EPA: Miss. companies sold illegal Chinese engines

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Posted on 29th May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 5/28/2009 10:47 PM

TIMOTHY R. BROWN
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Three Mississippi companies are accused in a federal lawsuit of illegally importing and selling more than 78,000 small engines made in China.

The engines did not meet federal air pollution standards, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice said Thursday in a joint news release.

The lawsuit marks the government’s first court action in an effort to enforce emissions standards for portable generators, water pumps and other small engines, the EPA said.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against PowerTrain Inc., Wood Sales Co. Inc., and Tool Mart Inc., all based in Golden, a northeast Mississippi town near the Alabama state line.

A search of the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Web site found Oneal Wood of Golden listed as president of all three companies.

Wood did not immediately return a phone message left at his home.

“That’s just the government for you,” a Wood Sales spokesman told The Associated Press about the lawsuit. He did not give his name and immediately hung up the phone.

A phone listing could not be found for PowerTrain Inc. and a message left with a spokeswoman for Tool Mart was not immediately returned.

EPA spokesman Dave Ryan said the engines were sold across the country online and through telemarketing. EPA estimates the 78,000 engines have contributed to excess emissions of more than 150 tons of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and more than 5,000 tons of carbon monoxide.

The complaint says the “non-road” engines were imported and sold by the companies from September 2002 through at least May 2007. The engines emit carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, that contribute to smog.

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties and for the companies to remedy the violations.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

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China lawyers in touchy cases could be disbarred

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Posted on 27th May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 5/27/2009 4:32 PM

ALEXA OLESEN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) — China’s judiciary is warning law firms to rein in lawyers who take up human rights and other politically sensitive cases, lawyers said Wednesday, increasing the pressure in a government campaign that has so far failed to curb growing legal activism.

Lawyers said authorities had met or talked on the phone with senior members of at least nine law firms in recent weeks, urging them to not seek the renewal of licenses for certain lawyers or to submit partial applications that would allow authorities to reject them on technicalities.

If carried through, the disbarments would mark the broadest effort in recent years by China’s authoritarian government to rein in a growing number of activist lawyers.

“Before they used to pressure individuals but now they have turned to this more systematic method,” said Tang Jitian, whose employer, the Anhui Law Firm in Beijing, was among those warned. “The justice departments say the lawyers who defend human rights are inharmonious or unstable elements, but I think they are the ones who are unstable.”

The campaign will have a “chilling effect” on the Chinese legal profession even if the lawyers currently under threat manage to get their licenses back, said Nicholas Bequelin, Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

While lawyers have had their credentials pulled in the past, threats, beatings and other acts of intimidation have been common.

“There is a concerted effort to retaliate against lawyers who have taken some of the most sensitive cases in recent months and years,” Bequelin said. “The purpose is to deter all lawyers from taking those type of cases.”

Among those facing disbarment is a lawyer for a noted Tibetan Buddhist monk and others who have defended practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement or helped parents whose children died in last year’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province. Many children were killed in schools that parents and others say were fundamentally unsafe due to corruption, cost-cutting and poor design.

The Justice Bureau did not immediately respond to a faxed request for information Wednesday about accreditation delays and allegations of intimidation.

The warnings are especially chilling because they coincide with the license renewal period for both law firms and lawyers.

Lawyers said the implicit message was that firms should sabotage the applications of their “problem lawyers,” or risk having their firm’s license or the licenses of other employees rejected. The easiest ways for a firm to lose an employee, without having to fire them, are to submit incomplete accreditation paperwork or an unfavorable performance review, or to simply not submit an application at all, they said.

Tang, who has defended farmers against rural land grabs and challenged police detention without trials, said if his license was not renewed by Sunday, he would be barred from working.

At least 20 other lawyers spread across nine firms have reported the same delays in getting their licenses renewed, Tang and other lawyers said.

Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer with Beijing’s Gaobo Longhua Law Firm, said his application was still pending.

“They are using us as examples to scare the other lawyers into line,” said Jiang, who recently defended a Tibetan Buddhist cleric against charges of concealing weapons in an area of China where anti-government protests occurred.

Jiang and others said they believed the government campaign was linked to official anxiety about potential social unrest this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy protests.

Recent months have seen an upswing in detentions, harassment, and attacks on lawyers involved in sensitive cases. Earlier this month, Beijing lawyers Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu were detained and beaten by police in the western city of Chongqing while visiting the family of a man who died under suspicious circumstances in a labor camp.

Another Beijing lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, took on several politically charged cases including the defense of Falun Gong practitioners. He has been missing since February and is presumed to be in police custody.

“The lawyers we are talking about have shown they are not deterred by administrative or political interference or threats or physical violence,” said Bequelin, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
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Dangerous Trends: Ketamine

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Posted on 22nd May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Ketamine, also available as Ketanest, Ketaset and Ketalar, is one of WHO’s entries on the essential drug list. It is used in both human and veterinary medicine as an anaesthetic. Ketamine is fast becoming the recreational drug of choice world-wide.

