FDA slams Botox scammers after beauty seekers are temporarily paralyzed

Beauty knows no pain,” the old saying goes. But it does have a price. Illegal Botox scammers are paying with fines and prison sentences. Victims are paying with facial paralysis. What the beauty-seekers hoped would eliminate forehead wrinkles put some in the hospital. Botox is made from the toxin of a bacterium that causes botulism, a severe form of food poisoning. The scammers knowingly used a cheaper version of it that is not approved by the FDA. Twenty-nine people, including several doctors, were convicted of knowingly injecting the unapproved Botox into nearly 1,000 victims. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) handled the case after four victims were hospitalized. There were no deaths and the paralysis was temporary. But the OCI uncovered instances of illegal Botox use across the United States, resulting in 68 arrests. Botox Cosmetic is the only FDA approved version of Botox. It is made from highly purified botulinum toxin. Small amounts of it injected between the eyes, affect the muscles ability to contract, smoothing out facial wrinkles for several months.

Houston’s 2008 child drowning already top 2007’s

Just because summer’s winding down doesn’t mean pool safety isn’t as crucial as it was when school vacations began. That’s because summer has been anything but a vacation from child drowning tragedies, with Houston in 2008 already eclipsing its total child drowning victims for 2007. By the end of July, Houston had 24 child drownings. In all of 2007, it had 22.
Yet another drowning was added to this year’s list on Aug. 11, when a 16-year-old boy who was visiting a cousin at an apartment complex in northwest Houston drowned while swimming by himself. Family members indicated the boy wasn’t a good swimmer, but that didn’t stop him from trying. And since no one was responsible for watching him, it was too late when he was spotted on the bottom of the pool to rescue and save him.Some safety experts say it takes only 20 seconds for a child to drown. That means every child who swims should be closely monitored at all times. Leaving the poolside for even a minute to grab more sunscreen or take a call is hardly worth the possible tragic tradeoff of having a young person drown. So even with summer vacation ending, no one should take a vacation from swimming safety and vigilance.

Calling Jim Adler clients…..

Do you hanker to tell your story about the great way that Jim Adler’s law firm treated you? E-mail Jodie Sinclair at jsinclair@jsapc.com if you would like to do a video testimonial about your experience. It’s just flat wonderful to have lawyers who get justice for clients AND treat them with respect and concern.

Car safety factors to become more visible for consumers

Kick the tires. Check under the hood. All finished and ready to buy? Not really. What about the most important component of any new vehicle: safety? Sure, you can check for yourself online or elsewhere, but do you really have authoritative answers? Maybe not – not yet. But starting with 2010 model cars, you will. When they hit dealerships in 2009, they’ll be the first to be sold under improvements to a federal government five-star safety rating program. As a result we will have – for the first time – an overall safety rating combining side, frontal and rollover crash tests. New cars also will gain a first-time rating on new crash-avoidance technologies, such as lane departure warning systems, electronic stability control and forward collision warning systems. This rating will alert consumers as to whether such elements are optional or standard features on the new vehicle they’re considering. Until then, you should do all you can to check out a car’s safety before you buy it. Getting a car in your favorite color is one thing. Having a car that’s as safe as possible is everything.

Children’s cold medicines can be risky

As summer eases into fall and temperatures change, many kids will get colds. That means many will be taking over-the-counter cold medicines. And that may mean trouble. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises that children under 2 years old should not use over-the-counter medications for coughs and colds — medications such as Pediacare, Robitussin, Dimetapp and Triaminic. The FDA says such medications may not help young children at all — and could even prove harmful. Such cold medications have led to thousands of calls to poison-control centers and hundreds of children needing emergency room treatment. These children may suffer from hallucinations, depressed levels of consciousness or abnormal heart rhythms or other cardiovascular maladies. The FDA says 95 million packages of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines are sold for children’s use each year in the U.S. Yet many do no more good to a child than if they were a placebo. Also, many medicines are not meant specifically for children and lack proper directions for child use. The FDA discovered that in 2004 a total of 900 children accidentally overdosed on cold medicines. Instead of relying on over-the-counter medications, parents can try other, safer and more reliable means of helping a child with a cold. For instance, you can lower a fever by giving a child ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but only after asking your doctor about the proper dose, considering your child’s age and size. Parents also can use a cool-mist humidifier in a child’s bedroom to open nasal passages. And saline nose drops can help relieve a runny nose. Plenty of fluids – especially clear liquids – also can help, along with ample rest. There, that safety pill wasn’t so hard to swallow, was it?

Safeguarding Your Brain

The federal government says it wants to make car tops tougher to protect your head in a rollover accident. Some watchdog agencies like Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety say the proposed new standards won’t prevent catastrophic brain injuries when the roof of your car mashes in your head in a rollover accident. Even if you recover, your brain may not. Picture yourself, or a loved one in a wheelchair or worse. The Washington Post says rollover accidents cause more than 10,000 fatalities a year. That’s why the struggle between the federal government and watchdog agencies for safer tops on cars to avoid “roof crush” is so important. It really heated up when the SUV increased rollover crashes. Safety groups and the insurance industry say that a roof should be able to bear three times the weight of the car to absorb the force of the crash when the car rolls over. Car manufacturers say that would cost $95 million only save 44 lives and 793 injuries a year. Insiders say Congress could back off the proposed new standard even though it’s not as tough as safety advocates want. Meanwhile, the injured have a recourse: a personal injury lawyer who can fight for a settlement after a catastrophic rollover. FYI: Remember how long it took to get air bags in cars? This fight is similar.

