The St Petersburg Times published an article today with a very well written and poignant story about a victim of Big Tobacco.

The story was about the progressive illness and death of a popular area TV personality, John Eastman. He was known as the dean of Tampa Bay talk radio. It is a story that is unfortunately very typical of many smoking victims. Mr. Eastman began smoking at the age of 12 because everyone his age was smoking; it was the cool thing to do. His addiction developed into a four pack a day habit and he believed those ads that told him smoking was “good” for his throat: “Philip Morris’ superiority for the nose and throat is RECOGNIZED by eminent medical authorities; no other cigarette can make that statement” (quoted from Philip Morris ad” . His career ended when those very cigarettes that Big Tobacco promised were good for his throat, took his professional voice away.

Our thoughts go out to Mr. Eastman’s sons for the untimely loss of their father at the hands of Big Tobacco.

I want to add, however, some information not mentioned in the article. This is information about the attorney who fought many years to achieve justice for Mr. Eastman. That attorney was Howard Acosta; he faced the “scorched earth” tactics employed by Big Tobacco’s lawyers and he won justice for his client. When most attorneys would not or could not take on the juggernaut of Big Tobacco’s well funded defense lawyers, Howard Acosta beat them back and gave his client some amount of comfort in his last days.

Howard Acosta has been practicing law and defending the rights of injured victims for 29 years. He has not stood on the sidelines of difficult fights; he has entered the fray against very formidable adversaries. Big Tobacco has been known to spend millions of dollars on just one plaintiff’s lawsuit in an effort at grinding the plaintiff or his attorney into submission. This is not litigation for the faint hearted.

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Do Big Corporations rail against the production of defective products? Do they form groups to monitor unsafe manufacturing methods? Does Corporate America want to put the American consumer first? The answer is a resounding—NO! So, do these things, by themselves, make Big Corporations bad? Again, a resounding-NO!

Corporate America is in the business of maximizing profits. This strengthens our economy and helps to keep people employed. I am in favor of Corporate America making a profit and in their growth. What I am not in favor of is Big Corporations who invest millions of dollars in efforts that try to twist constitutional rights of our citizens in an effort to maximize Big Corporation profits. I am not in favor of Big Corporations who purchase legislators who sneak through legislation designed to protect Big Corporations to the detriment of citizens.

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In case you missed it during the 2008 presidential primary news blizzard of the past few months, which has consumed the front page of newspapers nationwide, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has once again failed to protect the American public from harm caused by pharmaceutical drugs and devices. Choosing to protect the outrageous profits of the major drug manufacturers over the health and welfare of each of us, and after failing to gain the support of Congress in their quest to do so, the FDA went behind Congress’s back to President Bush to propose new rules concerning labeling requirements on drugs. In addition to the fact that important side effect information would be less likely to reach consumers under the proposed rule, the change would also permit companies to update their drug and device labels with new safety information without waiting for FDA approval.

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According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Bausch & Lomb is involved in a lawsuit against its insurance companies arising out of the ReNu with MoistureLoc lawsuits. The Democrat reports that attorneys for the insurers maintain that Bausch knew about the problems with its ReNu with MoistureLoc causing infections to injured victims for “several months before the recall” and that any injuries were not accidents.

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Is the phrase, a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” in the constitution? Popular belief is yes, but it is not actually in the constitution. Rather, this phrase comes from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. It is probably a concept that should have been incorporated into the constitution and certainly Lincoln included it to remind citizens that it is their country. I think politicians, and even some of us, forget that it is OUR government and the politicians are OUR employees; they are supposed to be working in OUR best interests.

Business interests are fond of complaining about the jury system and regularly claim that it is “broken”, it needs to be “fixed”. Perhaps the best word is, in fact, “fixed”; they would like to fix the civil justice system so that it can be better influenced in their direction. Should we hold it against them because they work to achieve an unfair playing field? We should not hate Big Corporations for this, but should we allow them to achieve it? Absolutely not!

