Safety News Article Excerpts

The Associated Press, "Settlement Reached in Mississippi FenPhen Case"

         Hours after a jury awarded $150 million to five people who claimed their health problems could be traced to the diet drug cocktail known as fen-phen, the drugmaker said it settled the case for an undisclosed sum Tuesday. The settlement between American Home Products and the plaintiffs came as the jury deliberated punitive damages. More...

USA Today, "Diet Drug Maker Settles For $4.8 Billion"

          American Home Products agreed Thursday to pay up to $ 4.8 billion over 16 years to settle claims from consumers who took the weight-loss combo known as "fen-phen." Dieters who took the drugs and now fear heart damage could get medical screening and possibly cash settlements of up to $ 1.4 million each in a plan that still must be approved by a federal judge. More...

Los Angeles Times, "$4.83 Billion Offered to Settle Fen-Phen Claims; American Home Products Will Compensate Thousands of Patients Who May Have Suffered Heart Damage"

          The maker of key ingredients in the diet-drug cocktail known as fen-phen has agreed to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle thousands of claims from patients who may have suffered heart damage from taking the once-popular weight-loss treatment. More...

Facts on File, "Jury Awards $ 23.3 Million in Fen/Phen Suit"

          A Texas jury August 6 ordered American Home Products Corp. to pay $ 23.3 million in damages to a woman who claimed that the company had failed to warn doctors and patients of a risk of heart damage from a diet drug it sold until September 30, 1997. The case, one of at least 3,100 lawsuits against the company over two of its prescription diet drugs, was the first to reach a verdict. More...

The New York Times, "$23 Million Awarded in Suit Against Maker of Diet Drug"

          In the first verdict among thousands of cases pending across the country against makers of the diet pills popularly known as fen-phen, an East Texas jury today awarded more than $23 million to a woman who said she suffered heart damage after taking the drugs to lose weight. More...

The Hartford Courant (Connecticut), "Fen-Phen May Have Caused Severe, Even Fatal, Heart Damage"

          Bruce Cooper noticed a co-worker had lost weight. He looked good, and Cooper wondered how he did it. "I had always struggled with my weight," Cooper says. "I'm a big guy." His friend told him he had found a great new diet drug and referred Cooper to his doctor. More...

Reuters, "Ford recalls 945,000 1998, 1999 cars and trucks for possible stuck throttle problems"

          Ford Motor Co., the world's second largest automaker, said Friday it recalled about 945,000 1998 and 1999 Ford and Mercury cars and trucks to fix speed control cables. The company said the recall involved mostly Explorer and Mountaineer sports utility vehicles but also included some Ranger pickup trucks, Mustang automobiles, Super Duty F-Series trucks and Super Duty F-Series stripped chassis. More...

Business News, "Federal safety regulators investigating Ford Explorer fires, smoke"

          A federal safety agency is investigating more than 100 complaints of fires or heavy smoke in some Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles after debris such as leaves enter the air ventilation system. About a million of the Explorers, from model years 1992 to 1994, are on the road. More...

Business News, "Federal safety agency investigating Ford Explorer fires, smoke"

          A federal safety agency is investigating dozens of motorist complaints of fires or heavy smoke in some earlier model Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles. There are nearly 1 million of the Explorers from model years 1992 through 1994 on the road. There were 135 complaints of fire, heavy smoke or a burning smell after leaves or other materials entered through the Explorers' fresh air vent at the base of the windshield, according to a monthy report released Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More...

The New York Times, "Search for Cause of Diet Pill's Risk Yields New Warning"

          A scientist who helped to develop Redux, one of two weight-loss drugs taken off the market in 1997 after they were linked to heart damage, is now suggesting that the problems were not due to Redux alone, but rather to its being combined with other drugs that had unrecognized effects. More...