FDA: Recall of tainted pistachio nuts far from over

April 10, 2009

The recall last week of 2 million pounds of pistachios because of concerns about salmonella contamination has been expanded, and federal officials say more recalls of foods containing pistachios are on the horizon.

 

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, the California company that is the nation’s second-largest processer of pistachios, originally had recalled all of its pistachios harvested since September.

 

The recall was expanded this week to cover Setton’s entire 2008 crop, except for raw in-shell pistachios. Most pistachios sold in stores are roasted.

Setton spokeswoman Fabia D’Arienzo said she did not know how many pounds of pistachios were involved in the expanded recall.

 

“This is going to resemble the peanut recall in that products are going to be added every day as companies discover they used Setton pistachios,” says Caroline Smith DeWaal of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest. “It’s going to take a while for the dust to settle.”

 

Read Article: USA Today

 

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Genentech Withdraws Psoriasis Drug Linked to Brain Infections

Genentech Inc. began pulling its psoriasis treatment Raptiva from the U.S. market because of the drug’s link to a rare, fatal brain disorder that has troubled at least four other medicines.

 

Genentech, the biotechnology company acquired last month by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, has told doctors not to write prescriptions for new patients as part of a phased withdrawal of Raptiva to be completed by June 8, the South San Francisco-based company said yesterday in a statement. About 2,000 U.S. patients may be taking Raptiva, Genentech said

 

The decision to withdraw the drug, which generated $108 million in U.S. sales for Genentech last year, came after three patients were diagnosed since October with the brain infection progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, two of whom died, said Tara Cooper, a Genentech spokeswoman. The risk of PML, which causes irreversible brain damage, outweighed Raptiva’s benefits in controlling psoriasis, the company concluded.

 

Read Article: Bloomberg

 

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Doctors: Thyroid drug can hurt liver, kill kids

A pill used for thyroid disease can cause fatal liver failure in children and should no longer be used to treat them, two doctors warn.

 

Doctors usually first try either propylthiouracil or methimazole to treat children with Graves’ disease, the most common cause of an overactive thyroid. Other treatments are surgery and radioactive iodine.

 

But over the past 60 years, reports have popped up linking the use of propylthiouracil in children to liver failure, sometimes fatal or requiring a liver transplant.

 

Propylthiouracil, or PTU, is also a primary treatment for adults with Graves’ disease, but there appear to be fewer liver complications in adults, according to Donald R. Mattison of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

 

Read Article: Atlanta Journal Constitution

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

American Air Maintenance Led to Jet Fire, NTSB Says

Faulty maintenance caused an American Airlines engine fire that forced an emergency landing in St. Louis in 2007, a U.S. safety board concluded.

 

The pilots’ failure to complete a checklist during the emergency prolonged the fire, and American shortcomings in detecting maintenance flaws contributed, the National Transportation Safety Board said today in Washington.

 

The findings may add pressure for maintenance improvement at AMR Corp.’s American, which was forced by regulators to ground planes last year for flawed inspections. In the St. Louis incident, workers repeatedly used a tool prohibited by the jet’s maker to manually start the engine.

 

“You can’t just be taking processes out of your hip pocket that are not the approved manuals, that are not the approved procedures, and expect to be able to get the appropriate results,” NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker told reporters.

 

Read Article: Bloomberg

 

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Time for suing insurer extended

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and other insurers may face a new round of lawsuits related to Hurricane Katrina even though the deadline for filing expired a year and a half ago.

 

The Louisiana Supreme Court declined late last week to hear an appeal in the case of Brenda Pitts v. Louisiana Citizens, thereby allowing a lower court decision favorable to policyholders to stand.

 

In January, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that Pitts could file suit against Citizens months after the deadline for initiating litigation had passed because a class-action lawsuit involving similar grievances had stopped the clock on the issue.

 

Citizens CEO John Wortman said about 90 new cases have been filed against Citizens since the appeals court decision in January, and he believes that other insurance companies will face the same dilemma.

 

Read Article: New Orleans Times Picayune

 

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