I think the jury system our founding fathers borrowed from English common law works just fine in protecting the rights of individual citizens. Frankly, I want six of my fellow citizens sitting and listening to evidence in my case. I want six regular people considering what makes sense and what does not make sense. I do not want a special panel appointed to hear my case, as has been promoted by many business “political parrots”. I do not want the government inserting itself into the civil justice system anymore than they already do. I trust an impartial panel of my fellow citizens to fairly weigh the evidence and reach a decision that makes sense.

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With Nearly 47 million Americans or 16 percent of the population without health insurance, many are flocking to health food stores to either supplement or replace expensive prescription medication with herbal medicine. Advertising tells us that “natural” is better and “herbal” is safer. Why put “drugs” in your body when you can use a safe, natural product?

Dr. Saul Green, a biochemist and board member of the nonprofit US National Council against Health Fraud, notes: Natural doesn’t mean safe. You can find a dozen or more poisons that are totally natural. Although natural made from natural ingredients, herbal medicines can cause serious organ damage and their carcinogenicity is comparable to synthetic chemicals.

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The short answer is no, most are not hard hearted people. Most are, however, people who have not had significant tragedy enter their life and have lived a reasonably content life. By significant tragedy I am not talking about Aunt Jane passing away from old age or even the loss of someone’s parents. When I use the term tragedy in this context, I mean a significant, life altering, misfortune has happened to them that is typically not experienced by most people.

I have been in the insurance industry, worked for defense lawyers and worked for plaintiff attorneys. I was a Republican before the party deformed itself and I even campaigned for Richard Nixon (OK, I am sorry). My opinions and feelings about tort reform measures have never wavered; I can not spend enough energy opposing any action that hinders the justice system. Yeah, that’s right, I said it, the justice system; a term that is anathema to some. Tort reformers claim that the court system does not mete out justice. The framers never promised that the court system would render justice and anyone who believes otherwise is simply living in Disneyland. What our court system does promise is a “chance”, an “opportunity” to pursue justice. From my experience, most of the time, the system delivers justice; sometimes for all the wrong reasons, but it still delivers justice more often than not.

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Castleberry’s Food Company has just issued a voluntary recall, on the heels of FDA warnings that their Hot Dog Chili Sauce could have ingredients in it that were not planned. The FDA is warning that four people have been hospitalized with botulism poisoning. Although the contamination of botulism in canned foods is extremely rare, it can be deadly.

Botulism attacks proteins in the nerve endings of humans and destroys them. The damage to the nerves is permanent and irreversible. The nerves that are most attacked are those that stimulate muscle cells and can cause, among other problems, paralysis of muscles. Symptoms include: double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness.

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Congress is currently working on legislation which would grant the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate to the production of “safer” cigarettes. The bill would grant the FDA the power to oversee the production of cigarettes and require manufacturers to report the specific components of cigarettes and to seek permission from the FDA for changes to the current formula.

Congress is currently working on legislation which would grant the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate to the production of cigarettes. The bill would grant the FDA the power to oversee the production of cigarettes and require manufacturers to report the specific components of cigarettes and to seek permission from the FDA for changes to the current formula.

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A trial that began June 11 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, DC pits 4800 families of children with autism, the plaintiffs, against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This first of nine test cases promises to become a landmark debate about the causes of autism generally, and, more specifically, about any causative role played by vaccines for childhood diseases such as measles and mumps.

Petitioners say the culprit is either the mercury-containing vaccine preservative called thimerosal or the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) - which does not contain thimerosal - or a combination of the two. Advocates of this position claim that autism rates have skyrocketed since these vaccinations became mandatory, citing recent CDC findings that one in 150 eight-year-olds now has an “autistic spectrum” disorder. Parents of children with autism offer heart-rending anecdotal information about bright, active two- or three-year-olds who, after being vaccinated, have impaired social and communications skills and can no longer even feed themselves.

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