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• Bad Steering, Inadequate Training Caused Cruise Ship Passenger Injuries

  Gerry McGill | January 11, 2008 4:16 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined Thursday that improper training and bad steering by the ship's Second Officer caused a Princess Cruises ship to tilt suddenly in 2006, injuring almost 300 people, some seriously.The NTSB said the Crown Princess's captain and crew failed to realize how fast they were going in shallow water leaving Port Canaveral, Florida. As a result,...

• Merck Recalls Unsterilized Vaccine; 1.2 million Doses Pulled

  Courtney Mills | December 13, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. recalled some 1.2 million doses of Hib vaccine, after it was revealed through quality control that the vaccines had not undergone proper sterilization techniques. Production equipment used to manufacture the vaccines had not been properly sterilized, so these lots had to be recalled.The vaccine, known as Haemophilus influenza type b, prevents the spread of...

• Bayer Halts Sales of Trasylol Globally

  Gerry McGill | November 06, 2007 3:27 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Bayer AG halted worldwide sales Monday of its anti-bleeding drug Trasylol at the request of U. S. and foreign health officials pending further analysis of a Canadian study that suggests it's linked to a 50 percent higher risk of death than the other drugs in the clinical trial. The Food and Drug Administration asked the company to stop selling the drug, used to prevent excessive bleeding during...

• Jury Awards $7 Million in Accutane Trial

  Gerry McGill | October 12, 2007 2:00 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A Pensacola, Florida jury yesterday awarded $7 million to a Pensacola man who said that the manufacturer of Accutane failed to warn him that the use of the controversial acne drug could cause a gastrointestinal disease. The Pensacola jury deliberated for two days before finding that Swiss drug-maker Hoffman-La Roche failed to warn that use of Accutane could potentially lead to a condition known...

• 16-Year-Old Drivers Have Worse Crash Rate

  Gerry McGill | September 18, 2007 2:31 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A 2001 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 16-year-old drivers have a crash rate three times higher than that of 17-year-olds, five times greater than 18-year-olds, and almost 10 times greater than drivers aged 30 to 59.Sixteen states and the District of Columbia ban the use of wireless communication devices for some teenage drivers, particularly those 16 and...

• California Bans Cell Phone Use By 16- and 17-Year-Old Drivers

  Gerry McGill | September 14, 2007 11:50 AM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California signed a law on Thursday which bars the use of cell phones by drivers under 18. The law will take effect July 1, 2008. California joins 15 states and the District of Columbia in banning the use of wireless communication devices for teenage drivers. Nearly a dozen other states are considering similar action, according to the American Automobile...

• FEMA to Let Katrina Victims Move From Trailers Into Hotels

  Gerry McGill | September 05, 2007 4:44 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  FEMA announced yesterday that it will allow 60,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and now living in FEMA-provided trailers on the Gulf Coast to move into hotel or motel rooms if they are concerned about formaldehyde gas in their trailers.The policy shift, made two weeks ago but not widely publicized until now, follows a House committee finding in July that FEMA leaders had suppressed...

• Toys "R" Us Recalls Coloring Sets Because of Lead Paint

  Courtney Mills | August 30, 2007 12:52 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Toys "R" Us have issued a voluntary recall of some 27,000 wooden coloring cases because of a violation on the federal lead paint standard. According to federal authorities, the cases are painted on the outside with a lead-based paint. The black watercolor paint also contains unacceptable levels of lead.The name of the cases are Imaginarium...

• FDA Issues Health Advisory On Codeine, Nursing Mothers

  Courtney Mills | August 17, 2007 2:33 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  The FDA issued new important information about the use of codeine in mothers who are nursing children.Because of the way certain individuals metabolize codeine, which breaks down into morphine in the liver, there runs the risk of having extremely high levels of morphine excreted into breast milk. Some women metabolize morphine at a very rapid rate, causing the blood level of morphine to spike. ...

• Massive Toy Recall

  Gerry McGill | August 10, 2007 2:03 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Mattel, Inc., the world's largest toymaker and distributor, announced on August 9, 2007, a toy recall of nearly a million items from its Fisher-Price division, because the plastic pre-school toys were made in China with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The toys were made by a Chinese vender and included the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar, Sponge Bob, Dora and Deigo characters.The...