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Czech market in 1999
Despite a slowing of economic growth, figures from the Czech Insurance Association show that insurance premiums rose by 12.7% to CKr62.8bn. Nonlife business grew by 7.2% though competition squeezed profitability, especially in motor. Motor..
Online Published Date:
01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Litigation threats to Equitable Life
Following the adverse ruling of the House of Lords earlier this year, in respect of guaranteed annuity policies (GARs) requiring the honouring of £1.5bn liabilities to policyholders, and the collapse of subsequent talks with Prudential,..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Hull rates increase more strongly than liability
With steady upward movement since the spring, there have been significant rate rises during the final quarter of the year, somewhere between 20% and 50%. Matthew Day, aerospace business development director at Willis, notes average renewal..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Increased reserves – and bankruptcy filings – from claims increase
Lloyd’s pre-1993 reinsurance and runoff vehicle Equitas is expected to make a further increase in reserves for asbestos claims at the end of the year.
The number of new claims emerging – primarily from the US – have..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Case update
Liability despite nonpayment of premium
Where a policy of insurance was in force on the date of an accident, a third party would have a claim against an insurance company, even where the policy was subsequently cancelled for nonpayment of..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Australian council appeals bad road award
An appeal has been lodged in the Australian supreme court by AMP/GIO General Insurance, insurer of Cessnock City Council at the time of a cycle accident in 1993.
The supreme court had already reduced an A$2.8mn award to A$2.24mn, finding that while..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
People on the move
Insurance law firm of the year has been named as London, Kent and Birmingham-based Davies Lavery
, in the new category of Insurance Industry Awards 2000.
Tim Brentnall has been appointed senior partner at insurance law firm Elborne Mitchell
, taking..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Chinese insurance industry group
An insurance industry group, the Insurance Association of China, has been set up to improve self-regulation prior to China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation. With an initial membership of 36, including major domestic insurance..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
EU calls for better auditor control
The European Commission has recommended all member states take steps to ensure the independence of company auditors, and improve monitoring of external accountants.
The recommendation, important though not legally binding, also calls for greater..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Contracted mediation panel
The chambers of Roger Henderson QC and industry consultancy and management service body Symonds Group have come together to form a new form of mediation service. Resolex provides a mediation framework throughout a project, with agreement from the..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Collective CFAs now in force
Collective conditional fee arrangements, allowing insurers, trade unions and commercial organisations to enter a single agreement with solicitors, are now in force in the UK. In effect, this is an expansion of the ‘no win, no fee’..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Old claims risks
A note from Reynolds Porter Chamberlain highlights recent court decisions, weakening the effect of the Latent Damage Act 1986. Under that act, negligence claims are automatically barred after 15 years, unless facts are shown to have been..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Claims handling code
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has introduced a Code of Practice on the handling of any general insurance claim made by a private individual, whether policyholder or a third party. It will come into force on 1 January 2001 and will be..
Online Published Date:
01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Motor liability
The Czech Insurers Office
is to raise all third-party liability premiums by 30% for 2001. This is in response to a similar increase in the value of claims in 2000, despite an overall reduction in both accidents and casualties.
There are, however,..
Online Published Date:
01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Ukraine seeks mandatory insurance of industrial accidents
The Ukrainian government plans to introduce mandatory state insurance of industrial accidents early in 2001 – a quid pro quo
of a reduction in taxes. The insurance tariff is expected to be set at 0.32% of an industrial enterprises’..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Russian insurance sector
An overview of the Russian insurance sector in Banking and Finance
of 2 November 2000 shows a 129% increase in premiums collected from 1998 to 1999 to R100bn, of which only 22% applies to mandatory cover. However, insurance takeup is still well..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
German insurance industry report
A detailed survey of developments in the German market, especially in areas of distribution, is available from Informa Professional. It is entitled German Insurance Industry: Facing the Millennium
.
A useful review, containing much detail, appears..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Liability developments in Poland
Of recent years, the rapidly-growing insurance market in Poland has seen a particular development in the liability insurance market, both compulsory and elective.
From two compulsory insurances in the early 1990s – third-party motor liability..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Vietnam to create insurance framework
Vietnam’s National Assembly is to approve the Law on Insurance Business, thus creating a framework for the development of the sector covering a range of insurance activities, including life insurance, assets and civil liabilities. It is..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
China’s EL review
A review of the Employees’ Compensation System carried out by the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers found a considerable increase in compensation payments over the past 10 years.
This is due both to increases in common law damages and statutory..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Nursing liability: Japan
The Japanese Nursing Association is arranging liability cover for its 500,000 members as from 2001. This is in response to an increase in the naming of nurses (as well as hospitals) in malpractice actions. A small group of, as yet unnamed, domestic..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Claims Direct
A media furore of sad small-claims winners, caught in the pre-April 2000 provisions of the Access to Justice Act, has forced Claims Direct into setting aside £5mn to pacify disgruntled clients and led to a 25% fall in share prices. Insurers are..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Pension cut reversal
At an estimated cost of £5.5bn, changes in state earnings-related pensions will be delayed so as to exempt all those who reach pensionable age by 5 October 2002.
