Jennifer Walker-Journey

A man who last month was given a “devastating diagnosis” of having less than six months to live asked a California judge to expedite his case against Monsanto, maker of the weed killer he claims made him sick. But Monsanto’s lawyers said the man’s terminal diagnosis is not grounds for moving up his trial date. Instead, he should be deposed, they said. Emmanuel Richard Giglio is one of several people in a multidistrict litigation blaming Monsanto’s Roundup and Ranger Pro pesticides for their non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnoses. They claim the active ingredient in the weed killers – glyphosate – is the ... Read More

More than 20 drug companies were hit with a proposed class action brought by dozens of children who were born addicted to opioid painkillers, a condition known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, or NAS. The latest attack in the fight to curb the opioid epidemic blames the pharmaceutical companies for ignoring regulations in order to increase their profits, which allowed the drugs into the black market, further fueling the nation’s opioid crisis. According to the 95-page complaint, the number of babies born addicted to opioids in the United States has jumped from 1.2 per 1,000 babies in 2000 to 5.8 per ... Read More

First Lady Melania Trump has adopted opioid addiction as a signature FLOTUS cause and says she wants to lift the “stigma of shame” from addiction. She aims to generate more public discussion about the crisis so more people who are addicted to the powerful painkillers can get help. Trump spoke at a town hall-type gathering on addiction at Liberty University in southwestern Virginia along with ex-Fox News’ Eric Bolling, Demi Lovato’s mother Dianna Hart, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, where she called the opioid epidemic the “worst drug crisis in American history.” During her nine-minute speech, Trump urged students ... Read More

One child is dead and 45 other people are injured after a charter bus carrying a Memphis, Tennessee youth football team from a championship game in Dallas crashed in Central Arkansas early Monday morning. The bus was carrying a football team of 8- to 10-year-olds as well as a group of chaperones. The driver of the bus told Arkansas state police that she lost control of the vehicle, causing  it to roll off Interstate 30, killing Kameron Johnson, 9. The dozens who were injured were mostly children and were taken to hospitals in Little Rock and Benton, Arkansas. The bus ... Read More

A Maryland company’s negligence is to blame for a 20-year-old contractor’s on-the-job death while working to clear a clogged water line from a Baltimore city pool, according to the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MOSH), which slapped the company, R.F. Warder Inc., with $275,000 in penalties. The fatality occurred June 5 during an “urgent” repair to a draining line running from the city pool in Northeast Baltimore in advance of the pool’s opening later that month. Warder was assigned the contract by the city to maintain sewer lines and heating and chilled water systems – contracts that were later ... Read More

Six in 10 patients with moderate-to-severe hip or knee arthritis use opioids prior to total joint surgery, and these patients tended to have poorer outcomes that those who do not use the powerful painkillers. They also may be more likely to develop a dependence or addiction to opioids after surgery, according to a study published in Healio Rheumatology. Researcher Seoyoung C. Kim, M.D., ScD, MSCE, an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, analyzed Medicare data to determine preoperative opioid use patterns among nearly a half million patients 65 years or older ... Read More

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug for a deadly type of leukemia linked to workplace exposure of benzene. Pfizer Inc.’s Daurismo, which contains the active ingredient glasdegib, is a daily, oral medication for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, in adults 75 years of age or older who are unable to be treated with intensive induction chemotherapy. Daurismo is taken in combination with a low-dose of the chemotherapy cytarabine (LDAC). It is also the first and only FDA-approved Hedgehog pathway inhibitor for AML. AML is a rapidly progressing bone marrow cancer that has a ... Read More

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries fined three companies involved in renovations of the historic Otis Hotel in downtown Spokane nearly $140,000 for mishandling toxic asbestos in the old hotel. Curtis Rystadt purchased the building for $1.4 million in June 2017. His company, Hos and Boz LLC, and Santiago’s Handyman Services, both of Oregon, were hit with a $24,500 fine for violating eight serious and three general worker safety rules, and an additional $45,000 for serious violations regarding hazardous materials. Both companies have appealed the fines. Kent, Washington-based 4 Aces Restoration was hit with a $200 fine for ... Read More

At least four United States Postal Services (USPS) employees at the Silverado Station branch in Las Vegas, Nevada, were treated for heat-related injuries earlier this year, one of whom was hospitalized due to his injuries, according to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “The dangers of working in high-heat conditions are well-known,” said OSHA Area Director Eric Brooks, in Las Vegas, adding that the USPS is fully aware of the risks to workers’ safety and health. “OSHA has cited the U.S. Postal Service repeatedly for failing to provide employees with a workplace free of recognized hazards. ... Read More

Immediately discontinuing the multiple sclerosis (MS) medication Gilenya (fingolimod) can significantly worsen the disease, even from the point where it was before the medication was started, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned in a Safety Communication. This side effect of Gilenya is rare, but can result in permanent disability. The FDA is advising patients to contact their doctor immediately if they experience new or worsening symptoms of MS after stopping Gilenya treatment. These symptoms vary and include new or worsening weakness, increased trouble using arms or legs, or changes in thinking, eyesight or balance. Gilenya treatment may have to ... Read More