The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) will begin accepting business and personal claims on Monday from those affected by the Gulf oil spill. BP said last week that it was no longer accepting claims as the transition to the new entity was taking place. The oil giant, which said it has paid hundreds of millions [...]

General Motors Corp. is recalling approximately 243,000 crossover vehicles because of a potential problem with seat belts in rear seats not latching safely.  Vehicle owners are urged to have their dealers inspect seatbelts in the second row of three-row vehicles.  Occupants might believe the seat belts are safely latched, when they in fact may not [...]

Automaker Mazda is recalling approximately 215,000 cars because of a steering problem that poses a safety hazard and a risk of crash.  The recall is coming over a year after Mazda issued a recall in Japan for the same problem. Autos subject to the recall are Mazda 3′s and Mazda 5′s with model years 2007, [...]

Hundreds of millions of eggs produced by Wright County Egg in Iowa have been recalled following over 200 cases of salmonella poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The eggs, which were distributed around the country, were linked to salmonella outbreaks in California, Colorado, and Minnesota. The eggs were sold under [...]

The pesticide Temik (aldicarb) is being phased out following an assessment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it poses a health risk to infants and young children.  Temik’s manufacturer, Bayer AG, has agreed to stop production of the pesticide by December 31, 2014. Temik is commonly used on citrus and potato crops.  Farmers [...]

San Francisco-based Quong Hop & Co. is again facing recalls of its tofu, hummus, and other products, due to ongoing problems with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.  Listeria can cause the disease listeriosis, considered the second-largest cause of food contamination deaths in the U.S. The company initially faced a recall in 2007 of its “Soy Deli” [...]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported over 1,742 drug recalls in 2009–a dramatic increase from 426 recalls the year before.  Even after discounting over a thousand recalls for products from now-defunct drug repackager Advantage Dose, the recall rate was still up over 50%.  And the trend continues this year–there were 296 drug recalls [...]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating a potentially serious defect in the 2010 Kia Soul–a problem with the steering shaft that could cause the driver to not only lose the ability to steer, but also possibly interfere with the brake pedal. The investigation is based on a complaint involving a two-month-old vehicle.  [...]

A new report set to be released Tuesday renews concern about the long- term environmental impact of the Gulf Coast oil disaster. Researchers at the University of South Florida, who have been studying the effects of the spill since it began, have concluded that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may have settled on the [...]

The California Attorney General’s Office has filed suit against manufacturers of children’s bounce houses, after testing revealed dangerous levels of the toxic metal lead in vinyl used in such products. The tests, conducted on dozens of bounce houses by the California-based Center for Environmental Health, found that the lead levels in the popular toys far [...]