The phasing-out of full transfer to surviving partner will now be spread over..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
More for BCCI creditors
..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
NatWest fined and to pay compensation
National Westminster Bank has been fined a total of £750,000 by the Personal Investment Authority and the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation for breaches of rules. It has also been ordered to pay compensation of £2.35mn to..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Royal Scottish fined £2mn for endowment errors
Royal Scottish Assurance has been fined more than £2mn by the Personal Investment Authority (PIA) in relation to serious deficiencies in its mortgage endowment policies affecting some 30,000 customers. Royal Scottish has set aside £50mn..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Pension misselling costs rise
The latest estimate of pension misselling costs and compensation now stands at £13.5bn, following revised guidance from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on adjustments for pension transfers and resolution of phase 2 (younger customers)..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Are businesses insured?
A failure to obtain appropriate insurance – or any insurance at all – may mean UK e-businesses are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. E-commerce has introduced a number of new risks that may not be covered by traditional business..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Flexitime entitlement
Law firm Olswang warns that employers should be wary of turning down requests for flexitime working hours. They refer to a tribunal decision favouring primary school head Rebekah Marshall, who was refused flexitime work when she returned from..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Higher fines for noninsured employers
Minister for the environment Michael Meacher, speaking at a conference organised by law firm Vizards, Staples & Bannisters, indicated that the government intends to raise fines for employers who fail to take out statutory liability insurance...
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Miners’ payments to be speeded
Expedited process makes it likely that miners, due to receive £100mn governmental compensation for damage to their health when working in a nationalised industry, will receive their money before year-end. So stated energy minister Helen..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Penalties for ‘spurious’ claims
In a bid to stem the rise of claims of wrongful dismissal – now running at over 104,000 a year and thought to be at least partly driven by the rise in compensation ceiling from £12,500 to £50,000 – trade and industry secretary..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Sea Pioneer detained
Danish-owned, British-flagged Sea Pioneer
has been detained for inspection at a Ukrainian port. It seems she may have unknowingly brought in a large consignment of radioactive zirconium. Ukraine itself is a large producer, so it could have been..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Unwanted subs
At the time of writing, the repair of the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Tireless
continues in Gibraltar. This is despite continued protests and official Maltese government concern, EC complaint on the inadequacy of information supplied and..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
US compensates nuclear workers
Compensation payments to sick US nuclear workers who were employed by private companies have been authorised by president Bill Clinton, implementing a Congress decision.
Thousands of workers have suffered various sicknesses after being – often..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
More on tyres and runway rubbish
Severe damage (with no casualties) to an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 757 on landing at Cairo airport has been blamed by airline officials on an unidentified object on the runway. Cairo airport officials deny this, claiming it was swept only two hours..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Air France targets Continental
Réunion Aérienne, insurer of Air France, has launched legal proceedings against Continental Airlines over its alleged role in the Concorde disaster.
Although aviation crash investigators have implicated Concorde, the company responds that..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
MPs attack Chinook finding
The public accounts committee of the House of Commons has challenged the finding of ‘gross negligence’ against the pilots of the RAF helicopter that crashed in the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, killing all 29 on board.
It held that crash data..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
SIA sued in Los Angeles
The widow of Motorola engineer Philip Thomas, who was on a business trip when he died, has filed a wrongful death suit in Los Angeles against Singapore Airlines, alleging pilot error. She seeks unspecified compensation for economic and property..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Deep vein thrombosis
As a curtain raiser to the report of the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee, the media fell into a moral panic about ‘economy flight syndrome’, fuelled by the sad death of 28-year-old Emma Christoffersen, who had no..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Norwegian insurers face Westchester claims
In one of the worst US oil spills in the last five years, Liberian-owned Westchester ran aground and spilled half a million gallons of oil into the Mississippi River. P&I insurance is carried by Norwegian Gard P&I, and hull coverage by..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Erika effects
Not only residual pollution and unsettled compensation claims remain from the sinking of the Erika
of the French coast a year ago. The draft report of the French Marine Accident Investigation Bureau firmly names corrosion as the main cause of..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Casualty report
Road Accidents Great Britain, 1999 – The Casualty Report
, published by the UK Department of the Environment, Transport & the Regions (DETR) shows an overall continued reduction in road casualties, with the UK having a better record by..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Air pollution compensation
Ten companies and the Japanese government are to pay more than US$2mn to compensate local residents whose health has been damaged by air pollution. The suit was filed by 145 residents of Nagoya in 1989, and argued that pollution arose not only from..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Ban on lead
From March 2001 Denmark will start a phaseout and ban on further use of lead above a concentration of 50 parts per million in such products as plastics, building materials, ceramics and crystal glassware.
High levels of lead in the environment can..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Saucy California
H J Heinz, in a court settlement initiated by consumer advocates, will ensure all bottles of ketchup sold in California contain at least 1% more than the amount stated on the label. This is to allow for that last drop that just will not come out!..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Chagos islanders sue
Following their success in the English high court in November, winning the right to return to the islands from which they were evicted 30 years ago to make way for a US airbase, the Chagos islanders are seeking compensation from the Pentagon. US..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
‘Loss of enjoyment of life’
The New Hampshire state supreme court has, for the first time, set a separate damage award for ‘loss of enjoyment of life’.
