Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

In the latest update regarding product liability and harmful pharmaceutical interactions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that it is investigating the possibility that the combination Parkinson’s drug called Stalevo may increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death in elderly patients who are taking the drug. Stalevo is an anti-parkinsonian dopaminergic combination medication, combined of carbidopa, levodopa, and entacapone, that treats Parkinson’s disease. The drug is manufactured by Finnish drugmaker Orion Corporation and is marked by Swiss-based Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Stalevo is currently used to treat adult patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease in two scenarios: to substitute with equivalent strength of each of the three components or to replace immediate-release therapy when patients experience the signs and symptoms of end-of-dose “wearing off.”

FDA urged patients not to stop taking the drug, but warned patients to let their physicians know if the patients have risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The first indication of product liability risk for Stalevo came from a clinical trial called STRIDE-PD, according to LA Times. The average age of the patient was 60 years of age and the trial that exposed the risks lasted an average of 2.7 years. The study’s results found seven heart attacks and one death.

The results of the clinical trial were combined by the FDA with results from fourteen other trials totaling about 4800 patients. With the wider patient pool, the analysis showed twenty-seven adverse product reactions of heart attacks, strokes, or deaths for a statistically significant increased risk of 146%. When the data from the trial was not included, the increased risk was only 67% and it was not statistically significant. The FDA is continuing to look into the significance of the clinical trial results.

Click the link to the LA Times to read more about the FDA product liability warnings.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced several product recalls this month and the month is not even over. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products and frequently announces product recalls. First, in cooperation with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Circus World has recalled wireless video baby monitors due to overheating hazard. Wiring in the baby monitor camera can overheat and emit smoke, posing a burn hazard to consumers. Second, P. Graham Dunn in cooperation with the U.S. CPSC has recalled nearly 500 wooden toy rattles, which pose a serious choking hazard to young children. Third, the U.S. CPSC and Asurion have voluntarily recalled about 470,000 counterfeit Blackberry-branded cell phone batteries in refurbished devices; the batteries can overheat, posing burn and fire hazards.

Additionally, the US CPSC and LG Electronics have reannounced the Goldstar and Comfort-Aire dehumidifier recall, which affects about 98,000 dehumidifiers. The power connector for the dehumidifer’s compressor can short circuit and pose serious fire and burn hazards to consumers. Another fire hazard product recall involved the Bosch Thermotechnology Boiler Survey Kit. The recall affects about 1500 service kit for gas-fired boilers. The use of a silver-covered gas pipe adapter included in the service kit can lead to gas leakage, which can pose a fire or explosion hazard to consumers. Miami Breaker, Inc. has also voluntarily recalled products due to fire hazard. Their product recall involves about 43,600 counterfeit “Square D” circuit breakers, which can fail to trip when they are overloaded.

To read more about recent product recalls, please visit the CPSC website.

Local authorities in California reported that eight people were killed and ten people received personal injuries after a driver racing in a motor vehicle race lost control of his off-roader vehicle. The vehicle went airborne in the motor vehicle accident and landed on top of spectators. The agency investigating the deadly car accident stated that bystanders did not have much of an opportunity to escape the out-of-control vehicle. Online videos of the race from former years show that spectators stand dangerously close to the speeding off-road vehicles. Additionally, no concrete or other barriers exist to separate spectators from the cars. The race was held in a desolate area in California on federal desert land just east of the mountains – off-roaders were racing the loop reaching speeds of over 60 miles per hour.

The driver has not been arrested; alcohol was not a factor in the crash. A different off-roader commented that he did not think the racer did anything stupid, he just hit it too hard. One eyewitness said that she could tell that several people were trapped under the vehicle. She personally saw one woman with a major head wound bleeding and another individual crushed beneath the car. The investigators on scene were searching the vehicle for mechanical defects and to attempt recreating the collision scene.

A video of the off-roader race accident scene where 8 people were killed and ten people were injured is available at Chicago Tribune.

Recent reports from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are showing that the number of estimated reports of Chinese drywall product liability have reached 6300. This number is composed from homeowners across the nation who have complained of having defective Chinese drywall. Florida has the highest number of Chinese drywall reports – 58% of them.

