Health

Company sued over toxic chemical emissions

A report in The Daily News out of Galveston, Texas, says that more than 50,000 people have sued BP, claiming they got sick after the company’s Texas City refinery released toxic chemicals into the air.

From April 6 to May 16, 2010, a problem with a compressor at the refinery resulted in more than 500,000 pounds of chemicals being released. Those emissions included benzene, which is known to cause cancer.

A state investigation and subsequent lawsuit found that the company’s decision to ...

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Physician concerned over findings on antidepressants

In a guest blog entry for Boston NPR station WBUR, Dr. Adam C. Urato, MD, maternal-fetal medicine physician at Tufts Medical Center, writes of his alarm at the growing body of literature indicating that it’s risky for pregnant women to take antidepressants.

Urato makes reference to two recent articles showing that antidepressant use by pregnant women is associated with preterm birth, one of which also showed increased rates of neonatal seizures ...

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FDA: Drug may cause potentially deadly condition

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered a labeling change for the epilepsy medication ethosuximide, sold under the brand name Zarontin, reflecting the agency’s determination that it can cause serious skin conditions including the potentially fatal Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a rare, serious disorder in which the skin and mucous membranes react severely to a medication or infection.

The Mayo Clinic describes Stevens-Johnson syndrome as a medical emergency that usually requires hospitalization. It often begins ...

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Many sources for carcinogen benzene

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the carcinogenic compound benzene has both natural and man-made sources.

Natural sources include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is frequently used in an industrial setting, as part of the manufacturing process for plastics, resins, nylon, detergents and pesticides.

But there are other ways you could be exposed:

  • Outdoor air contains low levels of benzene from tobacco smoke, gas stations, motor vehicle exhaust, and industrial emissions.
  • Indoor air generally contains levels of benzene higher than ...
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Dangerous vaginal implants can’t be removed

One of the dangers of transvaginal mesh devices, according to an article in The Trial Lawyer magazine, is that they typically can’t be removed once they’ve been implanted in a patient’s body.

This is bad news for the thousands of implant recipients who have reported problems including debilitating pain and organ perforation after the devices have started to erode. According to The Trial Lawyer, doctors can trim ...

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More antidepressant users without documented disorder

More people without any documented psychiatric condition are taking antidepressants and getting them prescribed by doctors who aren’t psychiatrists, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The article mentions a study finding that nearly three-quarters of antidepressants in the U.S. were prescribed by non-psychiatrists in 2007, up from 60% a decade earlier. The study drew on the analysis of a national sample of 233,144 doctor office visits, the latest ...

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