The deadline is fast approaching for residential and commercial property owners to report and receive replacements for defective fire sprinklers, recalled in June 2007. The initial recall, which includes a voluntary replacement program, included about 300,000 model J series dry fire sprinklers manufactured by Globe Fire Sprinkler. The recall was announced due to a concern that the sprinklers can deteriorate over time and fail to operate in a fire situation. The deadline for home and commercial property owners to submit a claim and receive replacement sprinkler heads is June 1, 2011.
Last March, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to interpret the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named for a 7-year-old who died in a pool-drain incident in 2002, to no longer require back-up anti-entrapment systems in the drains of as many as 150,000 public and hotel pools and hot tubs. Now the CPSC has announced that the primary anti-entrapment systems on these same pools may have been improperly tested and unsafe.
Ford Motor Company recently announced it has expanded its recall of the Ford Windstar minivan due to problems with the rear axle, which can corrode and crack. Ford initially announced a recall of 1998-2003 model year Ford Windstar minivans in August. The recall included 575,000 vans. The recall covers vehicles sold in 21 U.S. States and Canada where heavy road salt can cause the axles to rust. Dec. 6, Ford expanded the recall to include an additional 37,000 vans. The expansion added Utah to the list, where road salt is used in some areas.
Toxic E. coli bacteria was found in two samples of Nestle USA's Toll House refrigerated cookie dough made at a Virginia plant, conjuring up bad memories of a similar outbreak just last summer that sickened at least 72 people across 30 states. Nestle said the contaminated dough did not leave the factory so no recall would be issued.
An increased risk of major birth defects in babies born to women who take a type of medication to treat migraines, seizures and bipolar disorder during pregnancy has prompted a safety advisory from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
An investigative report by CBS reveals the lengths some big corporations will go to conceal evidence that casts the company and its products in a dubious light. The report features Dimitrios Biller, a former attorney forToyota, who accuses the car manufacturer of withholding and destroying evidence in more than 300 rollover and roof crush lawsuits. Biller alleges Toyota took measures to hide evidence "of its vehicles' structural shortcomings," an effort which he claims amounted to a "ruthless conspiracy." 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A voice recorder captured a "loud noise" in the cockpit of a helicopter shortly before it plunged into a Louisiana swamp last month, killing eight people, federal investigators said in a report released Thursday.
