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.
August 22, 2008
FDA slams Botox scammers after beauty seekers are temporarily paralyzed
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?