In related news, a recent ruling issued decided that the former employee of a construction company that built homes made with the defective Chinese drywall cannot claim money awarded to homeowners affected by the product, even though his own house is affected. The deciding judge ruled that even though the claimant lost his job with the construction company, he could not join the class action product liability lawsuit because it excluded the construction company employees. An attorney who represents homeowners in the class action lawsuit said that homeowners specifically remember the contested claimant telling them that the odors they noticed as they walked through their homes before closing were just a “new home smell.”

The product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti have been drafting blogs about the tainted Chinese drywall for quite some time now. Stories involved insurers dropping homeowners with Chinese drywall, CPSC pressing China for drywall damage compensation, and other issues related to the home repairs. Some experts have opined that the odors, personal injuries, and corrosions blamed on the Chinese drywall may actually be caused by the failure to remove sulfur and contaminants from synthetic gypsum.

Click on the News-Press.com link to read more about the Chinese drywall lawsuits.

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc is set to pay roughly $198 million dollars to settle about 17,500 product liability lawsuits. The product liability lawsuits alleged that AstraZeneca’s antipsychotic drug Seroquel causes some users to develop diabetes. AstraZeneca had previously agreed to pay at least $55 million dollars to resolve more than 5,500 lawsuits alleging that the company knew that Seroquel could cause diabetes and failed to adequately warn patients. The earlier agreements to settle are part of the 17,500 product liability settlements. The Financial Times reported that the product liability settlement stems from court ordered mediation. And, the Wall Street Journal reported that analysts have described the settlement figure as relatively small.

Seroquel is an antipsychotic drug used in the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, insomnia, and anxiety disorders. Annual sales of Seroquel are approximately $4.7 billion worldwide and $2.9 billion in the U.S. The most common side effect of the drug is sedation and other side effects include tachycardia, abnormal liver tests, dizziness, upset stomach, substantial weight gain, a stuffy nose, akathisia, and increased paranoia. The rare, but life-threatening, neuroleptic malignant syndrome may also result from use of the drug.

In October 2009, AstraZeneca reported reaching a $520 million agreement to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits over the sale and marketing of Seroquel. One of the investigations related to certain physicians who participated in clinical trials and the other involved off-label promotion of the drug. Aggressive marketing resulted in Seroquel being increasingly used for children and elderly people for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Physicians are permitted to prescribe any approved drug for off-label uses.

Read more about the product liability settlement by visiting the Wall Street Journal.

In the latest news of vehicle safety concerns, the Los Angeles Times reported that Toyota announced the recall of 412,000 Avalon and Lexus vehicles for steering problems. This means that since October, nearly 9 million cars have been subject to product recalls around the world. This is almost as many vehicles as were sold by all manufacturers in the United States last year. Because of the product recalls and product safety violations, Toyota faces hundreds of product liability lawsuits arising from its problems with sudden acceleration and sticking gas pedals. Additionally, it has been the target of extreme scrutiny by federal safety regulators and the United States Congress.

The 373,000 recalled Avalons, dating from between 2000 and 2004, have improperly cast steering lock bars. These steering lock bars have been a factor in three accidents reported to the Toyota company. The problem occurs like this: a minute crack can develop on the surface, which in turn, can break the bar and lock the steering wheel, increasing the risk of an automobile accident. As opposed to the several hundred thousand Avalons, a smaller number of Lexus model vehicles from 2003 through 2007 have a different steering shaft problem. Luckily, no personal injuries have been reported related to the Lexus issue. Additionally, Toyota says it will recall 80,000 Land Cruisers for another problem involving faulty steering shafts. Toyota plans to replace the steering column bracket on the recalled vehicles, a product procedure that takes nearly two hours to complete. Toyota has announced that it would notify owners by first class mail beginning in late this month to take their vehicles to a dealer to have the work done at no charge.

More information on the Toyota recall is available at Los Angeles Times.

The Food Safety Bill is currently bogged down in the United States Senate; however, advocates against unsafe food products are urging its quick passage. There is widespread knowledge and understanding that the Food Safety Bill is long overdue and common sense; moreover, it is needed to finally update our country’s horse-and-buggy-era food safety laws. Among several food safety measures, the Food Safety Bill would require annual inspections for high-risk processing facilities, improve oversight of food imported from other countries, and significantly improve “tracebacks,” a method of figuring out contaminated products’ locations, before our country’s consumers digest them.

