The Latest in Mass Torts

A jury in Johnson & Johnson's home state of New Jersey ordered the health care and cosmetic products giant to pay punitive damages of $750 million in a talc mesothelioma case last week. The verdict comes on top of $37 million in compensatory damages awarded to four plaintiffs who claimed their... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as Prilosec (omeprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole) have been linked to numerous serious side effects, ranging from pneumonia, osteoporosis and kidney stones to cardiovascular disease and cancer. These medications have also been implicated in accelerated aging... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Three juries have determined that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, is a carcinogen. These verdicts are in agreement with the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which concluded that glyphosate is likely to cause cancer, and other scientific studies that... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Drugmaker Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has issued a voluntary recall for three lots of the antacid Nizatidine (Axid) after traces of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) were discovered in the active ingredient. Although no adverse events have been reported, Mylan is notifying all... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Last month, Drug Safety News featured a story about Valisure, a small, independent pharmaceutical testing lab in Connecticut that discovered carcinogenic NDMA in Zantac. It wasn't outside contamination – it was a problem with the molecule at the heart of the formulation. Like all... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Adding to the list of potential health hazards of “vaping,” a research team at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health has discovered a biocontaminant in JUUL vape oil that can lead to serious, long-term respiratory damage.The contaminant is known as glucan. A form of... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Six Roundup cancer cases are scheduled to go to trial right after the New Year, even as Bayer is attempting to negotiate a global settlement in Berlin. Among those plaintiffs are two children who suffer from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), allegedly due to exposure to glyphosate, the... To read the entire article, click the title above.

After traces of carcinogenic industrial chemicals have been found in the common blood pressure medication valsartan, the antidepressant alprazolam (Xanax) and the antacid ranitidine (Zantac), regulators are turning their sights on metformin – an otherwise relatively... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Last year's Camp Fire, which literally wiped out the town of Paradise, California and killed 85 people, was ultimately caused by an aging power line that PG&E had failed to maintain properly. Furthermore, that egregious example of gross negligence is just one indication of “systemic problems”... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Prominent mediation attorney Kenneth Feinberg – best known as the architect of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund – recently told the German news magazine WirtschaftsWoche (“Economic Week”) that mediation between Bayer AG and U.S. glyphosate plaintiffs is progressing – but don't look for... To read the entire article, click the title above.

Citing over 1,100 incidents and 70 infant deaths over the past 14 years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a warning to parents: do not use inclined sleepers for your babies.The controversy over inclined sleepers came to public attention earlier this year when Fisher-Price, a... To read the entire article, click the title above.

On October 3rd Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon issued a Class 1 recall for over 8,200 Echelon Flex 60 Articulating Endoscopic Linear Cutters, more commonly known as surgical staplers. Class 1 is the most serious type of recall and indicates that lives are at stake. A... To read the entire article, click the title above.