Author: Joshua De Leon

More than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed against Merck & Co. pharmaceutical company in regards to their contraceptive NuvaRing, which has been linked to venous thromboembolism (VTE, blood clotting).  The suits were filed in a Missouri federal district court citing Merck & Co.’s apparent negligence in warning consumers of product risks and are set to begin this fall, reports Yahoo News. NuvaRing, a plastic flexible ring released in 2001, is sold as an alternative to traditional oral contraception that, once inserted vaginally, releases hormones into the patient. It is believed that this dispersal of hormones is the cause of...

Al Gore criticized the commodification of the American political system during an interview with Bloomberg at the Milken Institute 2013 Global Conference in Los Angeles, candidly proclaiming that “our Democracy has been hacked.” Case in point, Gore cites the Senate’s failure in passing the proposed bill to expand background checks on gun buyers last month, despite having “90 percent of the people in favor of background checks for gun purchases,” said Gore.   Gore didn’t verbally call out financial backing of Congressional voters by gun lobbyists, but when the failure of the bill’s passage is lined up with what...

Employer John Najera, of El Paso company Sun-City Roofing, was indicted and charged with criminal wage theft last Thursday, the Texas Observer reported.  This specific type of case is the first of its kind to occur in El Paso and Austin is the only other city in Texas to see this type of case, according to the Texas Observer. Najera allegedly pocketed over $2,000 that was supposed to go to worker Esteban Rangel.  “John Najera promised to pay me over $2,000 to replace a roof,” said Rangel according to a press release from the Labor Justice Committee and Paso...

Takeda Pharmaceuticals has been found liable by a California jury for failing to warn of the risks of Bladder Cancer posed by its blockbuster Type 2 Diabetes Drug, Actos.   The $6.5 million verdict came after a lengthy trial and several days of jury deliberation.  Suit was filed by Jack Cooper against Takeda after he was diagnosed with bladder cancer after years of taking Actos. The entire time, Takeda neglected to inform consumers, like him, that their diabetes drug, Actos, was linked to bladder cancer. Attorneys across the country have been building a case against Takeda on behalf of Bladder...

A Wall Street mandate launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2012 requiring oil companies to disclose payments made to foreign hosts has now become a GOP target.  The disclosure measure enacted by the 2010 Dodd-Frank finance reform will certainly combat the financial corruption in the oil companies, deterring them from slyly socking away any “oil money intended for a nation’s poor” and force them to maintain financial responsibility, said provision supporter Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in 2010. The provision pleased human rights and anti-poverty groups believing that it “will help ensure the public in these nations benefits...