Product Safety Recalls
At the Law Offices of Steven L. Martin in Los Angeles, your safety and well-being is our top priority, and we would much rather help you avoid being injured by a defective product than have to represent you in the California courts after you have been injured by a dangerous drug or product defect. Hopefully, the following information will help you to stay on top of product safety information and keep you and your family safe from injuries and accidents.
Dangerous Drugs
Product recalls may occur voluntarily by the company or involuntarily by a government agency, if the company belongs to a regulated industry. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for approving and regulating the sale of food, drugs, dietary supplements, medical devices, cosmetics, and all products which emit radiation. Dangerous drugs have been documented with serious adverse side effects, from pain, depression and suicidal thoughts to spontaneous tendon ruptures, heart valve failure, pulmonary embolism, stork, and death. The FDA may work with a company to get it to voluntarily pull its product from the shelves, or it may do so itself through a forced recall. The FDA can also mandate that makers of dangerous products place warning labels on their packaging, including the notorious “black box warning” seen on some medications, such as Cipro, Levaquin, Avandia, Paxil and Lexapro. The FDA website has a page on Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts to keep you updated on products of concern. If you like, you can sign up at the FDA site to receive safety notifications via email.
Defective Products
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is the government agency designed to protect the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death from dangerous or defective consumer products, including children’s toys and baby cribs, household chemicals and Halloween costumes, and power tools and appliances. Will that bicycle helmet you bought protect your children from a traumatic brain injury? Does your new portable electric heater pose a burn hazard, and can that new floor lamp cause a serious electric shock? The CPSC maintains an extensive recall notification list, and by subscribing to the list, you can find out about new recalls and safety concerns as soon as such information is made publicly available.
Your One-Stop Recall Shop
Several government agencies, including the FDA, the CPSC, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have all joined together to create www.Recalls.gov. From here you can find the latest recall information on foods, drugs and consumer products, as well as motor vehicles, boats, environmental products and more. Sign up to receive email notifications from the various agencies, or elect to receive product recalls directly to your mobile device.
California Consumer Product Safety Attorney
All too often products are not recalled until after they have seriously injured dozens of people, and a public outcry forces the corporation or the government to take action. If you have been injured by a dangerous product, legal action is not only a way to get you the compensation you deserve; it can also help to change corporate behavior and get an unsafe product off the shelves before it hurts another innocent person. If you have been harmed by a defective product in Southern California, contact the Law Offices of Steven L. Martin for a free consultation.