It was first used on human subjects during the Vietnam war but due to its hallucinogenic qualities and the tendency to increase heart rate and blood pressure, it is rarely used as a primary human anaesthetic today, but is still in common use for minor surgeries. It has been used as a dissociative drug and also for the treatment of addiction.

However, according to an article published today on MinnPost.com, Ketamine, also known as ‘Special K’, ‘green’, ‘K’, ‘cat Valium’, ‘jet’, ‘super acid’, has grown from being a ‘clubbing drug’ to a primary drug of choice in many areas of the world. The MinnPost reports that it is now the primary drug of choice in Hong Kong, second in Singapore, fifth in China and growing in use in Europe and North America. Several countries have made it illegal to be in possession as a result.

It has gained in appeal because it is significantly cheaper than many drugs and the chemical ingredients for its production are easily available over the internet. There is a misconception that it is safer than other drugs but abuse can lead to severe bladder and kidney problems.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Ketamine comes in a clear liquid or an off-white powder form. It can be injected, smoked, or ingested by snorting or swallowing and “Use of the drug can cause delirium, amnesia, depression, and long-term memory and cognitive difficulties. Due to its dissociative effect, it is reportedly used as a date-rape drug.” It also can result in impaired motor function and potentially fatal respiratory problems. Large doses may lead to oxygen starvation of the brain and muscles and death may occur at high doses. Like PCP, flashbacks can occur a year after use.

There has been an increase in the number of veterinary clinics being robbed specifically for their Ketamine stock.

Users describe the effects as “out of body” or “near death” experiences. The effects can last from a half-hour to two hours, but 24-48 hours are required for the user to be completely “normal” again. It is considered an addictive psychedelic.

Because of the drug’s potential to produce states in which the individual feels invulnerable and numbed to pain, accompanied with an exaggerated sense of strength, users are at the same risk associated with the “bad trips” linked to LSD. Higher doses can lead to seizures and there is a risk of passing out and asphyxiating due to vomiting.

Ketamine will cause a positive PCP on a Urine Tox Screen. But detection is difficult because it is rapidly metabolised by the body.

Ketamine, being such an essential drug in the medical arsenal, is going to remain a part of our society. Its growing use as a recreational drug needs to be recognised. And because it is so easily delivered via drinks or smoking materials to unsuspecting persons, it can lead to dangerous and deadly results.

issuesdaily staff article

http://www.minnpost.com/globalpost/2009/05/22/9024/the_globalization_of_special_k

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketamine


http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/ketamine_factsheet.html

http://www.theantidrug.com/drug_info/drug_info_ketamine.asp

issuesdaily staff article

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

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Husband says wife had been healthy until swine flu

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Posted on 19th May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 5/19/2009 7:10 AM

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — The husband of the first American with swine flu to die is denying media reports that she had a pre-existing medical condition.

Steven Trunnell told CNN’s “Larry King Live” Monday night that his late wife was “a healthy pregnant woman” who had never been diagnosed with “major medical complications of any kind.”

Judy Trunnell went into the hospital April 19 and remained until her death May 5. While in the hospital she slipped into a coma and gave birth to a healthy baby girl, delivered by Cesarean section.

A state health department spokeswoman said after her death that the South Texas schoolteacher had “chronic underlying health conditions” but wouldn’t give details. Steven Trunnell calls that “absolutely false.”

A state health department spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call early Tuesday.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
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Developments on swine flu worldwide

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Posted on 19th May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 5/19/2009 4:52 PM

The Associated Press

Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and government officials:

—Deaths: Global total of 80 — 72 in Mexico, six in U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica. Officials said victims from Canada, U.S. and Costa Rica also had other medical conditions.

—Confirmed cases: WHO says 40 countries have reported more than 9,830 cases, mostly in U.S. and Mexico.

—CDC says 47 U.S. states and District of Columbia have combined 5,469 confirmed and probable cases. Most probable cases are eventually confirmed.

—Health officials say Missouri man with swine flu has died, and testing is under way to determine if the disease caused his death.

—WHO says drug manufacturers won’t be able to start making a vaccine until mid-July at the earliest. The virus isn’t growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get a key vaccine ingredient.

—New York City health department says it’s investigating death of a 16-month-old boy as possible case of swine flu.

—Japanese government says it will phase out airport quarantine checks after 41 more swine cases were confirmed in the port city of Kobe and nearby Osaka. A total of 176 cases have been confirmed in Japan, making it the world’s fourth-most infected country.

