Personal Injury Law

Something's Fishy at FDA - Guest Blog by Catherine A. O'Neill

Posted on December 12, 2008
According to today’s Washington Post, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking to rescind its warning that women and children should limit their intake of fish, given widespread mercury contamination. The FDA is now espousing the view that the benefits of consuming fish outweigh the risks of neurological damage and mercury’s other harms – a position that has “alarmed scientists” at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the Post...

Marler's see-saw battle of the bulge

Posted on December 12, 2008
I was traveling somewhere on a case last week when I was struck by the media focus on “Oprah's see-saw battle of the bulge.”  Hmmm, I thought… I have been practicing law for 20 years now – 15 of which have been food poisoning cases...

Mr. Bill Does Twitter

Posted on December 11, 2008
Always looking for another way to drive our food safety message, I am now trying twitter.com.  We shall see Mr. Bill.

Marler Clark has Tested Retail Hamburger for Non-O157:H7 Pathogenic Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli

Posted on December 11, 2008
You might recall a blog post I did from January of 2008 where I discussed testing retail ground beef for Non-O157:H7 Pathogenic Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli (STEC). We have completed a portion of the first year’s tests and are in the process of compiling the data...

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Next Agriculture Secretary Should Have Food Safety, Nutrition, and Environmental Focus - I could not agree more

Posted on December 11, 2008
According to a press release circulated today, much of the media speculation on who the next Secretary of Agriculture will be focuses on candidates lacking experience with food safety, nutrition, or environmental issues—issues which are at the heart of the U...

Irish Pork Dioxin Recalled in US - Finally!

Posted on December 11, 2008
Days after Europe was well on the way recalling all the little piggies who went to market, today Rupari Food Services, a Deerfield Beach, Fl., establishment, is recalling approximately 41,020 pounds of fresh pork products that may be contaminated with dioxins, the U...

China and Food Safety - What I learned about the US Legal System

Posted on December 11, 2008
From a speech I gave yesterday to the Washington State Bar Association: A few months ago I was invited by the Chinese Government to speak at a food safety conference in Beijing. A week before I arrived, I was asked not to talk about the now erupting infant formula scandal...

Marler Clark has Tested Retail Hamburger for Non-O157:H7 Pathogenic Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli - Abstract Available

Posted on December 11, 2008
You might recall a blog post I did from January of 2008 where I discussed testing retail ground beef for Non-O157:H7 Pathogenic Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli (STEC). We have completed a portion of the first year’s tests and are in the process of compiling the data...

Report Finds Economic Crisis Hurting U.S. Food Safety Preparedness

Posted on December 10, 2008
Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released the sixth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism Report, which finds that progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis...

Recall of Dry Dog and Cat Food Products Associated with Human Salmonella Schwarzengrund Infections --- United States, 2008

Posted on December 09, 2008
I know economic times are tough, but human illnesses associated with dog and cat food? No, really, it is unlikely, but possible, that people consumed it out of necessity. However, it is more likely that ii is cross-contamination during the feeding of your pet...

This little piggy will not make it to market - dioxin in your Irish sausages - Update, not cows too? Sheep next?

Posted on December 09, 2008
In another great example how interconnected a “farm to fork” food chain can be, a friend of mine sent me this article from AP Ireland, “Oil-tainted feed causes Irish pork crisis.” The beginning of this food crisis (as opposed to all the others that we read about daily) according to Irish Agriculture Department is that a feed supplier, Millstream, was using an inappropriate type of fuel oil in a burner that dried out-of-date bread, dough and confectionery that was turned into pig feed...

Speech - "Chasing the Ambulance Away: Reshaping the Role of the Personal Injury Lawyer in Society and the Law"

Posted on December 08, 2008
This Wednesday I’ll be speaking at the Washington State Bar Association CLE seminar titled Top Lawyers: Learn From Some of Washington’s Best. The smart folks at WSBA realized that law students and young lawyers learn a lot about the law, but rarely hear about career building; building a practice and a life in the law that is rewarding and sustainable...

The American Academy of Pediatrics Warns against Raw Milk

Posted on December 08, 2008
In the recent volume of AAP News is an article entitled, “advis[ing] families against giving children unpasteurized [raw] milk.” The article could not be clearer in its warning: Raw or unpasteurized milk can transmit many serious infectious diseases to children...

China now says 294,000 children fell ill from melamine tainted milk

Posted on December 05, 2008
China said Monday that a total of 294,000 children had fallen ill from consuming dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, with 154 of them still in serious condition. In a statement on its website, the health ministry also indicated the number of dead may rise from the four previously announced, saying that six deaths since September 10 may be linked to the consumption of melamine-laced milk...

Carrot juice botulism outbreak - Live Blogging at ACI Conference

Posted on December 04, 2008
I just finished my presentation here at the ACI Conference giving an overview of the increase in 2007 and 2008 in recalls and outbreaks associated with hamburger and E. coli O157:H7 when I got an email of an article from Clinical Infectious Diseases from its November 15, 2008 publication on the 2006 Carrot Juice Botulism Outbreak tied to Bolthouse Farms...

The 2008 ABA Journal Blawg 100 - NOT!

Posted on December 02, 2008
Well, for two years running I did not make the ABA Journal Top 100 Blawgs (Law Blogs).  I can not imagine why with hundreds of subscribers, over 2,000 visitors a day, that I did not make it into the top 100.  Here is the link to the ABA site ---- BLAWGS...

