Here are some of the headlines from the past few weeks: 34 million cars outfitted with dangerously defective airbags have been recalled; passenger trains and oil trains have derailed, putting commuters and communities at risk; nail salon workers are being exposed to dangerous conditions and abusive employers. What these stories have in common is a regulatory process that is too slow and too captured by industry to protect Americans. Instead of attacking regulations, Congress should be empaneling committees to investigate why regulations are so slow to be issued and so poorly enforced.
But now a group of U.S. senators led by U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is calling for a new, permanent, bicameral committee to review and recommend eliminating federal safeguards. The proposed committee could Continue reading Congress Forms Anti-Regulatory Committee Instead of Protecting Americans
BBC reports that Japanese airbag maker Takata recalled almost 34 million cars with defective airbags, the largest recall in US automotive history, affecting models from 11 carmakers. The number is double previous estimates for faulty air bags from the manufacturer. US regulators said Takata has still not found the cause of the defects.
The Wall Street Journal reports that federal regulators will decide within the next two weeks whether to reopen a probe into older Jeep models involved in fiery rear-end crashes and be “as aggressive as possible” when weighing measures to address the vehicles, the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that steep decline in air pollution in Southern California since the mid-1990s is strongly associated with “statistically and clinically significant improvements” in children’s lung function and growth. The study provides the strongest evidence yet that years of government regulations to reduce air pollution in California and across the nation are paying off with measurable improvements in children’s health.
In an escalating standoff with Takata, writes the New York Times, federal regulators said on Friday that they would begin to fine the Japanese auto supplier $14,000 a day, saying it had not fully cooperated in an investigation into defective airbags. Takata has failed to respond “fully or truthfully” to two orders that it turn over documents and information related to the defect, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wrote in a letter to the company.
After two years of imposing increasingly stiff penalties on automakers that overstate their fuel economy ratings, federal regulators on Monday said they would tighten guidelines used in determining the mileage advertised to consumers, reports the New York Times. Next year, automakers will face stricter rules for testing fuel economy and higher potential penalties. The rules for the test had not been updated in over 10 years.
Last spring, when General Motors offered to compensate victims of accidents caused by a defective ignition switch in more than two million cars, the company said it was trying to live up to its “civic duty.” But, reports the New York Times, the move was also an effort to keep victims and their families out of the courts and avoid long, expensive and image-damaging litigation. It was a gamble, but as the deadline for filing claims passed this weekend, it appears the effort is succeeding so far.
For observers of how corporations find ways to profit at the expense of public health, the news coverage of 2014 provides a wealth of evidence. Here are three stories that caught my eye last year. Next week I’ll present stories about the food, firearms and tobacco industries, the other sectors that Corporations and Health Watch follows.
Auto Recalls at General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Others Set New Record
Last year, reported the New York Times, more than 60 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States, double the previous annual record in 2004. In all, there have been about 700 recall announcements — an average of two a day — affecting the equivalent of one in five vehicles on the road. The eight largest automakers have each recalled more vehicles in the United States this year than they have on average since 1966, when data collection began, with G.M., Honda, and Chrysler each setting corporate records, the review by The Times found.
GMs failed ignition switches on Chevy Cobalts and several other models were one source for the recalls. Another was airbags manufactured by Takata, a Japanese parts maker, that occasionally exploded injuring or killing passengers or drivers. According to Consumer Reports, 7.8 million vehicles, made by 10 different automakers, have been recalled to replace frontal air bags on the driver’s, passenger’s sides or both. An ominous lesson from the Takata recalls is that globalization of the auto industry and the concentration of parts makers into a few giant companies can result in many manufacturers relying on the same few parts suppliers. If these parts fail, the population impact can be enormous.
AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Other Drug Makers Pay Doctors and Hospitals Billions to Promote their Drugs
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as of December 19, 2014, drug makers paid at least 366,000 U.S. doctors and 900 teaching hospitals $3.7 billion for gifts, meals, travel, speaking about their products, or attending promotional events.
In a series of stories called Dollars for Docs: How Industry Dollars Reach Your Doctors, Pro Publica describes the many ways that drug companies pay doctors—often physicians who have been previously sanctioned for unethical or illegal practices– to promote their products. Pro Publica also provides a database that allows readers to look up what companies have paid which doctors. This information is now available thanks to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, a part of the Affordable Care Act that went into effect in 2014. Would requiring other companies in other sectors to report who they paid to promote their products help consumers to make more informed judgments on products?
Powdered alcohol hasn’t even arrived in stores yet, but some states already are moving to ban the product touted by its inventor as an easy way to mix a drink on the go. The UK-based Daily Mail reports that Colorado is the latest state considering prohibiting ‘Palcohol’ amid concern it will increase underage drinking. The product is marketed as an ounce of rum or vodka in powdered form, which is then added to water. Each serving is the equivalent of a shot of liquor, according to Lipsmark, the company that owns Palcohol. The company awaits labeling approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The Food and Drug Administration said it does not have a legal basis to block the product after examining the non-alcoholic ingredients in the powder. Will this product make it to market in 2015? Stay tuned.
“Based on our experience with jello shots, alcoholic energy drinks, and other “cutting edge” alcohol products, we anticipate that allowing powdered alcohol onto the market will have grave consequences for our nation’s young people. Youth is a time of risk-taking and experimentation, and these types of products have proven most popular among the heaviest drinking and more risk-prone youth. Powdered alcohol is also highly concealable, making it all too easy for youth to access and consume. Currently 4300 young people under age 21 die each year from alcohol-related causes; our efforts should be focused on making alcoholic products less, not more, available to our nation’s youth.”
Law360 reports that the Senate Commerce Committee last week unanimously approved Mark. R. Rosekind, President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a week after the nominee assured the panel that he would restore the agency’s tarnished reputation following the General Motors Co. and Takata Corp. recalls. Rosekind has said he would boost efforts to catch automakers that don’t report safety defects and to enforce recalls.
Honda Motor and Mazda Motor may have to recall another 200,000 cars in Japan to replace Takata Corp air bags if Takata complies with a U.S. order to recall cars across the United States rather than just in humid regions, reports Japan Today. Several automakers in the U.S. have issued regional recalls of certain models to investigate what is causing some Takata air bags to explode with excessive force. U.S. safety regulators have ordered Takata to have those recalls expanded nationwide.
Corporations and Health Watch 