Archive for the ‘ Environmental Injuries ’ Category

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10
Oct

California Bans The Use Of Tanning Beds For Minors

October 10, 2011

When Governor Jerry Brown signed State Bill 746 into law Sunday, California became the first state to ban the use of tanning beds for children under 18 years of age. The Oakland Tribune reports that the new law will take effect January 1st of next year.

Under current law, the state of California says that it is illegal for children 14-years-old and younger to use the beds, while teens between the age of 15 and 17 need only their parent’s permission to tan.

The author of the bill, Senator Ted Lieu, remarked after the bill passed that although 30 other states have restrictions on the age in which children can use indoor tanning facilities, the new law gives California the highest age limit in the country.

Every year, as many as 2.5 million teens tan indoors in the United States, increasing their risk of developing melanoma by 75 percent. Research by the Skin Cancer Foundation has uncovered that those who use tanning beds are also 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma, and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma.

The California Defective Product Attorney with Berg Injury Lawyers are happy to see that law makers are taking steps to keep our youth safe and healthy. They would also like to encourage current tanning bed users to consider the health risks involved in tanning.

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9
Aug

Former Employees Blow The Whistle Before And After Gas Leak Explosion

August 8, 2011

Several former employees of the utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), have come forward to tell the public about how the company ignored repeated warnings of safety hazards concerning the integrity of gas lines throughout San Bruno, California, prior to an explosion last year that killed eight people, injured dozens, and left 55 home uninhabitable.

A gas-crew welding foreman told The Oakland Tribune, he missed out on high-paying overtime hours after telling the company’s Manager of Investigations of “potentially explosive gas leaks” and falsified records. The Manager of Investigations was subsequently laid off after taking the findings of unfixed gas leaks, which were claimed to be fixed or to not exist at all, to PG&E higher-ups. He sued PG&E for wrongful termination in 2008, but the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum days after the filing was made.

A union safety official was also threatened with his job by PG&E executives after bringing to light dangerous working conditions for employees of the company. Allegedly, two PG&E supervisors detained him in a hotel room overnight, threatened to fire him, and made him submit to a psychiatric exam. According to a lawsuit filed against PG&E, he was found to be “mentally fit, except for anxiety that was attributable to his having been severely mistreated by PG&E.”

The California Injury Lawyers with Berg Injury Law may be able to help you settle your case if you have been hurt while on the job at no fault of your own.

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29
Jul

California community tested for Alameda environmental injury

July 29, 2008

According to The Oakland Tribune, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating a possible Alameda environmental injury after dangerous levels of hazardous organic compounds were found at a former metal plating site.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control previously found very high levels of trichloroethylene, cis-dichloroethene, trans dichloroethene and vinyl chloride in the possible Alameda environmental injury location.

One woman who has possibly been affected from the Alameda environmental injury suffers from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and a rare blindness disease. Another woman in the area suffers from cancer, while her children suffer other ailments from their premature births.

Additional residents in the area also fear an Alameda environmental injury from breathing in the potential hazardous compounds in the air.

The Alameda environmental injury case has been under the investigation of the Department of Toxic Substances Control since June 2007 and is ongoing.

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26
Sep

E-mails show collusion to derail California’s request to allow tougher emissions laws

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters appears to have led a backstage effort to block California’s request for its own, more stringent emission standard, which would have helped reduce pollution and environmental injuries in California.

The E-mail chain, released by the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, shows “the administration is trying to stack the deck against California’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.”

Governor Schwarzenegger announced that California will sue by late October if the issue is not resolved by then.

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