a birth-control pill, while the other suggests an almost twofold increase in the risk of venous thromboembolism, or blood clots. Preliminary results of the studies were released in February, and the updated findings released yesterday are similar SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Smokers Seek Class-Action Suit Status September 12, 2006 Lawyers for smokers of light cigarettes have asked a federal judge to grant class-action status to a lawsuit against major tobacco companies, allowing tens of millions of people nationwide to seek as much as $200 billion in damages. In the lawsuit, filed in 2004, the smokers accused Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which is now part of Reynolds American Inc., and other defendants of deceiving them for more than 30 years by claiming low-tar cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes. The manufacturers, they allege, knew the health risks were about the same. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday in Brooklyn SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Montana Man Renews Push for Child-Safety Legislation September 7, 2006 Aaron Chatten, who lost his young daughter last year when a car accidentally backed over her, traveled from Glasgow to Capitol Hill this week to make a second tearful public plea for a bill requiring auto-safety features that could have saved his child. 'Next year, we're going to lose more and more kids,' he said. 'And the next year, more and more kids. ... I just really hope it doesn't have to be that way.' In a heartbreaking news conference, a handful of parents from around the country told stories of how they lost children to strangulation by power windows, cars backing up in driveways or vehicles that rolled away unexpectedly. The child safety advocacy group Kids and Cars organized the event. Chatten lost his 14-month-old daughter, Madison Faith Chatten, in May 2005 when a driver who couldn't see her in the driveway of her day-care center backed over her. SOURCE: Billings Gazette Lens Solution Caused Eye Infections, Report Says August 22, 2006 Federal disease control experts and leading eye doctors have formally concluded that Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc was the only contact lens solution contributing to an outbreak of potentially blinding fungal eye infections earlier this year. But the researchers' report, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says it remains unclear how the product caused the problems. And an accompanying commentary by two academic researchers, meanwhile, argues that further study is needed to gauge the safety profile of all the various brands of 'multipurpose' lens-care solutions on the market that, like MoistureLoc, are used for cleaning, storing and moistening soft contact lenses. SOURCE: New York Times F.D.A. Strengthens Warnings on Stimulants August 22, 2006 Federal drug regulators have ordered that strong warnings be put on the labels of stimulants like Ritalin to caution against their use in adults or children with heart problems and to alert doctors that the drugs cause one child in a thousand to experience hallucinations. The new warnings are not as strong as those approved in February by an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration, but they significantly strengthen the risk information already on the drugs. 'We're not trying to scare people out of using these drugs,' said Dr. Robert J. Temple, director of the Office of Medical Policy at the drug agency. 'Still, I would be extremely reluctant to put people with heart failure on one of these drugs.' SOURCE: New York Times Carmakers Stall Roof Rules August 21, 2006 Last year, federal safety officials proposed strengthening a 35-year-old vehicle roof strength standard after studying the contentious issue for more than a decade. Safety advocates immediately criticized the new proposal as toothless and designed more to protect automakers from new cost burdens than American motorists from crushed roofs in rollovers. But at the same time, automakers both foreign and domestic have been quietly lobbying the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to loosen the proposed rules, exempt some vehicles and change testing procedures. The haggling threatens to further delay a meaningful update of roof strength regulations, which have remained unchanged for more than three decades while virtually every other major vehicle safety rule has been updated, often several times. 'It's very sad to see the very slow reaction to the issue of occupant protection,' Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies Inc., said Sunday. 'Is this the best we can do after 35 years?' SOURCE: The Detroit News What'll It Cost? Insurers Don't Have to Say August 20, 2006 When Margaret Zilm needed cataract surgery, she wanted to know what it would cost. Her medical policy has a $5,000 deductible, and her money was on the line. 'I thought I should figure out the impact on my budget,' said Zilm of Kansas City, Mo. But one eye doctor's office told Zilm it had no idea what her insurance company would pay. The insurer wouldn't give out the information. And an official at Missouri's Department of Insurance said such figures were confidential under medical providers' contracts with insurers. 'I felt like a criminal for even asking,' Zilm said. Zilm's experience pinpoints a growing problem. Health insurers are aggressively marketing medical policies with high deductibles - the amount people pay before coverage kicks in. Many experts contend these products will motivate Americans to shop for medical care, as they do for cars or computers. But basic data about what services cost generally aren't available. SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman Federal Judge Rules Tobacco Firms Deceived Smokers and Violated Racketeering Laws August 18, 2006 A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought. Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did order the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites 'corrective statements' on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. She also ordered tobacco companies to stop labeling cigarettes as 'low tar,' 'light,' 'ultra light' or 'mild,' since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them. SOURCE: Associated Press Taking a Case Beyond the Courtroom and into Legislation The Issue & Bill Outline Family's Plea The Bill When Eugene attorney Don Corson was working on the wrongful death case of former University of Oregon Law School Dean Chapin Clark, Corson knew what happened should have been against the law. COMPLETE STORY > The Jury - Our Final Safeguard In our system of checks and balances, the jury is our final check and our last safeguard against unjust laws and tyranny. American Jury Institute Contents: A Jury's Rights, Powers, and Duties Civil Trials and the Jury The Jury Selection Process: The Call to Jury Duty The Jury Experience—Do I want it Your Regular Job and Compensation The Trial: Selection of the 12 Jurors Expectations of Jurors during the Trial Reaching a Verdict COMPLETE STORY > Public Interest Small Cars Come Up Short in Crash-Test Safety Study Carmakers Fight Global Warming Lawsuit Side Effects: Hair-Loss Drug May Affect Marker for Cancer Editorial: Making the Highways Less Safe Banned Elsewhere, Compounds Still Used in U.S. Smokers Seek Class-Action Suit Status Montana Man Renews Push for Child-Safety Legislation Lens Solution Caused Eye Infections, Report Says F.D.A. Strengthens Warnings on Stimulants Carmakers Stall Roof Rules What'll It Cost? Insurers Don't Have to Say Federal Judge Rules Tobacco Firms Deceived Smokers and Violated Racketeering Laws Study: Bad nursing home care is common Please Hold the Free Lunches Taking a Case Beyond the Courtroom and into Legislation The Jury - Our Final Safeguard Whitewater death due to lack of skills
	The Corson & Johnson Law Firm serves clients throughout Oregon, including Eugene, Portland, Brownsville, Springfield, Hood River, Brookings, Corvallis, Salem, Redmond, Roseburg, Medford, Klamath Falls, Myrtle Creek, Bend, Albany, Creswell, Ashland, Central Point, Grants Pass, Junction City, Florence, Tigard, Cottage Grove, Coos Bay, North Bend, Newport, Oregon City, Hillsboro, Gresham, Beaverton. Benton County • Clackamas County • Coos County • Crook County • Deschutes County • Douglas County • Jackson County • Jefferson County • Josephine County • Klamath County • Lane County • Lincoln County • Linn County • Marion County • Multnomah County • Polk County • Tillamook County • Washington County The Corson & Johnson Law Firm does not offer any guarantee of case results. Past success in litigation does not guarantee success in any new or future civil action. Our web site describes some of the cases that Don Corson or The Corson & Johnson Law Firm has worked on in the past. Our description of those cases is summary in nature. The results obtained in each of the cases depended on the particular facts of each case. The results of other cases will differ based on the different facts involved. FULL DISCLAIMER