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A news release finds the Food and Drug Administration warning pregnant women to take the proper precautions when it comes to medication.  The agency explains that drugs that might be alright to take pre-pregnancy could prove to be dangerous to either you or your unborn child during a pregnancy.

Instead of taking to the wilds of the internet to find out information, the FDA advises speaking with a doctor.  And if you just have a quick question you want answered without an appointment, the FDA recommends using one of their handy resources.  For instance, the organization offers a pregnancy website that offers a host of information dedicated to the safety of drugs, foods, medical devices, and more.

Drugs should also be taken with caution.  The FDA offers a resource about drugs and the effect that they might have on a pregnant woman.  The truth is, even relatively common pain relievers could pose risks under the right conditions.  Pretty soon, the FDA will roll out labeling changes that seek to better inform pregnant women of certain risks, but until then, you should always read the label carefully to determine if you would be endangered via consumption of a given medication.

Also understand that pregnant women are often not involved in clinical trials, and thus studies into effects of certain drugs can be lacking.  Thus, you might check up on the FDA’s Pregnancy Exposure Registry to figure out if a medication you have to take is currently under study.  By signing up, you can help improve health of pregnant women in the future.

A debate is still ongoing as to whether or not the Food and Drug Administration should be granted extended regulatory powers over compounding pharmacies.  The issue was brought to the forefront after contaminated steroid injections from the New England Compounding Pharmacy led to a widespread outbreak that claimed the lives of more than 50 people and caused 700 to suffer an illness.  The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee looks to be largely in favor of the creation of a new “compounding” category that would be subject to FDA regulations.  However, the bill does not curry the same kind of support in the House, where lawmakers are more divided on the issue.  Nevertheless, state regulators and the FDA alike have spoken about the need for such a law.

Click here for more about the bill.

It may have been a move that many were expecting, but that hasn’t eased the disappointment faced by safety advocates concerned about the impact that cellphone usage could have on consumers’ health:  on Tuesday, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to revoke an ordinance that would have forced cellphone retailers to stipulate the radiation danger posed to consumers by cellphones.  In doing, they essentially hammered the final nail in the coffin for the matter.

The writing had been on the wall.  Issued in 2011, the law almost immediately drew the furor of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which took issue with the ordinance on free speech grounds.  Representatives argued that the law ran contrary to the Federal Communications Commission’s assessment that cellphones do not endanger consumers.

A judge prevented the law from being enacted shortly after passage, and the aforementioned trade group filed a lawsuit seeking its permanent disavowal.  The ongoing court battle ended with an appeals court taking the side of the cellular industry, putting San Francisco in a tough place.  In order to get the law back on track, they essentially would have had to prove that cellphones are inherently dangerous.

Given the difficulties of such a tactic, the Board of Supervisors elected to settle the lawsuit, putting a stamp on a permanent injunction against the ordinance.  The Environmental Working Group and other safety advocates decried the move.

More and more people are turning to their computers for all or most of their shopping needs.  But with so many flocking online and giving their bank account and credit card information out willingly to various entities, it’s important to keep security in mind at all times.

A new report out of Canada provides some handy tips that consumers might follow to safeguard their sensitive data when making a purchase online.  And safety starts with understanding the threat.

The article outlines some typical ploys that scammers will put into place to gain access to a customer’s financial data.  One type of tactic is known as a “watering hole” attack.  This occurs when criminals gain access to an otherwise legitimate site in order to latch onto the information provided by consumers to that site.  Many times, it will be a small business that receives the brunt of a fraud’s attention, as they often can’t utilize the extensive security protocols in place for multinational corporations.

Still one other scam stems from those ads you see on just about every website you visit.  Basically, a scammer will purchase ad space which then appears on a site that would otherwise be trustworthy.  But when a user follows that ad in the hopes of taking advantage of a too-good-to-be-true offer, they find themselves exposed to malware that has the potential to compromise their computer.

Thankfully, there are steps you can take to protect your computer and your information.  When you’re about to make a purchase, check for the HTTPS handle in the browser bar instead of the standard HTTP.  This, as well as a padlock symbol, conveys security, and you should be safe on that site.  Just remember:  S = Secure.

You know those pesky software updates that seem to pop up every week?  Download those.  Rather than perceive them as an inconvenience, think of them as enhancements to your security, which is exactly what they are.  Technology companies constantly tweak browsers to improve security, and you want to be up to date.

Be smart with your passwords.  You’ll notice that the sites that require optimum security will ask you to input a password that includes numbers, symbols, and lowercase and capital letters.  There’s a reason for that.  These types of passwords are much harder to crack than a simple word.  The longer the better, and you should revisit and switch up your passwords occasionally

Finally, only make transactions on a secure network.  If you’re using a Wi-Fi connection that doesn’t require a password, consider holding off on something like banking until you can get to a more properly secured hotspot.  And when it comes to clicking on ads, avoid offers that couldn’t possibly be real or that sound like a scam.  Be doubly sure of an ad’s veracity when you click.

The Food and Drug Administration has learned that one lot of a certain medical product has been stolen from its place of manufacture and thus its sale to healthcare professionals could leave patients at risk of an infection.  The items stolen were Endo GIA Articulating 60-3.5 Surgical Stapler Reloads from Covidien.  One lot carrying the number N3B0165LX was taken.  Already the FDA has been informed of instances in which these staples were being sold.  What makes this so dangerous is that they were stolen before sterilization procedures could be carried out.  Doctors are being asked to check their inventory to look for the aforementioned lot number along with a reference code of 030458.  If found, Covidien should be contacted.

For more about the recall, follow this link.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced a proposal that has the potential to drastically alter the tanning bed market.  Specifically, the approval process would become more strict and attempts would be made to outline the risks of UV exposure to young people.

