Veterans Day is an important time to reflect on the incredible sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made to defend our freedoms. At The Yost Legal Group, we deeply appreciate your bravery, dedication and commitment.
Please join us today in showing your respect to the veterans who have served this great nation.
The Yost Legal Group – Experienced Attorneys Dedicated to Protecting Your Rights
In 2013, the Center for Disease Control estimated that over 500,000 American children between the ages of 1 and 5 years old faced the severe medical dangers associated with lead poisoning. Despite the fact that federal law banned the use of lead-based paints in 1978, the lingering effects of this underrepresented health crisis are still prevalent today in many of America’s inner city neighborhoods.
Knowing the facts about lead paint can help you keep your children and loved ones safe from this public health hazard.
Research released by Colombia University’s David Rosner and CUNY’s Gerald Markowitz in their 2013 book Lead Wars estimates that some 30 million American homes still contain toxic lead-based paint. Homes built prior to 1978 pose the highest risk of containing lead paint. But even newer homes could contain undercoats of lead-based paint that remain a health threat years or even decades after their installation.
Children can become exposed to unsafe levels of lead after walls containing lead-based paint are damaged through normal wear and tear, renovation, leaks, sanding, and even drilling or nailing.
Possible signs of lead poisoning in children are:
Before you begin any type of home renovation, be sure to contact your landlord, real estate agent or contractor to ensure that you take the necessary precautions. Even as walls containing lead-based paint are being removed, clouds of lead flakes can remain behind on floors, carpets, or window sills. In fact, Rosner and Markowitz’s maintain that many children are often exposed to lead poisoning during the removal process itself.
One study conducted in the 1990s by an affiliate research institution of Johns Hopkins University found that Baltimore city had the highest lead poisoning rates for children in the country. Baltimore residents should consult their medical professional as well as the Center for Disease Control’s Lead Prevention Program for advice and steps to take.
If you feel you or your child has been exposed to unsafe levels of lead due to negligence or poor building upkeep, contact The Yost Legal Group at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529). The Yost Legal Group is experienced in aggressively litigating lead paint exposure claims.
The Yost Legal Group has successfully protected the rights of many families exposed to this serious health risk. If you feel you are at risk, don’t hesitate to call today for a free consultation.
The New York Times recently published an editorial in support of the FDA’s generic drug labeling rule. AAJ (American Association for Justice) released an editorial board memo on generics and Katie Gommel (AAJ Press Secretary) did an outstanding job working behind the scenes with Public Citizen to shape this editorial.
Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed new regulations that would authorize the makers of generic drugs to update safety labels without waiting for F.D.A. approval, to warn of newly discovered risks. The change is strongly opposed by the manufacturers of generic drugs out of fear of being held liable for damages to patients harmed by their products. But the change is an important one, to give both patients and doctors more timely warning of possible risks and to enable patients to sue.
The current law, enacted in 1984, requires the labeling for a generic drug to be the same as the labeling already approved for the brand-name drug it had copied. The proposed rule change is important for two reasons. One is that a Supreme Court ruling in 2011 said that “because makers of generic drugs do not control the labeling, they cannot be sued under state law for failure to warn of new dangers”. So basically, patients could sue a brand-name drug manufacturer for such a failure, but consumers harmed by the generic version of the same drug were left without recourse. This important rule change would advocate consumer safety measures and allow both generic and non-generic drug companies to be held responsible for any adverse reactions.
The use of generic drugs account for 80 percent of all prescriptions filled in the United States today. Typically, once a generic drug enters the market, the brand-name drugs drop in popularity or disappear altogether; there are many generic drugs for which there is no brand-name drug still on the market whose label can be changed to indicate new risks.
With that in mind, the F.D.A.’s proposed changes would allow makers of generics to use the same process as brand-name drug makers to update safety information in the product labels. The F.D.A. is now considering a final rule.
The changes are strongly opposed by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, a trade group, which argues that exposing makers of generics to product liability lawsuits will drive up their costs by at least $4 billion annually, increase the price of generic drugs, and cause confusion if different warnings are put on different versions of the same drug.
Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington that has been pushing the agency to make the change, believes there will be little or no confusion and suggests that the liability costs will not be large because prompt safety updates should help to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place.
Now that generics constitute the vast majority of prescriptions, their manufacturers should be made responsible for alerting the public to risks discovered after their drugs are on the market.
If you or a family member believe you may be a victim of a defective drug, contact The Yost Legal Group for help. You can speak with an attorney for free about your situation.
The Baltimore defective drug lawyers at The Yost Legal Group are here to help you get the justice you deserve. We have years of experience holding negligent pharmaceutical companies accountable and know exactly what needs to be done in these cases to get maximum compensation for our clients.
A formal review of FDA policies is a step in the right direction, but not enough to help current victims. We are here to take your case and fight for you, helping you get the true compensation you deserve.
To schedule your free consultation with an experienced Baltimore defective drug attorney, contact The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-Yost-Law. (1-800-967-8529)