One prickly point of the Food Safety Bill involves a controversial amendment to ban bisphenol-A (“BPA”). Some advocates are asking senators to reject the amendment because it is jeopardizing the bill’s passage; these advocates suggest that BPA should be dealt with separately. Advocates against unsafe food products, including product liability lawyers, are familiar with BPA. BPA is an organic compound used to make plastics and resins in addition to other applications. It has been known to contain estrogen since the 1930s and concerns about BPA’s use in consumer products have been regularly reported. Reports of the dangers of BPA surfaced frequently in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its product safety and prompting some retailers to remove products containing BPA from their shelves. A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised further product liability concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants, and young children. Some health effects that were raised in reports on BPA included that it may lead to increased obesity, neurological issues, and thyroid function problems. Thus, advocates are torn about the BPA amendment to the Food Safety Bill; on one hand, the bill should be passed ASAP. But, on the other hand, is this the legislature’s best chance to put a halt to the use of BPA?

Follow the link to read more about the Food Safety bill.

As the Chicago product liability lawyers at Levin & Perconti have mentioned before, personal injury lawsuits and other negligence lawsuits hold product makers accountable to their consumers. Through the civil justice system, consumers have a voice. The Filipino-American Community Newspaper has addressed these issues in a recent article. The article states that automobile defects and defects in other products make them unsafe for consumers and their families. The law provides injured parties a right to recover compensation against the manufacturer or seller. The article addresses that through civil actions, consumers can recover the costs of present and future medical care, loss of earnings, and damages for pain and suffering. Further, corporate defendants who exhibit gross disregard for the safety of the public make them liable for punitive damages.

As Chicago personal injury attorneys are aware, insurance companies, politicians, and other large corporations or lobbyists unfairly criticize injury lawsuits as “lotteries” for the injured victims. They blame lawyers and blame product liability lawsuits for the faults in the economy. As the article addresses, nothing is further from the truth. Legal remedies protect consumers against big companies that have profits to use to protect themselves in court, even if its against the public interest.

As an example, injury and product liability lawsuits have positively influenced the way cars are produced and designed. Consider tires for instance. In the past, Firestone’s defective tires caused 271 deaths. But, the resulting injury and wrongful death litigation brought tires and their manufacturers under increased scrutiny and has resulted in safer tires for consumers.

Click on the link to read of the article on personal injury lawsuits.

The New York Times reported this week that a university has quietly stopped research at a well-known brain imaging center after federal investigators found that it had regularly injected mental patients with drugs that contained potentially dangerous impurities. The brain imaging center is regarded by experts as the nation’s leader in the use of positron emission tomography (“PET”) for psychiatric research. However, the federal investigations revealed that the brain imaging center repeatedly violated Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) drug safety regulations over a four-year period.

PET research is a nuclear medicine imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. In the university’s brain imaging center, the FDA found in a series of inspections that the center had failed to correct manufacturing problems in a lab that makes experimental drugs injected into psychiatric patients to help capture images of brain activity. In one product liability warning letter, an FDA office described problems dating back to at least 2004 citing a litany of violations, including a failure to reject batches of medication that did not pass required tests.

More information on the FDA violations is available at the New York Times website.

Several U.S. consumers have filed suit against Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health-products company in federal court in Chicago. The racketeering lawsuits stem from Johnson & Johnson’s product recalls from earlier this year and accuse the company of fraud and racketeering and demands cash refunds for recalled children’s cold and allergy medicines. Five complaints have been filed, seeking class-action status, expressing their rejection of the offer by Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare and McNeil-PPC Inc. units for refund coupons and demanded cash. The complaints allege that the coupons are worthless because McNeil has ceased making the medicines and assumes – wrongfully – that all consumers will want to purchase the company’s children’s products at some uncertain future date.

In late April, the companies issued a product recall for over 40 types of pediatric allergy medications and pain relief medications, stating that the quality and potency of those drugs for children did not meet the company’s internal requirements. The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti think that what was remarkable about this wide reaching product recall was how many popular products were recalled – recalled products included children’s formulations of liquid Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl.