Cookies on Federal Recall List

Is Anything Safe Anymore? The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 28 items in June. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recalled 12 in June, 13 in May and 8 in April. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has several web pages devoted to salmonella tainted tomatoes. Non-profit agencies trying to protect the public also have recall lists. What are they warning the public about? The lists are amazing: fake cancer cures, and oversized morphine pills! They also include Double Chocolate Chip Cakes, a “S’Morestick Kit, mouthwash, girls’ sandals with a choking hazard, ATV’s and playground swings. It’s hard to protect yourself these days from harmful drugs and defective products and devices and the accidents they can cause. www.jimadler.com is a good way to keep up.

Safety Around The Pool

In Texas’ summer heat, a swimming pool should be one of the most inviting and enjoyable places for children to play. But to keep it that way, it’s vital that kids and adults heed certain safety tips. Don’t worry: They don’t mean you can’t splash and yell. They just mean you can have more fun while being wary of risky missteps – or mis-splashes!

One area of any pool which requires great awareness is the pool drain, often on the bottom but sometimes on the sides. Drains use suction to draw water from the pool as part of a filtration system. A child has smaller hands, feet and other body parts which can become wedged into a drain, and a child often isn’t strong enough to pull free. In fact, many adults are unable to pull free from certain drains, in which hair or parts of a swimsuit also can become entangled.

Fortunately, it’s possible to apply anti-entrapment drain covers on pool drains to ensure they can’t do harm. If the pool you use is your own private pool, or a pool provided by a club to which you belong, you should be able to get such covers for its drains. If not, you could request such drain covers from the pool’s owner.The same suction problems and the same solutions also extend to hot tubs and their drains.Beyond this, be aware of the location of pool drains, and stay away from them.  They can be extremely harmful in the worst circumstances.

Adults also can safeguard a swimming pool by installing a fence around it with a self-latching, self-closing gate. That way, a small child can’t wander toward the pool and fall into it. As a comparable precaution, hot tubs should be covered when not in use. Also, don’t leave toys lying around near a pool or hot tub. One of the best safeguards for pool safety, of course, is a wary adult. Adults should supervise all activities by children in pools, at all times. Ideally, adults also should know CPR, enabling them to help drowning victims. Drownings can happen silently and swiftly, so diverting your attention even for a few moments can prove fatal to a child. At all times means at all times.

As for kids, they should be taught not to run on any surface near a pool. Such surfaces can be wet and slippery, and a sudden fall on hard concrete can be dangerous. Also, children should not dive into any pool area that’s less than nine feet deep, Safe Kids USA advises.

All this doesn’t mean kids can’t have summer pool fun. It just means they can have more fun knowing that they’re following safety guidelines, and that their parents have safeguarded their pool environment.

Safety in the Sun

Play it safe! Drink plenty of water and other fluids throughout the day, especially when you’re engaged in strenuous activities, and also when temperatures hit the 90s or above. Avoid alcohol and caffeine drinks, which won’t help hydrate your body. Good old fashioned water is your best bet, along with juice. And you should drink these vital liquids regularly, whether you feel thirsty or not.

That doesn’t mean you should exercise outdoors all you want, just because you’re drinking proper fluids. You might want to scale down your exertions in the heat of the day. The best times for vigorous activities are in the early morning hours, just before and just after sunrise. Like a good breakfast, exercise is a solid way to start out a day. If your outdoor activity ensues despite the heat or time of day, at least try to take breaks. Playing organized softball with some friends? Don’t wait for the “seventh inning stretch.” Maybe call a truce after three innings and take a water break in the shade, then resume play. Playing nonstop despite the heat might be a strike-out for your body, and it’s at least a foul ball.

Of course, when possible, you can plan some of your summer activities for indoors. Then you won’t need to take a heat break.

Outside, be sure to wear protective sunscreen over your exposed body parts, and for those that you cover, pay less attention to fashion than to comfort. That means dressing lightly, both in terms of fabric (cottons are good) and colors (white and light colors reflect much of sunlight’s heat, while black and dark colors absorb it).While you’ve got a green light to gulp down more fluids, don’t apply such binging to foods. When you do eat, try to have small, light meals, such as a turkey sandwich with mustard, not mayo, and a cup of fruit. Skip the chips and fries, and avoid salt, sugar and fat. Besides, you can eat such smaller meals more often, because it helps your metabolism to space out food intake.

Do these things and you should have a healthier, happier summer. And don’t forget to take time to take it easy. The body needs rest as well as exercise, and those lazy, crazy days of summer are as good a time as any to get it.

Distracted Teen Drivers

While teens are having fun, they must not forget that certain common sense safeguards still apply. Teen drivers already have a high accident rate, and it could get even worse when they’re all abuzz about summer activities and forget to take driving seriously. The fact is, teens can be injured or killed — or injure or kill someone else – in a split second while driving. And that single second with a single mistake could be all because they engaged in something that almost always could wait: phoning, texting, eating and taking eyes and attention off the road around them.

If anything, driving deserves a teen’s complete attention. Imagine how bad it can be when a teen fixates on a cell phone, placing calls or even sending text messages instead of glancing in the rear-view mirror before changing lanes. Teens also should be especially wary of fatigue. It’s a major factor in many auto accidents. Teens need more sleep than adults. If teens drive when they are sleepy, it could be fatal.

Teens are also known to disregard seatbelts far more than adults. Speeding teens who drink and get behind the wheel also contribute to accidents. In fact, automobile accidents are the No. 1 killer of teens in America. But it doesn’t have to be that way – not with the right attitude. It may not seem cool, but what’s cool about being injured or killed? The bottom line: Driving is an enormous responsibility, not just an annoyance to be tolerated while having fun multi-tasking. Sometimes, the best way to have fun is to wait and have it at the proper time.