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Hundreds of male breast cancer cases could be tied to Camp Lejeune

November 30, 2011 By

Ongoing federal research suggests more than 100 U.S. Marine Corps veterans may have contracted breast cancer from exposure to toxic drinking water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Camp Lejeune is one of the Marine Corps’ largest bases. It houses and employs tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel and for years, former residents claim contaminated drinking water has led to numerous health problems.

Chief among those problems is a cancer cluster of men who have developed breast cancer since living at the base.
According to St. Petersburg Times, one former Marine has personally identified 73 men who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. All of them either worked or lived at Camp Lejeune.

Numerous studies have shown the water supply at the Marine base was contaminated for years but the Marine Corps has stopped short of accepting a relationship between the contaminated drinking water and the rash of diseases reported among residents and employees at the base.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has also been combing Veterans Affairs’ health records and has identified at least 184 former Marines diagnosed with breast cancer. About half of those people are believed to have at one time lived at Camp Lejeune.

The report indicates the review of those records is only about one-third complete and potentially hundreds of former Marines could possibly attribute their breast cancer to Camp Lejeune.

Filed Under: Camp Lejeune Toxic Water, Toxic Substances

Supreme Court will hear overtime pay case from pharmaceutical sales reps

November 30, 2011 By

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case which will determine whether pharmaceutical sales representatives are covered by overtime pay laws.

According to a report from International Business Times (ibtimes.com), the high court decided to hear a lawsuit filed by two pharmaceutical sales reps against GlaxoSmithKline. This is a class-action lawsuit representing thousands of employees in the same position with the company but the Supreme Court’s decision could impact thousands more jobs.

Pharmaceutical companies have contended that its sales representatives are not covered by overtime pay laws, meaning any time worked over 40 hours per week (in most cases) would warrant bonus pay rates. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Unpaid Overtime/Employment

EPA wants unpublished health, safety reports on fracking chemicals

November 30, 2011 By

The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting rules which require the makers of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process to submit safety and health impact reports.

Regulators are reacting to a petition it received earlier this year from more than 120 health and environmental groups, according to a report at Chemical & Engineering News.

Many of the reports sought by the EPA have previously gone unpublished and could provide some evidence to prove a link between fracking for natural gas from underground shale and underground water contamination. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hydraulic Fracturing "Fracking", Toxic Substances

Stranded passengers file lawsuit against JetBlue

November 29, 2011 By

Three JetBlue airline passengers stranded on a Connecticut tarmac during an October snowstorm have filed a lawsuit against the air carrier for violating federal air travel rules.

The passengers are being represented by the law firm of Parker Waichman Alonso LLP and has been filed in a Syracuse, N.Y., federal court, according to a report from The (Syracuse) Post-Standard newspaper.

An late-autumn snowstorm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas of the Mid Atlantic and Northeast in late October. JetBlue was forced to divert six of its flights to Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn. Confusion at the airport forced passengers to endure up to seven hours stranded in their plane on the tarmac.

At various times through the ordeal, passengers were told numerous reasons for the delays. Eventually, food and water supplies ran thin and bathroom facilities were failing.

One plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in her complaint that her anxiety and depression medications were unreachable during the ordeal, causing more unnecessary stress.

The Post-Standard reports airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger if they are stranded on a plane for any reason for more than three hours. This rule was part of the federal Dept. of Transportation’s 2010 Airline Passenger Bill of Rights.

Filed Under: Airline Tarmac Delays, Uncategorized

PPI drugs early in pregnancy elevates risk of heart birth defects

November 29, 2011 By

Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have identified a link between expecting mothers who take Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) drugs during the early stages of pregnancy and cardiac birth defects.

They released their report at a press conference last week during Digestive Disease Week, being recognized in New Orleans, according to a report on from MedPageToday.com.

Some expecting mothers are prescribed PPI drugs like Aciphex, Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec and Protonix to control pregnancy-related symptoms of gastrointestinal reflux disorder (GERD). Penn researchers discovered through analysis of a general UK database collected from 2000 through 2008, The Health Improvement Network. Andrew Rhim, MD, told reporters the research indicates taking PPI drugs poses a two-fold risk of a baby being born with cardiac birth defects. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Defective Drugs, Proton Pump Inhibitors
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