These racketeering cases related to product liability and recalls were filed in the Federal Court located in Chicago, Illinois, which is known as the “Dirksen” federal courthouse, named after Everett McKinley Dirksen. It’s located in downtown Chicago, not too far from the offices of the Illinois personal injury lawyers at Levin & Perconti.

Click the weblink to read the entire article on the lawsuit filed in Chicago.

Ten years after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was accused of downplaying the side effects from the popular diabetes drug Avandia, the agency reports that it will reveal the data it is reviewing ahead of an advisory panel meeting about the drug’s safety. The meeting follows two recent drug safety studies that suggest that Avandia may cause serious or life-threatening side effects. A third study appeared to show the opposite. Since 2005, evidence has suggested that the diabetes drug Avandia may increase the risk of cardiovascular complications, including heart attacks, one the major causes of death among diabetes. The drug is still on the market and scientists continue to battle over its safety, leaving patients nervous pending the FDA’s eventual findings about the product side effects.

Avandia acts primarily by increasing insulin sensitivity and improving glycemic control while reducing circulating insulin levels. The drug is not recommended for patients with symptomatic heart failure. Some studies have showed Avandia to be associated with an increased risk of myocardial ischemic events such as angina or myocardial infarction.

Prescription drugs like Avandia along with over-the-counter medications, including generic drugs, are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Their work, however, covers more than just medicines. They also regulate items such as fluoride toothpaste, antiperspirants, dandruff shampoos, and sunscreens.

For more information about the potential product safety issues with Avandia, click on the link.

According to Business Week, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced earlier this week that it has sent a warning letter to drugmaker Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. The product liability warning letter alleges that the company’s promotional materials withheld information about the risks of its asthma drug Zyflo CR. The FDA also reported that the materials violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; some of the materials used outdated labeling and suggested that Zyflo CR is more effective than competing drugs like Singulair. Since the FDA contacted Cornerstone on June 22, the company website appears to contain updated drug information.

According to the FDA, the drugmaker left out significant information about Zyflo CR’s risks, which include liver toxicity and neuropsychiatric events. It also neglected to disclose that the asthma drug is not recommended for people with liver disease or who have allergic reactions to ingredients.

Issues with drug companies like this often fall in the realm of products liability, which is an area of personal injury law that focuses on dangerous and defective products. The Chicago product liability firm of Levin & Perconti has represented numerous plaintiffs in Illinois in matters against manufacturers who have sold or manufactured unsafe products to consumers.

For more information about the FDA product warning letter, click on the link.

In a letter to Boyd Haley, a retired Kentucky chemist who produced OSR #1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) warned that the product promoted to parents of children with autism is not a harmless dietary supplement as claimed. Rather, the FDA states that the product OSR #1 is a toxic unapproved drug that lacks adequate warnings about the product’s potential side effects. The product’s potential dangerous side effects include hair loss and abnormalities of the pancreas. The product liability letter from the FDA details five product violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and failing to correct such violations can result in fines, seizure of products, and even criminal prosecution.

In January, The Chicago Tribune reported that OSR #1 had originally been developed to treat mining wastewater and had not undergone rigorous testing to ensure its safety and effectiveness. The website for the product promotes it as a “toxicity free, lipid soluble antioxidant dietary supplement,” which one is able to order through an online pharmacy. The retired chemist reportedly told the Tribune in an interview that the product had been tested on rats and a safety study was conducted on 10 individuals. Contrary to the developer’s contentions, the FDA letter lists side effects recorded during the animal studies, including soiling of the anogenital area, alopecia on the lower trunk, back and legs, a dark substance on the lower truck and anogenital area, and abnormalities of the pancreas.

The Chicago product liability lawyers at Levin & Perconti are worried about the potential harmful effects of this product that has not been rigorously tested. Particularly concerning, the product has been promoted to parents with autistic children, who are anxious for any product that may safely help their children. OSR #1 has been promoted on websites such as Age of Autism, where the managing editor said that she had sprinkled the product on her daughters’ food and saw some nice “wows!”. For your safety, please be sure to check whether any products you use are FDA approved.

Click the link to read the Chicago Tribune OSR #1 product liability article.