First, the FDA wants to change tanning beds’ current designation as a Class I low risk device.  Given the threat of skin damage and the possible development of skin cancer, the Commissioner of the organization explains that it would be in the consumers’ best interest to reclassify the items as a Class II device carrying a moderate risk.

This would alter the way that sunlamp items are approved.  Right now, they do not have to go through a pre-market approval process.  With the proposed changes, though, tanning beds would have to meet certain benchmarks and labeling requirements.  A 510k pre-market notification would need to be filed.

In addition to these pending rules, the FDA also wants tanning beds to come with labels suggesting that persons under the age of 18 decline to use the devices and explaining that regular users should submit to cancer testing.

These proposed changes have been issued in order to combat skin cancer around the country.  The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that the threat of the often-fatal skin cancer known as melanoma rises by 75% in persons who use tanning beds.

The dawn of summer heralds a time of backyard barbeques and increased usage of swing sets and kiddie pools.  But this time spent outdoors also means that certain hazards are going to make themselves known.  As Consumer Reports illustrates in a new report, these threats are nothing to take lightly, and there are certain steps you should take to protect yourself and your family.

There are many potential safety issues that go overlooked by a large swath of the populace.  According to the Consumer Reports National Research Center, nearly a third of Americans don’t drain the water from kiddie pools or put away yard games after usage.  42% didn’t always offer proper lighting along paths, and 68% of people that had a backyard pool failed to have an emergency flotation device on hand.  And four out of five didn’t bother to utilize a nonflammable pad beneath their grills.

This survey speaks to a number of hazards present in the average American backyard.  On Friday, we explained the steps to take with a backyard pool, so we won’t go into that again.  But just know that even kiddie pools can pose a drowning hazard and thus should be drained whenever your kids are through swimming.

Safety then extends to securing your backyard as a whole.  If your kids have game equipment they play with, make sure you clear it out of the yard after they’re through playing.  Even small objects could trip somebody up, and you certainly don’t want to be held liable for the ensuing injury.  If tree branches are strewn about the yard, these should also be removed.  You should be proactive about cutting these down from your tree so as to prevent an infestation of insects that could compromise the stability of the branch and cause it to fall on someone’s head.

If you install a swing set in the yard, make sure that it’s kept at least six feet from other structures.  The unit should never be placed on an incline, and prior to purchase, you should make sure that your child is within the item’s suggested age range.  The swing set should be surrounded with padding that can prevent impact injuries after a fall and bolts should be fastened into place without sticking out.  That way, the threat of a laceration is reduced dramatically.  The same goes for anything that fastens the swing set to the ground.

Finally, one thing you probably shouldn’t invest in is a trampoline.  Consumer Reports estimates that 83,000 people (a majority of which are kids) have to go to the emergency room every year because they were hurt by a trampoline.  If you do purchase the item, be extremely careful and supervise kids around the product at all times.

The threat of a mix up between two medications used for the treatment of breast cancer has prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning to doctors.  The potential mix-up involves Herceptin and Kadcyla.  Although these items don’t sound like one another, their non-proprietary names are somewhat similar:  Kadcyla is referred to as ado-trastuzumab emtansine and Herceptin is referred to as trastuzumab.  Many publications and electronic systems will drop the “ado” prefix from the former drug, which could cause confusion as to what drug is supposed to be administered to a patient.  No adversity has been reported at this point, although clinical trials did see a mix-up take place.  The FDA advises that the full names of each drug always be referenced by healthcare professionals and that employees be made aware of the difference.

For more about this warning, click here.

We recently brought you word of the announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that they’re going to be more carefully analyzing the impact that a wide range of caffeinated products could have on children.  On the heels of that announcement, the FDA has released a consumer update explaining their thinking and detailing just what this analysis will entail.

The information is framed by an interview with the FDA’s Foods and Veterinary Medicine Deputy Commissioner.  He first explains that the recent introduction of caffeinated gum didn’t necessarily prompt the move by the FDA so much as act as the latest in a long line of food items whose caffeine inclusion troubles the safety agency.  Combined with the proliferation of energy drinks, consumers are exposed to caffeine in greater levels than ever before.

The FDA wants to better understand the impact this could have on kids and even at-risk adults.  The agency has been meeting with various manufacturers to learn why they’re injecting caffeine into foods.  Feelers have also been sent out to the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the American Beverage Association.

The FDA hopes to determine what items would be appropriate for the introduction of the ingredient.  The sad truth is that there are really no requirements for caffeine at this time, as the FDA never anticipated the current caffeine craze.  Instead of setting age limits on products, though, the FDA representative explains that it’s more likely there will be caffeine caps put on those items that would be tempting to kids.

Yesterday, we brought you word of a Consumer Reports study that found traces of bacteria in numerous samples of ground turkey.  Of the 257 samples analyzed, over 90% were shown to be positive for one of the five bacteria researchers tested for.  What’s more, it was discovered that numerous types of ground turkey had bacteria that proved to be resistant to antibiotics.

Because of this, the Los Angeles Times has released a new report that details the steps a consumer can take to protect themselves from the threat of foodborne illness associated with turkey or other types of meat.

It starts with proper storage.  Meats should be adequately wrapped so as to prevent the leakage of juices that could contaminate nearby foods.  Meat can also be kept separate from ready-to-eat foods in order to further cut down on the cross-contamination threat.  You should refrigerate meat shortly after purchase at a grocer, although if you’re going to wait a couple days to prepare the food, it should be frozen.

When you handle meat, make sure you wash your hands both before and after contact.  And to further mitigate the chance that bacteria will survive the cooking process, make sure the meat is brought to 165 degrees all the way through.  This is particularly important for ground meat, as the bacteria on the surface of a hunk of meat can get pushed down when ground up, essentially spreading to other sections.