Vioxx, arthritis and acute pain medicine, was pulled from the market today by Merck after a study confirmed that it increases the risk of serious cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes.
“We are taking this action because we believe it best serves the interests of patients,” Merck Chairman and CEO Raymond V. Gilmartin said in […]

A federal judge on Friday overturned a law passed in 1994 that prohibits the unauthorized recordings of live concerts because it sets no limits on the length of copyright, and dismissed charges against Jean Martignon, owner of Midnight Records, a New York-based mail-order and internet record store that sells bootleg recordings.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer […]

An anti-piracy bill signed last week by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes it a crime for people to share copyrighted music or movies online without providing a valid e-mail address.
Any person, except a minor, who is located in California, who disseminates a particular recording or audiovisual work to more than 10 other people without […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that certain sales materials for Johnson & Johnson’s epilepsy drug Topamax omit important risk information, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and asked the company to immediately cease the dissemination of them.
The agency said, in a letter sent to Johnson & Johnson unit Ortho-McNeil, […]

In an effort to stem the increase in human trafficking near U.S. military bases around the world, the Department of Defense has declared a zero tolerance policy for national forces participating in prostitution and human trafficking.
“In recent years, researchers, the press, and concerned individuals have documented that in certain locations, such as South Korea and […]

The Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday that it plans to require all domestic airlines to turn over the Passenger Name Records (PNR) details on every passenger who flew during the month of June 2004, so the agency can test a new security program, which prescreens passenger names against lists of known or suspected terrorists.
Under the […]

Did the tobacco companies deceive the American public about the health effects of smoking? The Department of Justice says yes and believes that it can prove it in court.
After five years of preparation, the largest civil racketeering trial in U.S. history, United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc., is scheduled to begin today in U.S. […]

Philip Morris’s appeal to reduce the $10.5 million awarded to Patricia Henley, a former smoker with lung cancer, in damages was rejected by the California Supreme Court on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Ms. Henley was the first plaintiff to win a verdict against a tobacco company.
Philip Morris can request for the U.S. Supreme Court to […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Infineon Technologies AG, a German manufacturer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $160 million fine for participating in an international conspiracy to fix prices in the DRAM market, the Department of Justice said.
According to the one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. […]

In effort to prevent child deaths and injuries caused by the inadvertent closing of car windows, the government is requiring automakers to install safer power window switches in all new vehicles made for sale in the U.S. on or after October 1, 2008.
The regulatory upgrade will prohibit non-recessed “rocker” or “toggle” switches that can be […]