Johnson & Johnson Defends More Baby Powder Claims

A trial for a lawsuit alleging that Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder was responsible for the death of a woman due to her exposure to cancer-causing asbestos began in South Carolina on Monday in the latest case against the healthcare conglomerate and a supplier over their talc-based products.

J&J said that its widely-used baby powder never contained asbestos, a known carcinogen linked to mesothelioma.

The case also names as a defendant a local unit of Rite Aid, one of the largest U.S. drugstore chains, which allegedly sold the baby powder used by the woman.

The case marked the first time a drugstore was involved in a talcum powder liability trial and a lawyer for the company, Sarah Johnston, said there was no reason for Rite Aid to be part of the suit.

In opening statements, a lawyer for the family of Bertila Boyd-Bostic, who died of a rare form of cancer in 2017 at the age of 30, told a jury in the Darlington County Court of Common Pleas that J&J had known for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos.

J&J and its supplier, a unit of Imerys SA, deny the allegations, and their lawyers said their talc product did not cause any form of cancer, according to an online broadcast of the trial by Courtroom View Network.

The case is one of several in recent months that alleged asbestos in talc products caused mesothelioma..

A New Jersey state court jury in April ordered J&J and Imerys to pay $117 million to a man who alleged he developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure from J&J Baby Powder. An appeal is pending.

J&J has also been battling some 6,000 cases claiming its baby powder caused ovarian cancer.

Boyd-Bostic used baby powder nearly all her life, her family's lawyer, Christopher Swett, said on Monday. In 2016, she was diagnosed with pericardial mesothelioma, an extremely rare form of cancer that develops in the lining around the heart.

"J&J's choices are why we're here," Swett said. He accused the company of concealing knowledge of asbestos contamination since the 1970s and choosing not to warn consumers of the risks.

If you have health consequences from continued use of Johnson & Johnson baby powder, please contact us for a free confidential consultation.

Miami-Dade homeless sex offenders camp closed down

Officials have cleared a homeless camp where hundreds of sex offenders lived in Northwest Miami-Dade, Monday.

Miami-Dade Police surrounded the homeless sex offenders camp site along Northwest 71st Street and 36th Court to make sure everyone was out.

A judge denied a lawsuit to allow those who call the camp home to stay, last week.

Dozens who were living in tents has already started to move out on Friday.

Many of the homeless sex offenders who lived there had no place else to go because they were complying with a county law that prevents them from living within 2,500 feet of schools.

Miami officer charged with assault after video shows him kicking at suspect’s head

A Miami police officer was charged Tuesday with second-degree misdemeanor assault days after video emerged appearing to show him kicking the head of a handcuffed suspect on the ground.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office charged Mario Figueroa on Thursday after an investigation, the office said in a news release.

Bystander footage of the incident sparked furor  and cries of excessive force when the video involving car-theft suspect David Vladim Suazo went viral, leading to rebukes from city officials. Figueroa was suspended with pay later Thursday.

“Officer Mario Figueroa can have no excuse for the alleged actions seen on the initial videotape,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “This community demands respect for all individuals taken into custody. Any evidence of abuse, which is also evidence of a crime, will assist us in going forward with this case.”

Rundle had previously said she was “shocked and appalled” by the video, which has amassed more than 250,000 views. A date of arraignment has yet to be set, the state attorney’s office said.

The video drew swift rebuke from top officials.

“I’m very happy the chief took swift, immediate action,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said of Figueroa’s immediate suspension.

But new police body-camera video released Tuesday complicates the allegations of actual assault, suggesting that Figueroa did not connect on his kick.

“Missed on the kick. Learn how to aim, my boy,” Suazo tells Figueroa while handcuffed to the ground at a hospital. He has complained of chest pains, the state attorney’s office said.

Figueroa replied: “If I wanted to kick you, you know, I would have kicked you right.”

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Veterinarian Pleads Not Guilty To Puppy Drug Mule Heroin Trafficking Operation

A veterinarian pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to federal charges that he implanted liquid heroin in puppies to turn them into drug mules for a Colombian trafficking ring.

Lopez Elorza, 38, who also goes by Lopez Elorez, became a fugitive in 2005 when authorities arrested about two dozen suspected traffickers in Colombia.

Before he fled, the defendant had "gained some notoriety" from accusations that he was part of a barbaric scheme that turned an undetermined number of puppies and dogs into "animal couriers" by stitching packets of liquid heroin into their bodies, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Reilly told a magistrate judge on Tuesday.

The puppy mules were sent on commercial flights to New York City, where the drugs were cut out of them, authorities said. Investigators believe the puppies would have died in the process, but it was unknown how many were involved.

"Over time, drug organizations' unquenchable thirst for profit leads them to do unthinkable crimes like using innocent puppies for drug concealment," James J. Hunt, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office, said in a statement.

U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said: "Dogs are man's best friend and, as the defendant is about to learn, we are drug dealers' worst enemy."

Ten puppies were found during a 2005 raid on a farm in Colombia, DEA officials said. Five ended up running away, three died from infection and two were adopted, including one that became a drug-sniffing dog for Colombian police, officials said.

Andres Lopez Elorza appeared in federal court in Brooklyn after being extradited from Spain, where he was arrested in 2015 on a U.S. warrant. He was ordered held without bail.