Be INFORMED

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Feds Seize Over $6 Million In Medical Supplies…

   … on Wednesday after the Food and Drug Administration made the request to U.S. Marshals.

U.S. Marshals, acting at the request of the federal Food and Drug Administration, seized a wide range of intimate care products manufactured and distributed by H&P Industries Inc. and the Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., FDA officials said.

  Seized items included cough medicines, cold medicines, medicated wipes, povidone iodine and benzalkonium chloride antiseptic products, as well as other products.

FDA officials said the seizure follows the firm's continued failure to comply with current good manufacturing practice or cGMP, regulations. The agency last week asked H&P Industries to voluntarily cease making and distributing drug products, but the firm did not heed the request.

FDA inspections at the plant led to three voluntarily recalls of Triad Group products since December 2010, including massive recalls of alcohol prep pads, povidone iodine prep pads and lubricating jelly because of problems with microbial contamination.

Investigators also found systemic problems that included issues with sterility and contamination and situations in which firm officials knew products were possibly tainted and sent them for public distribution anyway.

An inspection that concluded March 28 found problems with the firm's air handling and water systems and "failure to take proper measures to ensure the quality of incoming components," the FDA said.    MSNBC

   This is our government agencies doing what they are paid to do. Yet, if you ask the Republican Party, you and I do not need this kind of government regulation because most corporations/businesses will monitor themselves.   What a freakin joke.

 

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Baucus Blasts Ryan Plan: 'Not On My Watch'

Joan McCarter for Daily Kos         Tue Apr 05, 2011

Max Baucus

Sen. Max Baucus (Mitch Dumke/REUTERS)

Via e-mail, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus blasted the Ryan "Path to Prosperity," ripping into the proposal to end Medicare as we know it today.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today blasted a House Republican budget proposal to cut more than $2 trillion in health care benefits and nursing home coverage for seniors. According to the Wall Street Journal, the proposal would "essentially end Medicare" as it exists today and instead funnel Medicare dollars to private insurance companies to cover only a portion of seniors’ coverage, cutting seniors’ benefits and increasing their costs. Under the budget proposed today by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), seniors would be forced to pay thousands of dollars more for their health care coverage. They would no longer enjoy guaranteed benefits or coverage, and insurance companies would be allowed to increase seniors' costs or drop their coverage if they get sick.

"Independent experts agree the House Plan would make deep cuts to the Medicare benefits seniors count on," said Baucus. "It would end Medicare as we know it and funnel Medicare dollars directly into private insurance companies' pockets. Under the House plan, seniors' coverage would be cut drastically, benefits would no longer be guaranteed and seniors' costs would skyrocket. We can't allow the House to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and we won't—not on my watch."

That's a pretty unequivocal statement that the Ryan plan is a dead letter in the Senate. It's the kind of simple messaging Josh Marshall has been asking for and which we need to be hearing from a lot more Dems. More of this, and less, much, much less, of this.