Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

Several times a year my wife drops a small fortune to have her hair straightened in what is known as a Brazilian blow out procedure. When she comes home, her hair has an odor that is anything but pleasant and the same lasts for a few days. Although I must admit she looks sexier than ever and loves her straightened hair, I became concerned when I started to review warnings issued by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration warning hair salon owners, workers, and consumers about potential exposure to formaldehyde used in some hair smoothing and straightening products including the Brazilian blow out brand. Tests indicated dangerously high levels of formaldehyde in the hair salon using these hair straightening products even though many of the products are often listed as formaldehyde free. Many clients and workers were found to have allergic reactions including nose bleeds and eye irritations. Unfortunately many of the hair straightening products or products used by hair care services are not required to list their ingredients and clients, workers, and consumers may not even know what is in the products they are utilizing.

As an  experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyer, I think it is essential to the safety of workers and clients and anyone exposed to a potentially dangerous product or material to mandate health warnings on all hair care products including but not limited to hair straightening products. In Canada, many of the products were pulled off the shelves and the FDA now notes that it has begun looking at the complaints about hair straightening products.

Our office has received a number of calls from clients who had the hair straightening solution put on their head and claim that their head or scalp is burned for a number of weeks and some have even claimed a loss of hair. Although every situation must be considerate of “the goods, the bads, and the uglies," one must ask them self if the quest for beauty is worth the risks of potential physical danger or physical harm.

Continue reading "Are Brazilian Hair Straightening Blowouts Dangerous? - Experienced Product Liability Lawyer Weighs In" »

As the newspapers have reported, many workers helping to clean up oil from the Gulf have reported health problems including but not limited to nausea, dizziness, headaches, chest pains, and skin rashes. As an experienced catastrophic injury and toxic tort lawyer, I have all too many questions over the safety of the clean up operation in an around the Gulf of Mexico, particularly regarding protection of the workers from the toxicity of the controversial chemical dispersants being used by BP in an attempt to break up the slick.

According to many experts, the many dispersants that BP and the United States government are using to treat the ongoing Gulf spill are by their makers own admission toxic to fish, crustaceans and mollusks. BP information concerning the safety and toxicity of the dispersants as it relates to humans is kept secret under competitive trade laws. This is not what you want to hear with regard to toxins being dumped in the sea by hundreds of thousands of gallons. More alarming, the data sheets for both products being used to disburse the oil contain a shocker “no toxicity studies have been conducted on this product..." meaning testing for their safety to humans. I don’t know about you, but I find this completely jaw dropping and have no doubt the toxic properties of these substances will reveal themselves in the future in the form of human health hazards, illnesses, and potentially death.

Continue reading "Oil Spill Clean Up in the Gulf Is Organized Hypocrisy – Catastrophic and Toxic Tort Lawyer Speaks Out" »