___

On the Net:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu

WHO: http://sn.im/who-flu

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
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China defends tough swine flu measures

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Posted on 4th May 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Editors Note:

The irony of China – the country that brought us catastrophically lax and incompetent production of a pig-based intraveneous drug, Heparin, now claiming to have found a new and better way to test for Swine Flu – is staggering. If the Chinese can use their technological capabilities to find a Swine Flu test then why didn’t they use that expertise to make sure that the Heparin raw material that came from their factories, was pure? Swine flu will likely not cause 10 deaths in China. Chinese Heparin may have caused thousands of deaths in the U.S. See http://heparindeaths.blogspot.com and http://heparin-law.com

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Date: 5/4/2009 6:14 AM

DIKKY SINN
Associated Press Writers

HONG KONG (AP) — China on Monday defended its tough quarantine measures against Mexican tourists after a visitor from the Latin American country became Asia’s first swine flu case, while New Zealand recorded its sixth case of the disease.

After the 25-year-old Mexican man was diagnosed in this Asian financial hub Friday night, Beijing and Hong Kong quickly shifted into crisis management mode, employing quarantine measures that an angry Mexico has labeled as “discriminatory.” The Mexican government announced it would charter a plane to bring its citizens home from China.

South Korea confirmed Asia’s second case of the disease over the weekend, but said Monday that the woman — a nun who had visited Mexico —already had recovered. Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand reported a sixth laboratory-confirmed case of the disease.

East Timor’s president, Jose Ramos-Horta, canceled a trip this week to Seoul, citing fears of swine flu. His spokesman said Ramos-Horta had been scheduled to be in Korea May 3-7 to speak at an international forum being co-hosted by the United Nations but canceled “due to the issue of the very dangerous swine flu.”

Hong Kong imposed a weeklong quarantine on the downtown hotel where the Mexican man stayed, trapping 350 guests and employees inside, while Chinese health officials also tracked down and quarantined 128 of the Mexican’s fellow passengers.

In addition, Jorge Guajardo, the Mexican ambassador to China, told The Associated Press in an interview late Sunday that Chinese officials have rounded up more than 70 Mexicans indiscriminately elsewhere in China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin.

In one case, a Mexican couple and their three small children were rousted from their Beijing hotel room at 4 a.m. and transported to a hospital, he said. None of those in isolation has presented symptoms and most had no contact with infected persons or places, he said.

“In many cases, we have gotten reports that they were being quarantined for the sole fact that they had a Mexican passport, whether or not they came from Mexico, whether or not they had been in Mexico, whether or not they had been in contact with someone else from Mexico,” Guajardo said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon expressed dismay Sunday that “some countries or places are taking discriminatory measures because of ignorance and misinformation.”

Mexican officials said late Sunday they would charter an Aeromexico airliner to take home any Mexican citizens who want to leave China.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Mexicans were not being singled out and added it hoped Mexico would “address the issue in an objective and calm manner.”

“The relevant measures are not targeted at Mexican citizens, and are not discriminatory. This is purely a question of health inspection and quarantine,” the ministry said in a statement.

In South Korea, the country’s first confirmed swine flu patient was released Monday from a military-run hospital after recovering from the disease, Health Ministry spokesman Oh Sung-il said. The 51-year-old Catholic nun was hospitalized since early last week when she reported having flu symptoms following a trip to Mexico.

Two other South Korean women were under quarantine as “probable” cases.

Meanwhile, New Zealand reported two more cases of swine flu Monday for a total of six. The cases came 10 days after a group of high school students returned from Mexico with the first confirmed cases of the illness, sparking a nationwide alert.

All of the cases were either people returning from affected areas or those with close contact with an infected person, said Dr. Fran McGrath, deputy director of public health.

“There is still no evidence of community transmission,” she said.

The Mexican quarantined in Hong Kong was “doing well” and recovering, Hans Troedsson, head of the World Health Organization’s Beijing office, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.

Troedsson wouldn’t comment on China’s quarantine measures directly, saying such measures are “really up to each country.”

In Hong Kong, which has defended the quarantine as necessary to prevent the spread of the disease, a quick diagnostic test for swine flu is now available, said Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist who studied the SARS virus. The test, which could yield results in four hours, will be distributed to all laboratories in the city.

“The laboratories are ready to handle any outbreak where testing is being required,” Yuen said, adding Hong Kong will be able to handle 2,000 specimens a day in two weeks’ time.

Hong Kong officials have already tracked down and quarantined two taxi drivers who had driven the Mexican patient. Neither driver initially showed signs of illness.

The quarantined hotel in Hong Kong remained under lockdown Monday. One guest, Briton Mark Moore, complained that he had not shown symptoms and urged the government to lift the quarantine.

“The government is trying to show the world they are strong in organizing this,” the 37-year-old Singapore-based company director said in a phone interview Monday. “I need to be in Singapore now. I have loads of things to do.”

Another guest, Singapore resident Juliet Keys, said stranded travelers have shared drinks and Indian takeout.

“It’s really boring just being stuck in your room, but people have started to make a few friends,” said the 41-year-old human resources manager, originally from Northampton, England.

___

Associated Press writers Audra Ang and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Ray Lilley in New Zealand contributed to this report.1

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
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