Product News and Recalls

Reports raise questions about energy drinks

NBC News explores the question of whether caffeine can be lethal, in the wake of reports linking five deaths to the consumption of Monster Energy Drinks.

The article says consumption of high levels of caffeine can kill, but the degree of risk depends on the means by which the caffeine is ingested.

For example, the article cites the example of a Connecticut man who died after taking nearly two dozen No-Doz tablets, and notes that the tablet form allowed him to ingest ...

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State inspectors find dirty condtions at meningitis pharmacy

A Massachusetts Department of Public Health inspection report found dirty conditions likely to cause contamination at a pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak, ABC News reports.

Inspectors found dirty floors and a leaky boiler at the New England Compounding Center. Although they have yet to determine how exactly the fungal contaminant got into vials of a steroid medication called methylprednisolone acetate, inspectors noted in their report that the conditions created an “environment susceptible to contaminant growth.”

Inspectors also reported improper use ...

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Experts warn of hacked medical devices

Participants in a recent government panel warn that computerized medical devices are increasingly susceptible to hacking, including infections by computer viruses.

According to a story in MIT’s Technology Review, the malware infections can clog patient-monitoring equipment and other software systems, at times rendering the devices temporarily inoperable.

The report quotes Kevin Fu, a leading expert on medical-device security and a computer scientist at the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts, ...

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Synthes accused of illegally testing Norian bone cement on people

Fortune magazine recently published an article called “Bad to the Bone: A Medical Horror Story.”

The story concerns a Pennsylvania-based company called Synthes, which developed and marketed a bone cement called Norian XR for the ostensible purpose of repairing spine injuries. Norian led to the deaths of at least five patients, and jail time for four high-ranking Synthes executives.

As Fortune describes it, Synthes illegally marketed Norian despite increasing evidence that it might be dangerous. In effect, the company created a situation ...

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Lawmakers already had concerns about energy drink

On Oct. 22, reports came out linking Monster Beverage Corp.’s energy drinks to five deaths.

But federal lawmakers had already been pressuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to consider limiting the amount of caffeine in energy drinks after emergency room visits involving such products jumped 10-fold from 2005 through 2009, Bloomberg reports.

And according to an article in Forbes, Senators Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal, Democrats of Illinois and Connecticut, also want to determine the consequences of combining caffeine and other ...

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Range of symptoms for traumatic brain injury

According to the Mayo Clinic, traumatic brain injury occurs when an external mechanical force causes brain dysfunction. That “external mechanical force” usually takes the form of a violent blow or jolt to the head or body, although it can also be an object penetrating the skull, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull.

The condition encompasses a broad range of severity, from a relatively mild form that can cause ...

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