FROM CONSUMERAFFAIRS.COM

Every day we add hundreds of new consumer complaints and comments to our site. And each day sees a the addition of companies and products that haven’t previously appeared in our Rogues Gallery. Here are today’s newcomers:

• Maybelline Cosmetics
• Vera Wang
• HocusSmokus.com
• eBattery.org

If you’ve had a problem — or a pleasant experience — with a company, product or service, please let Consumer Affairs know, using our secure complaint form.

~Sandy G.

True Value Recalls Wheelbarrows

FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

BowTech Archery Recalls Compound Bows

FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

~Sandy G.

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Just about everyone has heard about the recent recall of peanut products, but many Americans don’t realize that cakes, snack bars, brownies, cookies and ice cream may also be contaminated with salmonella, a Harvard University survey has found.

Of the 93 percent of Americans in the survey who knew of recent recalls, fewer than half knew that some snack bars had been recalled, and fewer than half were aware cakes, brownies and cookies had been recalled.

“I eat protein bars all the time, and I didn’t even think about it,” said Robert J. Blendon, professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, who designed the survey.

Only about one-quarter of those surveyed knew that some ice cream brands had been recalled, and less than one-quarter knew plain jars or cans of dry-roasted peanuts had been recalled.

FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

~Sandy G.

By GINA KOLATA

Over the past 30 years, in vitro fertilization has been reassuringly safe. Millions of healthy children have been born and developed normally. And the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, born in England on July 25, 1978, now has her own child, 2-year-old Cameron, conceived without the technique.

But researchers have always wondered whether there might be subtle changes in an embryo that is grown for several days in a petri dish, as IVF embryos are — and, if so, whether would there be any consequences.

Now, with new epidemiological studies and new techniques that allow scientists to probe the genes of embryo cells, some tentative answers are starting to emerge.

The issues have nothing to do with the chances that a woman will have twins, triplets or even, as just happened in California, octuplets. Instead, they involve questions of whether there are changes in gene expression or in developmental patterns, which may or may not be obvious at birth.

For example, some studies indicate that there may be some abnormal patterns of gene expression associated with IVF and a possible increase in rare but devastating genetic disorders that appear to be directly linked to those unusual gene expression patterns. There also appears to be an increased risk of premature birth and of babies with low birth weight for their gestational age.

FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

~Sandy G.

Lack of concern by government agencies “criminal,” say patients who fear the new inhalers will kill them

By Lisa Wade McCormick

A ConsumerAffairs.com investigation about the new ban on chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) albuterol inhalers — and the problems many consumers are experiencing with the environmentally-friendly hydroflouroalkane (HFA) inhalers — has generated an outpouring of response from asthma patients nationwide.

There have been no expressions of concern from the government officials who imposed the switch and no hint that anyone plans to do anything to provide relief to frightened asthma patients. And organizations that supposedly represent the interests of asthma victims say patients need to get used to the new inhalers.

Since Part 1 of this series appeared on Sunday, we’ve heard from scores of asthma patients who are outraged by the government’s decision to ban the “rescue” inhalers they rely on and force them to use a new type of inhaler they say doesn’t give them any relief.

One woman even told us her daughter died after using an HFA inhaler.

FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

~Sandy G.