It is a monumental tragedy; there is simply no other way to describe it. Motorists were driving across interstate 35 yesterday when, without warning, the bridge began to fall apart under their cars and plunged dozens of cars into the muddy Mississippi river.

When it opened 40 years ago, the bridge was an engineering breakthrough because no mid-span support was placed under the bridge. This allowed for unimpeded boat traffic on the Mississippi river below. Bridges decay, stress, and become damaged over time. The LA Times reports that the last comprehensive inspection of this bridge was in 2001. State inspectors concluded that the bridge “should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future.” Tragically, the foreseeable future must be something less than six years. The LA Times reported that:

“Inspectors recommended frequent inspection – as often as every six months – of the steel trusses that bore the most stress. But they concluded that the state “does not need to prematurely replace this bridge … avoiding the high costs associated with such a large project.”

Bridges are often exposed to chloride as a result of marine salt or the application of salt during winter road deicing. Chloride attacks the bridge surface and can begin causing corrosion of both the bridge surface as well as the support structures. The reinforcements found closest to the top or bottom surface of the concrete are usually the first to suffer structural decay. Once the decay begins, structural components suffer progressive decay and structural integrity failure.

(more…)

The good news is, the FDA and its drug advisory committee are airing their dirty laundry in public. But that’s the only good news.

Before a near-unanimous vote to recommend keeping the controversial diabetes drug Avandia on the market, advisers and officials of the Food and Drug Administration openly debated the merits and dangers of the drug, at several points disagreeing vehemently about both the credibility of research and the prudent course of action. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31)

A majority of panel members said that the research on Avandia was too “murky” to prompt drastic regulatory action. And besides, they said, there are other diabetes medicines that pose similar dangers.

(more…)

Following closely on the heels of the public outcry concerning unsafe products from China, comes the news that one of the leading makers of toys, Fisher-Price (parent company is Mattel), is recalling more than 80 different toys because the paint used to make them contains too much lead.

In its first worldwide recall since 1998, Mattel announced that it would recall nearly one million toys, including the very popular Dora, Diego, Big Bird and Elmo. Interestingly, these toys were manufactured by a Chinese vendor and sold throughout the U.S. during the past five months. This recall follows closely with the June recall of 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from RC2 Corporation from its extremely popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line.

(more…)