I guess you have to hand it to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who announced the recall of Evenflo Embrace infant car seat/carriers.

In a joint press release on May 10 (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov), the two public safety watchdog agencies said that “in cooperation with Evenflo,” approximately 450,000 infant seats were included in the recall. The problem: when the handle releases “unexpectedly,” babies inside fall to the ground and “suffer serious injuries.”

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In a stunning replay of last year’s Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution recall, another manufacturer of a solution for cleaning and storing soft contact lenses is participating in a “voluntary” recall of its product.

But this company, Advanced Medical Optics, is not going without a fight (http://www.ocregister.com May 30, 2007).

Stunned by the order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to pull their product from store shelves, AMO’s president and CEO told The Associated Press that it’s not AMO’s fault: The blame for a painful eye infection linked to AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution falls squarely on consumers.

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Automakers are a formidable force to oppose and alleging their product to be defective is a certain way to cause them to circle the wagons. Donna Grimes and her family discovered just how tough fighting a battle with an auto maker can be when she took on Ford Motor Company. A jury awarded her $10,373,552 after two trials and six grueling years.

Donna Grimes was driving her 2000 Ford Explorer and wearing her seatbelt. She was at a stop when a vehicle, traveling at approximately 58 miles per hour, rear-ended her. If her vehicle had functioned properly, even that significant impact would have resulted in minimal or no injury. In fact, the driver of the other vehicle (Charles Kravitz) walked away from the accident relatively uninjured. Ms. Grimes, tragically, was rendered a quadriplegic and will require substantial care for the rest of her life.

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Tainted dog food and now defects in a product that propels humans at high speeds in vehicles that crash and are known to cause significant injury and death. Chinese tire manufacturer, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., chose not to add a gum strip that binds the treads together. Tire separation in a vehicle propelled at high speeds results in catastrophic accidents; rollovers, and high impact crashes.

A lawyer for the distributor of this dangerous tire gave an excuse for their late reporting of this problem:

Lawrence N. Lavigne, a lawyer for Foreign Tire Sales, said the company did not alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the problems until June 11 because officials had no definitive proof of a manufacturing flaw until it was revealed by further testing in May. He said it made no sense to initiate a recall based on suspicions. Jeffrey B. Killino, a personal-injury lawyer from Philadelphia, said the company came forward only after it was named as a defendant in a lawsuit, filed in May, involving an accident in which two construction workers were killed and a third was severely injured when a van rolled over. The lawsuit contended that the accident was caused by tread separation in a Hangzhou Zhongce tire.

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Television comedians have a field day with jokes about elderly drivers, and with its concentration of retirees, Florida is often the butt of the joke. I have a Florida friend who calls white-haired drivers “no-see-ums.” Not because, like the biting midges, they are so tiny we can’t see ‘em, but because he’s sure they can’t see over the steering wheel.

Statistics show that older drivers are more likely than younger drivers to be involved in fatal accidents. Surely, as the number of drivers over 65 in the United States doubles in the next two decades, there are some ways to keep our parents and grandparents from becoming accident statistics. And maybe, at the same time, we can stop making fun of them – because this is really no laughing matter.

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If you are a parent or a grandparent, the initial frustration of locking a small child into the web of buckles and straps of a car seat is followed by a sigh of relief: now she will be safe. And that same peace of mind takes over when you remind a fidgety older child to buckle up: now he will be safe too.

Not so, says Public Citizen (www.citizen.org) president and former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chair Joan Claybrook, who testified recently before Congress on behalf of the proposed Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007.

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Every time voters are asked to consider a referendum that limits citizens’ constitutional rights to seek justice from wrongdoers, the same catchy phrase echoes the airwaves: “Stop frivolous lawsuits!”

Well, who wouldn’t buy that? “Frivolous” has little weight or importance, has no sound basis, lacks seriousness. Paris Hilton is frivolous. But how can someone whose family has been obliterated in a fiery crash caused by a drunk driver, or whose loved one has been maimed by a surgeon’s scalpel, be called frivolous?

The point, claim so-called tort reform advocates, is that too many frivolous lawsuits are clogging the court system. Worse, frivolous jurors – apparently unaware of the unserious and insubstantial nature of death and injury – are handing out billions of dollars to undeserving plaintiffs.

Au contraire. It just isn’t so.

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The public relations spin on recent public health disasters caused by harmful food or drug products prompted me to think about what the word “voluntary” means in this context.

For example, the consumer advocacy website www.consumeraffairs.com reports, “Days after its Peter Pan peanut butter and its generic counterpart, Great Value, distributed at Wal-Mart stores, was linked to a widespread salmonella outbreak, food giant ConAgra has initiated a voluntary recall.”

But here’s the back story: The Food and Drug Administration had already urged consumers to toss jars bought as far back as March 2006, blaming the peanut butter for hundreds of salmonella cases in 39 states. And a Seattle law firm had already filed a class action suit, claiming it had been contacted by more than 2,500 people who became ill.

So just how “voluntary” was this recall?

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When a Denver, Colorado jury convicted former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio on 19 counts of securities fraud, prosecutor Colleen Conry did not mince words: “If you don’t tell, you can’t sell.”

It’s about time.

The American public’s eyes glaze over as the evening news reports yet another multi-billion dollar scam where a corporate CEO, wallowing in the most lavish perks, is charged with hoodwinking investors. The Rogues Gallery is impressive: Tyco tycoon L. Dennis Kozlowski, Cendant Chair Walter Forbes, WorldCom Bernard Ebbers, and, of course, Enron’s Ken Lay. (We can throw in Martha Stewart’s troubles over ImClone stock, just to demonstrate that securities fraud is an equal opportunity activity.)

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Railroad accidents, while not as common as those involving trucks and cars, are often the most gruesome. We are fascinated by television footage of flattened railroad cars, scattered belongings, and shell-shocked passengers. But when we’re in a hurry, it is tempting to ignore the flashing lights at a clearly-marked crossing and play chicken with the oncoming train.

Many times, the railroad companies are at fault. Common sources of railroad disasters are mechanical problems caused by defective parts or faulty maintenance, or the inattention or carelessness of railroad personnel. Often, it takes a lawsuit and hefty punitive damages to force railroad companies to comply with safety standards.

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