CNN.com is reporting that a possible medical product liability study published in a British medical journal found that certain blood pressure medications may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. While researchers cannot say the exact risk of cancer for each drug, they are calling for more research to be sure of the risks. The blood pressure drugs are called angiotensin-receptor blockers and they block the chemical angiotensin II from having any effect on the heart and blood vessels, which prevents blood pressure from going up. The study is especially worrisome because the drugs are often prescribed to individuals with hypertension (high blood pressure), heart failure or disease, and diabetes-related kidney disease.

One heart failure expert told CNN.com that these studies have found a 1.2 percent increased cancer risk for taking these high blood pressure drugs over a four year span. The current data suggests an overall 10 percent increase in the risk of cancer diagnosis in patients on these drugs compared to placebo. The study concluded that the risk for lung cancer was the highest, but the study authors could not explain why these drugs may be causing cancer. Some experts question the study – one expert stated that these data raise a question regarding the drugs and the risk of cancer. But, the data showed only non-small cell lung cancer was statistically increased and the extent of the increase was quite modest. He compared this study’s data to a “hint” rather than a “signal.” The experts recommend that any patients currently taking the drugs to continue taking the drugs and talk to their doctors about any concerns.

More information is available about the blood pressure drug interaction study on CNN.com.

A personal injury lawsuit settlement has been reached in one of the hundreds of personal injury lawsuits filed against Yamaha and its Rhino utility-terrain vehicle (UTV) for saety problems and product liability concerns. This is the first successful case against Yahama in connection to the UTV product liability problems. The injury victim in the settlement filed the injury lawsuit after sustaining a crushed left leg during a low-speed rollover event. The UTV was being operated at a low speed on a relatively flat and grassy area. The vehicle tipped during a right turn, falling onto the driver’s side, trapping the victim’s leg under the UTV. The injuries sustained were severe and permanent.

ATVs are all-terrain vehicles, vehicles that travel on low pressure tires with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control. They were first introduced in the early 1970s and almost immediately resulted in alarming personal injury rates for adolescents and children. Statistics released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission show that in 2005, there were an estimated 136,700 personal injuries associated with ATVs treated in United States hospital emergency rooms. In 2004, 767 people died in ATV-associated incidents.

A UTV, on the other hand, is a “side by side” where 2 or 4 people can drive off-road. The majority of UTVs come with a roll over protection system. Many may also come equipped with hard tops, windshields, and even cab enclosures. However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated that the vehicle may exhibit inadequate lateral stability, undesirable steering characteristics, and inadequate occupant protection during a rollover crash. Between 2003 and 2009, 116 deaths occurred in UTV accidents.

Recent findings are showing that the safety and quality violations that led to the Tylenol plant shutdown were extremely serious and can lead to extremely tough action by United States regulators on drugmaker Johnson & Johnson. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) released an inspection report on the facility in Pennsylvania where the product recall stems from, which a professor of pharmaceutical manufacturer called “absolutely shocking.” According to the professor at Temple University, the inspection report “is pretty close to being the worst [he’s] seen. It suggests that basically the FDA found an issue with almost every system at the plant.”

Earlier this month, a division of Johnson & Johnson recalled nearly fifty children’s versions of non-prescription (over-the-counter) drugs, including Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl. Since then, Johnson & Johnson has suspended all production at the plant. The FDA report listed twenty violations, including dozens of consumer complaints on the products recalled. However, Johnson & Johnson has not revealed details of those complaints. Congress has opened a product liability investigation into the product recall and lawmakers gave Johnson & Johnson and the FDA a deadline of today (May 17) to hand over details about consumer complaints. The Illinois product liability attorneys will keep our readers posted as the details of this product recall involving millions of consumers unfolds.

Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti want to remind you that you can dispose of pharmaceuticals. The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department have partnered to provide a place for the safe and proper disposal of unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Where to dispose of recalled and expired prescription and over-the-counter medications.

To read about the shocking conditions at the product facility.

According to a recent Chicago Breaking News Center article, federal regulators at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have issued a product recall for another 170,000 cribs. The cribs were recalled for being a potentially deadly hazard to children. This crib recall is the latest in a string of several dangerous cribs recalled from the market. The recalled cribs, Sorelle and Golden Baby cribs, have sides that drop down to allow easier access to the babies in the cribs. However, the danger is that the drop-side hardware can disengage, which allows the side to separate from the tracks. This can be deadly and at the very last very dangerous for children because babies can slip into that gap and suffocate, strangle, or fall out of the crib.

