Personal Injury Law

CDC Data - Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks in the United States, 2006

Posted on June 11, 2009
CDC just today published its 2006 data on Foodborne Disease Outbreaks.  Here is the Report - no wonder I have been so busy: Foodborne illnesses are a major health burden in the United States. Most of these illnesses are preventable, and analysis of outbreaks helps identify control measures...

Food Poison Blog Takes on New Name - Food Poison Journal

Posted on June 10, 2009
As readers of this Food Poison Blog know, a number of new authors have recently joined our contributor list. With all the new posts, Food Poison Blog began to look less like a blog, and more like a journal of news and notes on Food Poisoning. With that in mind, we have changed the title to Food Poison Journal...

American College of Trial Lawyers

Posted on June 10, 2009
I have the honor to speak before the American College of Trial Lawyers next week on "How I do what I do."  Click below to see my PowerPoint.  I will also present my paper, Separating the Chaff from the Wheat: How to Determine the Strength of a Foodborne Illness Claim...

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) blog launched

Posted on June 10, 2009
 

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MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus blog launched

Posted on June 10, 2009
 

Snow Creek Meat Processing Recalling Beef Trim Products For Listeria

Posted on June 09, 2009
Snow Creek Meat Processing, a Seneca, SC, establishment is recalling approximately 75 pounds of fresh beef trim products that may be contaminated with E. coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Monday...

Marler on NOW on PBS - Tainted Food: How To Combat Food Poisoning in the U.S.

Posted on June 09, 2009
I was asked to post some of my thoughts on food safety (or lack thereof) on the PBS NOW Series site. By William D. Marler, Esq. After a brief lull a few years ago, we're seeing a sweeping increase in outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli and other foodborne contaminates...

Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT's) Annual Meeting - Hot Topic - Irradiation of Leafy Greens

Posted on June 09, 2009
I am here at the Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT's) Annual Meeting in California to talk about Leafy Greens and Food Irradiation – Pros and Cons.  In addition to the below PowerPoint, I will be handing out my DRAFT Publication 'Pros and Cons of Commercial Irradiation of Fresh Iceberg Lettuce and Fresh Spinach: A Literature Review' as well as my Law Partner, Denis Stearn's book chapter 'A Future Uncertain – Food Irradiation from a Legal Perspective...

Listeria Contamination in Raw Milk at Breese Hollow Dairy

Posted on June 08, 2009
From A New York State Agriculture Press Release: New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker today warned consumers in the Hoosick Falls, New York area not to consume 'unpasteurized' raw farm milk from Breese Hollow Dairy due to possible Listeria contamination...

National Cattleman's Association has "Beef" with Food Safety Legislation

Posted on June 08, 2009
Kate Ackley of Roll Call reports that "[t]he meat industry has a beef with food safety legislation that is making its way through the House Energy and Commerce Committee." The 'beef" seems to break down to industry costs: 'Right now, this is a bill we just don't support,' said Colin Woodall, executive director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association...

September 2008 Aunt Mid's Lettuce E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Santa Barbara Farms

Posted on June 08, 2009
On September 15, 2008, Ingham County Health Department (ICHD) was notified that nine students of Michigan State University (MSU) were seen in the emergency department over the weekend with gastrointestinal symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea...

Recipe For America by Jill Richardson

Posted on June 07, 2009
Another book to read sitting on my office desk.  This one, "Why of Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix it," is another in a series of books taking a critical look at the safety and sustainability of our food supply.  Jill Richardson (La Vida Locavore) has asked me to look it over before it goes final...

Food Inc. Trailer

Posted on June 07, 2009
This movie will make you think twice (at least) about what we are eating. I am proud of Barb Kowalcyk (friend and former client) for both telling her family's story and fighting for justice.

Maine E. coli O157:H7 Illnesses Linked to National Cluster of Illnesses

Posted on June 05, 2009
Maine CDC is investigating a cluster of 7 shiga toxin positive E. coli O157:H7 (STEC) cases in Cumberland and York counties that occurred among residents over the past month (case onset dates of April 17 to May 17). This is double the usual number of STEC cases reported this time of year (n=3)...

Settlement Reached in hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) Case Linked to Multistate Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections from November-December 2006

Posted on June 05, 2009
This outbreak was clearly linked to lettuce served in Taco Bell restaurants in the northeastern United States. As of December 14, 2006, Thursday, 71 persons with illness associated with the Taco Bell restaurant outbreak have been reported to CDC from 5 states: New Jersey (33), New York (22), Pennsylvania (13), Delaware (2), and South Carolina (1)...

New York and Oregon Firms Recall Ground Beef Products Sent to Oregon, Washington and New York Due to E. coli O157:H7

Posted on June 03, 2009
It is not 5:00 AM and I am on my way to the airport in Seattle (again) heading to New York for a speech to Excess Insurance Executives. FSIS just released another recall of meat. It appears this time it is BEFORE people were sickened. So much for test and hold...

Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food

Posted on June 03, 2009
So, I am adjusting to my new role as "protector of academic freedom and the First Amendment."  I am also relishing my role as Michael Pollan's unwanted PR guy.  Just boarded the plane to NYC and could not find my kindle (needed to read a weeks of unread New York Times), so I picked up Mr...

VTEC 2009 Buenos Aires Combatting E. coli and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)

Posted on June 03, 2009
It is testament to the notoriety of toxin producing E. coli that it's the only bacteria that commands an international conference every three years at spots around the world. That's what happened recently in Buenos Aires when the world's leading researchers, medical doctors, and epidemiologists with an interest in toxigenic E...

Robyn O'Brien - The Unhealthy Truth

Posted on June 02, 2009
I had a quick meeting in my office this morning and got a signed book by author, Robyn O'Brien.  I am heading to New York and Atlanta, so will have some time in the air to read it.  Her book, according to several glowing reviews lays out the "alarming food scare has been building for years, rarely reported and often dismissed as too "radical" to be true: Is there a link between the dramatic rise in childhood allergies and our increasingly "engineered" approach to food production?"  I look forward to the read...

Ban of Non-therapeutic Antibiotics in Animals, Recall Authority and Plant Closure Power - Senator Florez had Me at Antibiotics.

Posted on June 02, 2009
Sometimes we want our politicians to be so perfect when we are not, and we fail to see the mistake of making perfect the enemy of good.  I have my differences with Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) on raw milk, but on most issues (probably 90%) I bet we see eye to eye...

These Little Piggies are not going to Market (Mass-Produced anyway)

Posted on June 01, 2009
Perhaps mass-produced agriculture is here to stay given the ever increasing world population.  But, more and more people (who can afford to) are giving up on that system to one that they control.  Government policy makers and Industry CEO's should pay attention...

Marler Local Garden

Posted on May 30, 2009
South View - Eagle Harbor with tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, strawberries, peppers and corn. North View This is our second year with this garden.  I grew up with a big garden and cows, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and a few too many cats and dogs...

End of Pollan Book Controversy - Omnivore's Dilemma to be read on WSU Campus

Posted on May 29, 2009
All things turn out OK sometimes: New York Times - For Personal-Injury Lawyer, Michael Pollan's Book Is Worth Fighting For The Chronicle of Higher Education - Washington State U. Reinstates 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' as Common-Reading Choice The Daily Evergreen - The Donation revives Common Reading Seattle Business Journal - E...

H.R. 759 Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 - Food Safety Legislation - Good or Bad for Small, Sustainable, Organic, Locavores?

Posted on May 29, 2009
There has been much in the way of worry by farmers, especially the small, sustainable, organic, locavores about the new food safety legislation.  I have read the latest version of the draft H.R. 759 and here are some thoughts on its impact on small farmer/producer/manufacturers, as well as some other thoughts...

H.R. 759 Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 - Will It Make our Food Safer?

Posted on May 29, 2009
'As evidenced by the recent widespread contamination's in our food supply, including E. coli in spinach, Salmonella in peppers, and the most recent outbreak of Salmonella in peanut butter, it is clear that we must act now.' These were the words used by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr...

Is There an E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Michigan and Minnesota Linked to Lettuce from the Salinas Valley - Again?

Posted on May 28, 2009
E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with lettuce or spinach, specifically 'pre-washed' and 'ready-to-eat' varieties, are by no means a new phenomenon. By way of illustration: - In October 2003, thirteen residents of a California retirement home were sickened, and two people died, after eating E...

So, What Does $15.98 Per Gallon and Some Warning Labels Buy You? You Guessed it - Raw Milk that May Contain Pathogens that Can Kill You.

Posted on May 28, 2009
So, what are adequate consumer warnings on bottles of Raw Milk?  What if you contrast it to blog posts and videos by the manufacturer touting the miraculous benefits of Raw Milk?  What about the endorsements by Weston Price (goodness - exposure to liability there)?  Raw Milk, like any food product - If a manufacturer wants to hide from liability with a defense of adequate warning or the consumer should have known better, the manufacturer (and organizations like Weston Price) better watch what they write or say...

New butter flavoring for popcorn and other food products may be no safer than the lung-injuring diacetyl it replaces

Posted on May 28, 2009
Andrew Schneider over at www.andrewschneiderinvestigates.com allowed me to co-post this great story. Scientists worry that the 'new,' 'completely safe' butter flavoring used on popcorn and in other foods may be as dangerous as the lung-destroying chemical, called diacetyl, that it replaced...

Washinton State University - A place where speaking your mind is encouraged - Michael Pollan will be coming.

Posted on May 27, 2009
I knew it was the economic pressures that public education is facing and not any political pressure that caused the change in the reading of Omnivore's Dilemma and Michael Pollan's visit to Pullman.  The WSU I graduated from and served, would not bend to that kind of small mindlessness...

Should WSU Invite Michael Pollan to talk about "The Omnivore's Dilemma?"

Posted on May 27, 2009
I posted my thoughts over at Daily Kos and put up a Poll.  Click on the below and join the discussion:

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