Washington 646 articles

The families of some of the Lion Air passengers who died when their flight crashed in Indonesia Oct. 29 are suing Boeing Co. in Seattle Municipal Court in Washington, alleging the aircraft manufacturer is partially to blame for the deadly crash. The lawsuit, which has grown to include about 21 family members, alleges that faulty equipment on the brand-new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft contributed to the crash. Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that faulty sensor readings informed the autopilot system, causing the airplane to make several anti-stall maneuvers that weren’t needed and put the aircraft in danger. The erroneous readings ... Read More

Some top U.S. military officials are not happy with Boeing after the aircraft manufacturer delivered KC-46 air refueling tanker airplanes fresh off the assembly line, some of which were cluttered with garbage and industrial tools. Dr. Will Roper, the Air Force’s top acquisitions official, said that Boeing’s delivery of the planes to the Air Force in less than ideal condition shows the company has a “severe situation” on its hands. On Feb. 20, after discovering that some of the newly delivered tanker planes had debris and foreign objects left inside, the Air Force stopped accepting the deliveries from Boeing. Although ... Read More

Aviation authorities in several countries are grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes pending the results of investigations and remedial measures after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed Sunday, killing all 157 people aboard. The plane was the second new Boeing 737 Max 8 jet to crash in less than six months. Ethiopia’s civil aviation authorities initially took a “wait and see” stance following the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 but decided to ground all 737 Max 8 planes in the country after China announced it was suspending all flights of that Boeing model. “There were certain similarities in ... Read More

Environmental advocacy group POCCA (protect our Cape Cod Aquifer) is urging all 15 Cape Cod towns to refrain from applying glyphosate-containing herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup in an effort to protect the health of local citizens. “Glyphosate has proven harmful to people as well as bees,” said Laura Kelley, president of POCCA, and a beekeeper. “There are now 15 countries that don’t allow the sale or use of glyphosate products. We’re asking the town to become a leader and to do the right thing by just taking the next step.” Six months ago, the first lawsuit against Bayer AG’s unit Monsanto ... Read More

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Scott Gottlieb M.D., wants to know whether opioids already on the market to treat chronic pain actually work. Opioids are a class of painkillers that also give users a feeling of euphoria, and oftentimes as the drug is continued, greater doses are needed to quell the pain, leading to dependence and addiction. Prescription opioids have opened the door to abuses of heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and created an opioid epidemic that in 2017 alone took the lives of 46,000 Americans. Studies have suggested that opioids may not be as effective for some ... Read More

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Scott Gottlieb, whose leadership has been dominated in recent months by a crusade against the e-cigarette and tobacco industries, told his staff on Tuesday that he will resign in April. The surprise announcement casts a shadow over the bold initiatives Dr. Gottlieb spearheaded to combat the opioid addiction and youth vaping epidemics, both of which gripped the nation largely because of aggressive and sometimes illegal marketing and sales efforts by manufacturers. His bold efforts to beat back youth vaping and tobacco use have rankled many industry officials and Republican lawmakers, who have criticized ... Read More

When Leonard Tierney was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in May 2018, his friend suggested he talk to an attorney. It was his hunch that Tierney’s disease may have been caused by his exposure to the chemical glyphosate in the herbicide Roundup. Tierney started a landscape, construction and maintenance business in 1999, and had employees do most of the construction work. His love was landscaping. He had returned to school to study horticulture, and enjoyed working in his clients’ yards. He swore by Roundup, strapping a backpack-style sprayer on when he treated yards. He remembered how the container would leak from ... Read More

A HH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter owned by Arista Aviation based in Enterprise, Alabama, was en route to an industry trade show in Atlanta last week when it crashed near Tullahoma, Tennessee. The two pilots, Jack Cook and Larry Cornell, both former Army Aviators from Alabama, were injured but were reported to be recovering in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Hospital. They are Arista Aviation employees. The helicopter went down on private property in a rural area around 3 p.m. local time last Thursday. The pilots were able to crawl out of the aircraft and one called 9-1-1. Tullahoma Police Sgt. ... Read More

Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer AG last year, is facing thousands of lawsuits alleging an ingredient in its Roundup weed killer causes cancer. But a new class action lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Missouri, claims that the glyphosate in the herbicide attacks a gut enzyme found in the beneficial intestinal flora of humans and some animals. The suit says the companies deceived consumers about the product’s safety. In recent years, gut bacteria have played a more prominent role in medical research, with unhealthy intestinal microbiome being blamed on everything from depression to obesity. The lawsuit claims that Monsanto misled ... Read More

A University of Washington researcher said she is “convinced” that the active ingredient glyphosate in the commonly used weed killer Roundup can cause cancer after conducting an analysis with colleagues on the chemical. Lianne Sheppard, senior author and professor of biostatistics and environmental and occupational health sciences, said she and colleagues found a “compelling link” between people with the “highest exposure” to glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that begins in the lymphatic system. “All of the meta-analysis conducted to date, including our own, consistently report the same key finding; exposure to GBHs (glyphosate-based herbicides) ... Read More