Chicago personal injury law offices

Our children are our most precious resources. Their safety is always our main concern. Parents trying to ensure that their babies are safe are subjected to all kinds of corporate marketing…TV, billboards, magazines and other mass media campaigns that try to convince them to buy products. Products that are, above all, safe for our children. Unfortunately, corporate promises can be misleading, and babies’ health can be in danger as a result.

New Zealand dairy exporter, Fonterra, has recalled baby formula potentially contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, according to several news media sources. The New York Times (8/6, B3, Hutchison, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports that Fonterra apologized for the contamination of “an infant milk formula ingredient” with Clostridium botulinum, “traced to a pipe that had not been cleaned properly in one of its…processing plants.” Much of the infant formula was exported to China, where many “consumers prefer to buy imported products because of problems involving domestic brands.” Fonterra officials said the contaminated whey protein batches “were produced in May 2012,” but the company did not discover the contamination until testing was done in Australia in March.

The Wall Street Journal (8/6, B6, Howard, Burkitt, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, said that the contamination was damaging to both Fonterra and New Zealand, noting questions regarding how long Fonterra took to trace and announce the contamination and announcing that an investigation into the contamination would be conducted. Fonterra said that eight customers were informed about the contaminated whey protein, including three food companies, two beverage companies, and three animal feed manufacturers.
Reuters (8/6, Beckford, Rajagopalan) reports that Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said bans on Fonterra products had not been imposed by China. Instead, restrictions on whey protein concentrate were put in place. The restrictions are expected to be lifted after Chinese officials receive a report on how the contamination occurred.

According to Fonterra officials, “90 percent of affected products are in warehouses and the company is working to take back the rest from retail stores’”, Bloomberg News (8/6, Lin) reports. Fonterra officials said that around 17 tons of the contaminated whey “was used by customers in Australia and New Zealand to make about 2,100 tons of baby milk powder,” and the remainder “was used by other customers including Coca-Cola (KO) in other products.”

The Wall Street Journal (8/6, Qi, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that US-based Abbott Laboratories Chinese division was asked to recall two infant formula products by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The General Administration wrote on its website that New Zealand officials had indicated the two formulas produced by Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co, .Ltd., may have been tainted with Clostridium botulinum. And, according to Reuters (8/6, Tajitsu), 80,000 cans of baby formula produced by Cow & Gate has been recalled in Hong Kong and Macau.

If your child or someone you know has consumed contaminated baby formula, you may be able to take action. We can help! Please contact the attorneys at Lane Brown, LLC at 312-332-1400 or visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com.

The Chicago City Council approved a $10 settlement for a man who falsely confessed to the 1986 murders of an elderly couple after two Chicago police detectives working with police commander Jon Burge threatened and punched him, rupturing his eardrum, as he sat handcuffed in a chair in a south side police station. The confession was thrown out in 2011 and prosecutors dismissed the indictment after determining that they could not go forward without the tainted confession as evidence. The victim spent 25 years behind bars for the crimes he did not commit.

Lane & Brown, L.L.C. has handled numerous cases involving police brutality. If you, a family member or a friend have been the victim of police brutality, you may be able to take action. We can help! Please contact the attorneys at Lane & Brown, LLC at (312) 332-1400 or visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com .

Asiana Airlines said on Monday that it would enhance training for pilots seeking to convert to flying new aircraft, part of a series of measures it is undertaking after the fatal crash of an Boeing 777 plane in San Francisco.

Three Chinese teenagers were killed and over 180 people injured when the Asiana flight from Seoul crash-landed at San Francisco’s international airport on July 6.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said although both the pilot and co-pilot were experienced, they had not flown together before. The pilot in charge of landing was in training on the 777 and the co-pilot was acting as an instructor on his first flight.

“We will bolster our training programme…when a pilot converts to a jet from a different manufacturer,” Asiana said in a presentation to the government, which was shown to reporters.

The new measures will include enhancing training for visual approach and automated flight and conducting flight inspection on airports which are “vulnerable to safety.”

Asiana said it will also seek to improve communications skills among crew members, and introduce a system to manage “fatigue risk.” Other measures include setting up separate maintenance teams for Boeing and Airbus planes, and enhancing safety management systems.

If you or a loved one have been injured in plane crash, you may be able to take action. Airplane crashes can result from pilot error, construction or design defects, or other causes of mechanical failure including poor maintenance. We can help! Please contact the attorneys at Lane Brown, LLC at (312) 332-1400 or visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com .