New Mexico Department of Health Report on Enterobacter sakazakii Illness and Death

Posted on December 01, 2008
As part of its investigation into a rare infection that can be associated with infant formula, the New Mexico Department of Health is advising people on the safest way to prepare formula. The Department of Health is investigating two cases of Enterobacter sakazakii illness, a rare cause of bloodstream and central nervous system infections, in a female infant from Lea County and a male infant from Otero County...

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Food Outbreak Report 2008

Posted on November 29, 2008
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) identified a total of 5,778 outbreaks of illness linked to specific foods, involving 168,898 individual illnesses that occurred between 1990 and 2006. An outbreak involves two or more ill people. The food categories most commonly linked to outbreaks were: • Seafood: 1,140 outbreaks involving 11,809 cases of illness • Produce: 768 outbreaks involving 35,060 cases of illness • Poultry: 620 outbreaks involving 18,906 cases of illness • Beef: 518 outbreaks involving 14,191 cases of illness • Eggs: 351 outbreaks involving 11,143 cases of illness This chart shows the relative rates of illnesses linked to outbreaks among the food categories when adjusted for consumption during the period of 1999 to 2006...

Pork tapeworm, the parasite known as cysticercosis, found in Phoenix woman, Rosemary Alvarez's, brain

Posted on November 27, 2008
Late last summer, Rosemary Alvarez of Phoenix thought she had a brain tumor. But on the operating table her doctor discovered something even more unsightly -- a parasitic worm eating her brain. When Alvarez awoke, she heard the good news that she was tumor-free and she would make a full recovery...

Salinas Valley once again the suspect in another E. coli outbreak - Farm not yet named

Posted on November 26, 2008
Dawn Withers, a.k.a. “the lettuce lady,” reports tonight what has long been suspected and rumored; the Salinas Valley is again the likely source of yet another E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. The “Lettuce Lady” quotes Ken August from the California Department of Public Health that it is investigating whether a Salinas Valley farm is the source of an E...

Dozens of ConAgra Salmonella Pot Pie Cases Settled and CDC Finally Issues Report

Posted on November 26, 2008
Today, seventeen months after the first reported illness and thirteen months after the recall, the CDC finally issues its final report on the 2007 Salmonella serotype I 4,5,12:i:-* infections. The CDC report summarizes the results of the investigation, which determined that 401 cases of salmonellosis occurred in 41 states during 2007, with 32% of ill persons hospitalized...

Holiday Food Safety Tips - from a lawyer?

Posted on November 22, 2008
Each year since, well since 2006 and 2007, I have given my readers a few safety tips of preparing safe food during the Holiday - specifically, Thanksgiving.  Honestly, I really do not have much to add to the links from 2006 and 2007 above, except to suggest that you add a small umbrella to each drink...

Lawsuit Filed in Nevada Botulism Case

Posted on November 22, 2008
A federal lawsuit against Campbell's soup company, Albertson's markets and Save Mart claiming they were sickened and hospitalized for botulism poisoning after eating a can of chicken broth in 2006. While Randy and Marjorie Main were being treated, the can of Swanson's seasoned chicken broth with roasted garlic was tested and C...

FDA Bring Lawsuit Against Organic Pastures For Selling Raw Milk Across State Lines

Posted on November 22, 2008
The Capital Press reported today that the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against McAfee in a U.S. district court Thursday, Nov. 20, claiming that he endangered public health by violating a federal law against interstate commerce in unpasteurized milk...

FDA Brings Lawsuit Against Organic Pastures For Selling Raw Milk Across State Lines

Posted on November 22, 2008
The Capital Press reported today that the U.S. Justice Department filed suit (Here is Complaint) against McAfee in a U.S. district court Thursday, Nov. 20, claiming that he endangered public health by violating a federal law against interstate commerce in unpasteurized milk...

The Next Food Safety Czar will need to Work in Collaboration with Industry on Food Safety

Posted on November 20, 2008
I had a great meeting yesterday with ConAgra Foods. I met with a number of food safety employees and ConAgra’s Food Safety Board last time I visited Omaha a few months ago. According to its website and from what I can see, “ConAgra Foods has developed rigorous food-safety practices in all our facilities and manufacturing processes...

40 Percent of Grocery Store Meat Sampled has Superbug Clostridium difficile (C. diff)

Posted on November 18, 2008
According to press reports this morning, an Arizona researcher found 40 percent of meat products tested from three national chain stores were contaminated with bacteria normally associated with severe hospital infections. Federal health officials, however, say more study is needed to determine whether C...

Open Letter to a New Under Secretary for Food Safety - FSIS

Posted on November 15, 2008
E. coli is a powerful and deadly bacterium.  You cannot see it, taste it, or smell it. 250,000 E. coli bacteria will fit on the head of a pin.  Ten to 50 will kill your child or your grandmother.  Most likely due the expertise of Children’s Hospitals, and other top medical centers around the country, deaths at times are avoided, however, often not before Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) nearly kills...

Open Letter to a New Under Secretary for Food Safety - FSIS - The End of E. coli Conservatism

Posted on November 15, 2008
In April 2007, Rick Perlstein penned a piece entitled “E. Coli Conservatism.”  His bottom line was the “Conservatism has been killing Americans. The recent food safety crisis is only one case study.”  Perhaps he is in part right...

FSIS Meeting on Non-E. coli O157:H7 Shiga-Toxin E. coli Test Results

Posted on November 14, 2008
I am still in Washington DC until Saturday morning.  Had a series of great meetings today including one with FSIS staff where I presented our non-E. coli O157:H7 shiga-toxin E. coli test results which I hope to publish in the next few months.  I got to keep the badge...

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