Chevron is facing another lawsuit from a Brazilian federal prosecutor, Eduardo Santos, for an oil spill at the Frade project off of Brazil’s coast. The lawsuit was filed against both Chevron, the U.S. oil company, and Transocean, the drilling company, because last month, Chevron noticed that there were leaks at the Frade project. Although Chevron stopped drilling as a precautionary measure once it noticed the leak, it is facing an $11 billion lawsuit for the environmental damages caused from these leaks.

This lawsuit is the second $11 billion suit filed within the last six months against Chevron’s Frade project. The first suit addressed a 3,000-barrel oil spill in November of last year. A drilling accident caused oil to leak from the well into fissures on the Brazilian seabed. Some critics argue that the most recent lawsuit is overzealous because the leak consists of two barrels, only one of which escaped. Also, critics assert that unlike the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, no oil reached the Brazilian shoreline.

Santos only intensified the debate when he filed criminal charges against Chevron and Transocean last month seeking penalties estimated to be about 31 years in prison. His current civil suit also seeks to prevent Chevron and Transocean from drilling in Brazil, transferring Brazilian profits to locations overseas, and obtaining financing from the government. Chevron has not yet commented on the pending civil and criminal lawsuits.

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Roxana, a small village in Illinois, filed a lawsuit against Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips, and WRB Refining due to contamination from the Wood River Oil Refinery, a nearby plant. The village alleges that toxic chemicals have leaked from the refinery and damaged surrounding property.

It has been reported that the refinery’s own testing has revealed elevated levels of toxic chemicals in the water and soil surrounding the plant. In a few locations, toxic levels were tens of thousands of times higher than the amount allowed by Illinois state law.

It is expected that lawsuits filed by individual property owners will ensue following the progress of this initial lawsuit. For more information about this case and other toxic tort cases, visit our website today.

This week in a study published online, Archives of General Psychiatry reports that the fetuses of women who took SSRIs such as Paxil and Prozac during pregnancy showed reduced growth of the head. Fetal head growth is "one of the best prenatal markers of brain volume," and reduced head growth has been linked to poor cognitive performance, behavioral problems, and psychiatric disorders later in life.

"Our findings further raise the question whether maternal SSRI treatment during pregnancy is better or worse for the fetus than untreated maternal depression,” said Hanan El Marroun, Ph.D., one of the authors of the study. The authors note their results add to the knowledge about the use and nonuse of SSRIs, but they are not conclusive. "Therefore, more long-term drug safety studies are needed before evidence-based recommendations can be derived," the authors conclude. 

Last week Glenmark Generics Inc. announced a nationwide recall of seven (7) lots of its generic birth control pill packets (generic norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol tablets USP, 0.18 mg/0.035 mg, 0.215 mg/0.035 mg, 0.25 mg/0.035 mg) due to possibility of out of sequence tablets. This is the second major birth control recall in 2012, since Pfizer's recall last month. 

Glenmark Generics explained that the recall is being implemented because of a packaging error, where select blisters were rotated 180 degrees within the card, reversing the weekly tablet orientation and making the lot number and expiry date visible only on the outer pouch. Birth control pills are intentionally packaged in a specific order to provide protection from pregnancy. In these specific recalled pills, 21 tablets contain hormonal compounds to prevent pregnancy, while the last seven tablets don't contain any active ingredients. If a woman takes the pills out of order or takes inactive pills thinking they are active, she may be at risk of pregnancy. 

The company noted that there are no other health risks associated with the recall. People who find that one of their birth control packs is affected by the recall should tell their doctor and return the birth control to the pharmacy. For more information on which lots of the birth control were recalled, visit the FDA’s recall safety page here.

GlaxoSmithKline, the U.K.’s largest drug manufacturer, has recalled 394,230 bottles of its DynaCirc CR hypertension drug from the U.S. market after the manufacturer, Novartis, reported inconsistent packaging practices. The generic drug is manufactured at a Novartis plant in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Glaxo said in a statement that it has received no reports of adverse events, nor any complaints of contamination or tablet mix-ups in batches of the drug, but decided on the recall as a precautionary measure. The London-based company said it does not know when the Novartis facility will resume operations. Novartis said last month it had temporarily closed the plant to accelerate improvements at the site. Glaxo spokesman Kevin Colgan said alternative treatments are available to patients currently being treated with DynaCirc.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a warning about formaldehyde exposure in women who work with the popular Brazilian Blowout hair styling products.  The agency has issued a hazard alert for the products, which the agency states contain formaldehyde in levels that are higher than those set by the federal agency.  One particular product, the Brazilian Blowout Smoothing Solution was found to contain as much as eight times the allowed levels of formaldehyde.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration units in California and in other states have begun investigating the Brazilian Blowout styling products.  Complaints involving injuries involving these products have been emerging for a while now.  In fact, California mass torts lawyers have found several complaints, including respiratory problems, red eyes, blisters, vomiting, nausea, and headaches in salon employees, who work in close proximity with the products. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has investigated several of these cases.  Warnings about the products have been issued in California.  However, there is no nationwide ban on the use of the product.  That is in sharp contrast to several other countries including Australia, France, Cyprus, Germany, and Canada that have already banned the products. 

Formaldehyde is a strong smelling gas that can be absorbed not just through the lungs, but also through the skin.  It is also a known carcinogen, and has been linked to nose cancer.  The OSHA warning applies not just to Brazilian Blowout products, but also to makers of other similar keratin-containing hair smoothing products.  In the meantime, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is asking salon employees to ensure that their employees are not exposed to unnecessary levels of formaldehyde.  Employees must be provided respirators, and must be trained in the proper procedures of cleaning up spills.  Besides, air venting arrangements must be made to eliminate formaldehyde fumes.