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Home renovation, repair, and painting activities cause elevated blood lead levels in children no doubt about it. A 1997 analysis conducted by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) indicated that home renovation, repair, and painting (RRP) activities were important sources of lead exposure among children with blood lead levels (BLLs) >20 g/dL in New York state. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report dated January 30, 2009 identified RRP activities as being the probable source of lead exposure in 139 (14%) of the 972 children in New York with BLLs of over 20 g/dL. But importantly, the majority of offenders are resident owners or tenants as opposed to contractors. Contractors performed a small percentage (6.5%) of RRP work related to elevated BLLs in New York

With little notice and without a public comment period, a Bush administration change in federal rules on nursing home inspections will have the practical effect of forcing litigants to go to greater lengths, including seeking court orders, to get inspection reports or depositions for cases they are pursuing or defending. The new rule generally prohibits state health departments and contractors from participating in private lawsuits involving facilities that are in the federal assistance program. The rule accomplishes this by reclassifying state employees who inspect nursing homes for the federal government as federal employees who are not allowed to provide "privileged" information or documents to the public without approval from the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Issued in September of 2008 and effective in October, the Bush administration's new rule shuts

Last year was a record-setter when it came to recalls and warnings about dangerous childrens toys, especially lead paint laden toys imported from China. In response to the much-publicized controversy, Congress strengthened the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 (CPSA) to prohibit the sale and distribution of childrens toy or child care articles containing excessive levels of toxic substances beginning on February 10th, 2009. Almost incredibly, the agency charged with enforcing the CPSA, the General Counsel of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (the Commission), actually tried to weaken the enforcement of the law by issuing an advisory opinion letter that would have permitted the sale of toxic items after February 10, 2009, if the products were manufactured prior to that date. U.S.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is alerting consumers of a recall involving 31,392 Britax Frontier child restraints that could fail to properly secure young passengers in the event of a vehicle crash. Britax is recalling these child seats because the harness straps may detach from the metal yoke on the back of the child restraint if repeatedly loosened one strap at a time. This clearly appears to have potentially fatal consequences. Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of death for children and adults, age groups 1 to 34. But NHTSA officials note that it is harder for those who have not taken advantage of the NHTSA's program of signing-up to receive automatic e-mail alerts when there is a government recall of child restraint safety seats or defective tires to learn about the recall. Meanwhile, they are unintentionally exposing their children to serious risk.

Vehicle owners across the nation can be instantly informed of a safety recall under a new automated alert system announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters. The recall alerts can be received via e-mail or RSS-feeds on personal computers, cell phones or PDA devices-automatically and free-of-charge. This ability by the consumer to be directly contacted in the case of a recall is similar to the systems set-up for recalls of car tires and child safety seats.

Our office is currently representing a client who sustained what appears to be permanent scarring as a result of undergoing laser hair removal. However, the laser hair removal center involved has gone out of business to the chagrin of, as readily apparent from the internet, many former customers of the facility. An apparent owner of the facility, a non-physician, has boasted on the internet that any judgment a customer might obtain in court for the facilitys breach of contract by not rendering services that had been paid for would be a useless judgment against his defunct corporation that would never be collected. But an important question arises: Isnt there supposed to be a doctor supervising the laser procedure?

The Ecology Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit organization, and partners across the country on December 3, 2008, released the 2nd annual consumer guide to toxic chemicals in toys at www.HealthyToys.org. Researchers tested over 1,500 popular children's toys for lead, cadmium, arsenic, PVC and other harmful chemicals in time for this year's holiday shopping season. One in three toys tested were found to contain "medium" or "high" levels of chemicals of concern. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last month announced that in 2008 toy recalls had dropped to 74 from 138 in 2007. Toy recalls in 2007 included toys containing lead paint, dangerous magnets and in one case, a chemical that left children temporarily comatose.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has its list for the holidays, that is its annual holiday safety messages. Parents and gift buyers are encouraged to check it twice. Released on November 12, 2008, CPSC, joined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Safe Kids Worldwide, reminded parents to be diligent when making holiday shopping choices. For 2007, the Commission has reports of 18 toy-related deaths and CPSC staff estimates that there were about 170,100 hospital emergency-room treated toy-related injuries to children under 15.

Although the publicity was much greater last year, 45 children's toys have been recalled due to lead paint issues so far this year. The toys include Casper the Friendly Ghost Halloween Figurines, xylophones, jewelry and classroom reading and math aids. But overall, toy recalls are down 46 percent from last year, it was announced at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)'s annual toy safety news conference this past week on November 12. According to the CPSC, toy recalls had dropped to 74 in 2008 from 138 in 2007. Toy recalls in 2007 included toys containing lead paint, dangerous magnets and in one case, a chemical that left children temporarily comatose. The CPSC attributed the drop in recalls to increased surveillance by the agency, including stepped up inspections at nine ports, stronger v

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that companies marketing unapproved ophthalmic balanced salt solutions (BSS) and unapproved topical drug products containing papain must stop manufacturing these products on or before November 24, 2008, and must stop shipping such unapproved products on or before January 21, 2009, or risk enforcement action. FDA is taking these actions because it has received reports of serious adverse events associated with their uses, including eye inflammation, cloudy vision, permanent loss of visual acuity, a serious drop in blood pressure and increased heart rate. Ophthalmic balanced salt solutions are used to irrigate the eye during surgery on the eye, including cataract and other ocular procedures. The FDA's action does not affect approved ophthalmic BSS products such as approved versions of BSS made by Alcon and Akorn. No topical drug product containing papain has been approved by the FDA. After the above dates, all topi