Not all grievous injuries are apparent to the eye, as anyone who has experienced catastrophic illness or injury can attest. And now we’re learning a lot more about the hidden costs — mental, emotional, social, and spiritual — inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. Reporters Emily Baumgartner and Russ Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times surfaced….
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Ohio jurors fault big pharmacy chains for role in opioid drug crisis
The regular folks who make up juries may give more heed than judges and justices do to the how and why of patients’ push for justice in the civil system, as has been shown in yet another bellwether decision involving major drug store chains and claims they contributed to the nation’s worsening opioid abuse and….
Continue ReadingOpioid court cases offer hard evidence: Path to justice can be rocky
Patients who say they were injured by wealthy corporations must possess great fortitude as they seek justice in the civil system, as has been reaffirmed by the courts in California and Oklahoma that rejected separate cases involving the harms of prescription painkillers. All the parties in the two matters agreed that Big Pharma’s opioid drugs….
Continue ReadingHealth experts offer anti-drug strategy and fret over cigarette sales spike
Americans have gotten stark reminders of the nation’s struggles with harmful substances and how the coronavirus pandemic has worsened these problems, with the Biden Administration outlining its strategy to combat the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis and Big Tobacco reporting a rare spike in cigarette sales. The opioid crisis — which is sending the….
Continue ReadingCut the salt in prepared and packaged food, U.S. urges makers and sellers
Americans of all ages adore fast food and prepared meals, but one of the lures is these tasty items are loaded with salt. Now federal regulators have proposed new guidelines that they say could save millions of lives by reducing the salt content of commercially prepared and packaged foods. The Food and Drug Administration’s standards,….
Continue ReadingFDA gives Big Tobacco a big win — approval for e-cigarette for vaping
The federal Food and Drug Administration has infuriated health and anti-smoking advocates by handing Big Tobacco a major first — the agency’s seal of approval for an e-cigarette as a way for consumers to reduce or stop harmful use of burning tobacco cigarettes. The decision allowing RJ Reynold’s Vuse product (shown, left) to stay on….
Continue ReadingNothing to see here? Consultant advises drug makers — and their regulators
When Big Pharma gets jammed up by federal regulators overseeing what may be risky prescription drugs, what to do? How about hiring the help of a powerful, secretive business consulting company — which also happens to be advising the feds on how best to regulate drug companies? That’s the gist of yet more disturbing findings….
Continue ReadingFake pills, laced with lethal fentanyl, are circulating widely, U.S. warns consumers
Federal officials have sharply escalated their battle with opioid painkiller abuse and overdoses, issuing an urgent public warning that street drugs of many different varieties may be tainted with tiny but lethal doses of the synthetic painkiller fentanyl. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department also provided stark evidence of the risks involved,….
Continue ReadingFDA dithers dangerously on regulating sketchy ‘stem cell’ care and kid vaping
Yet more derelictions of duty by the federal Food and Drug Administration are happening now, in its handling of largely hokum treatments and health-threatening devices. The latest examples: drug safety regulators step back from their oversight of those who peddle sketchy “stem-cell” treatments for a bevy of ills. And twiddle their thumbs as who knows how….
Continue ReadingNursing homes misdiagnose and sedate residents with strong drugs but lag on vaccinating staff
The nation’s nursing homes, battered by the coronavirus pandemic, are under more fire for their resurgent reliance on powerful and risky psychiatric drugs and shaky diagnoses of mental illness to treat elderly residents, as well as for the institutions’ inability to safeguard the old, sick, and injured in their care by ensuring their staff are….
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