The cribs have been sold at children’s product stores nationwide for the past 10 years for between $300 and $600. The distributing company received reports of 104 incidents where either the drop-side or crib slates became unattached, creating a dangerous gap. Six children received personal injuries of cuts or bruises; another five fell, but luckily received no injuries. No children were reportedly killed by this dangerous crib, but babies have died in cribs made by other manufacturers after the drop-sides separated.

The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti encourage our readers to consult this recalled crib list of photos and model numbers to see whether any of the dangerous cribs are in their houses. Please make sure that your cribs are safe!

Click the link to read more about the baby crib recall.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a scathing report slamming the conditions at the factory linked to producing the recalled children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and other over-the-counter drugs that were recalled last weekend. The seventeen page FDA inspection report conducted last month detailed lapses at the facility. The FDA is considering many actions, including potential criminal penalties against the company. In the mean time, Johnson & Johnson is temporarily suspending production at the plant – the company’s only plant that manufactures its liquid pediatric drugs. The company has expressed its concern for the potential to injure children. According to a recent CNN.com article, the federal agency cited the facility for not following quality controls and for not maintaining adequate lab facilities for testing and approval of components and drug products. The FDA’s findings also show that the company bought contaminated raw material from its vendors that tested positive for a type of bacteria that is yet to be identified by the FDA. However, the agency said that the company’s testing showed that the contamination did not reach its finished products.

The company recalled about fifty children’s versions of non-prescription drugs over the weekend for quality concerns. The injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti strongly encourage our readers to follow the FDA’s instructions to immediately discontinue the use of any recalled products. Disposing of the recalled products became a little less confusing in Chicago, with the City of Chicago and Chicago Police teaming to create multiple locations where residents can dispose of expired and/or recalled pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter products.

Read more about the FDA's scathing report about the Tylenol product recall.

The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti have blogged frequently about the recent Tylenol and other over-the-counter drug recalls from Johnson & Johnson’s drug manufacturing division. Now, CNN.com is reporting that lawmakers have announced that began an investigation into the recent product recall of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and other over-the-counter drugs. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Johnson & Johnson’s drug manufacturing division to disclose information on the drug recall and tell what prompted the recall. Important to potential injuries to minors and children, the House is also requesting that they disclose the severity of the impact would be to children who may have taken the recalled over-the-counter drugs.

The Illinois product liability attorneys think this a good action – especially considering that this recent product recall is the third to include Tylenol products this year. Lawmakers are hoping that the investigation will shed light on whether FDA’s inspection procedures are effective. Additionally, the investigation will also determine whether the division neglected to explore consumer complaints about the problem.

Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti also came across a helpful Chicago link regarding where you can find a location to dispose of pharmaceuticals. With all of the recent recalls of popular products that consumers use, the link will undoubtedly be helpful. The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department are partnering to provide a place for the safe and proper disposal of unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications.

To read more about the federal investigation into the recent drug recalls.

Click the link to determine where to dispose of recalled products, including expired prescription and over-the-counter medications.

CNN.com recently reported that Johnson & Johnson, the maker of several over-the-counter drugs, is taking corrective actions at its American plant after almost forty children’s versions of drugs were recalled for quality concerns. Product recalls included Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl – all popular over-the-counter options when one’s child is sick. If you’re thinking this is déjà vu, you are not completely off base. This latest product recall is the fourth recall in seven months for this division of Johnson & Johnson.

The division of Johnson & Johnson responsible for these drugs said that it took action in the form of a product recall as a precautionary measure because some of the products could have problems with their ingredients while others could contain tiny particles. The “tiny particles” may be solidified product ingredients or manufacturing residue such as tiny metal parts.

The four product recalls in the past seven months began in November 2009, when the company recalled five lots of its Tylenol Arthritis Pain 100 count due to reports of an unusual moldy odor that led to cases of nausea, pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. The next month, the product recall was expanded to include a different lot of the same pill. Then, in January, an undisclosed number of containers of Tylenol, Motrin, and other over-the-counter drugs were recalled after consumers complained of feeling sick from the unusual odor. Now, the company recalls children’s versions of popular drugs.

To read more about the current product recalls affecting children’s products, click the link.