This occurred in Bennett v Lembo,
arising from the rear-ending of the Bennetts’ car leaving Mr Bennett..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
GM appeals US$1.2bn Malibu award
General Motors is appealing the US$1.2bn award to six people badly burned in a Chevrolet Malibu. It claims the Los Angeles superior court judge refused to let jurors hear that the crash was caused by a speeding drunk driver, or that the Malibu was,..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Benlate cases reopened
A number of claims against DuPont de Nemours, relating to Benlate 50 DF fungicide and apparently settled, have received judicial permission for reopening. Although DuPont has paid out more than US$1bn in all in settlements since 1990, the claimants..
Online Published Date:
01 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
126 - 01 January 2001
Tobacco update
See Johns-Manville Trust, Asbestos update.
Award of US$750,000 to former smoker,
overturned on appeal, now reinstated by Florida supreme court. The court held that the claim in Carter v Brown & Williamson
had not been filed at too late a..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Lethal workclothes
Another woman dies from washing her husband’s asbestos-impregnated work clothes. A Gloucestershire coroner has ruled this the cause of death of Sylvia Foster. Aged 88, the question of compensation is unlikely to arise, but this is another..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Seattle Post highlights mechanics’ risks
In its second exposure of the year (risk from residual asbestos in the talc component of wax crayons was highlighted in May) the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
claims that mechanics are being put at risk from asbestos in the brakes of millions of cars..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Australian port workers ban handling
Waterside workers in Australia have brought in their own ban on the handling of asbestos in any Australian port. Criticising the lag behind Europe and the recommendation of the National Occupational Health & Safety Commission (NOHSC) for..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Johns-Manville Trust case opens
One of 10 unconsolidated lawsuits pending before US district judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn is brought by the trustees of the Johns-Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, seeking damages from the tobacco industry of more than US$4bn.
Known as..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Radioactive treatment less risky than living in Denver
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, led by radiation oncologist Jeff Michalski, say radioactive ‘seeds’ used to treat prostate cancer in men pose no radiation risk to their wives or families. Tests on..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Guinea pig servicemen
Wiltshire police are engaged in an extensive investigation into chemical warfare tests carried out on some 30,000 British servicemen at Porton Down from the early 1950s onwards. More information is contained in the book Gassed
by journalist Rob..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
NICE openness?
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) is likely to end attempts at confidentiality of its deliberations, after repeated leaks. Former secrecy had been driven by fears of effects on pharmaceutical industry shares but, after..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Implant removal payments, and another warning
Following advice from the UK Department of Health (DoH) that women have soya-oil-filled Trilucent breast implants removed – a precautionary measure as the DoH had received many reports of ‘adverse incidents’ – a £26mn..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
BSE, CJD and OPs
US lawyer Ed Fagan seeks to sue bonemeal producers,
seeking damages for cattlemen’s groups – so far in Germany, Austria and Poland – whose stocks have been destroyed. Suit could be filed as soon as January 2001. ‘It..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Class action against Goodyear sought
Lawyers who filed suit in Madison County, Illinois, alleging that Goodyear Tire & Rubber and its unit Kelly-Springfield Tire, manufactured defective tyres, are seeking class action status. Alleging there are millions of defective tyres in use..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Sticky problem?
At the time of writing, it is reported that Ford and Firestone are, together, to inform the NHTSA that problems related to adhesives between the steel belts of tyres and faulty design of the interspatial rubber layer were responsible for the..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Ford recalls Explorers
Following NHTSA investigations, Ford is recalling 850,000 of the 1995–7 models of the Explorer and 30,000 1997 model Mountaineers, to deal with faulty suspension. A detailed report in the New York Times
of 7 December 2000 notes the emphasis..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Lawyers fear bankruptcy
Lawyers fear bankruptcy – not for themselves, but Firestone. With approaching 200 suits filed in federal courts in Indianapolis and claims of US$50bn in play, they are seeking to have Japanese parent company Bridgestone Corp added as defendant..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Non-BSE meat problems
A leaked EU report detailed in New Scientist
of 2 December 2000 suggests up to 5,000 tonnes of meat imported annually from Canada to Europe could be tainted with banned drugs (including growth hormones) and chemicals. Commission inspectors had..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Stewart Report sparks action on mobiles
Welcomed by the (vindicated) Consumers’ Association, and others, for its precautionary approach, the report from the inquiry led by Sir William Stewart, former chief scientific adviser to the government, into potential risks from mobile phones..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
More complaints against police
Complaints against the UK’s police rose by 3% in the past 12 months, of which 9% were substantiated on investigation. Home Office figures show that more than half related to failure in duty, 27% oppressive behaviour, 5% malpractice and 1%..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Unifi to sue Bank of England
Finance workers’ trade union Unifi is to take the Bank of England to tribunal for failure to observe legal proceedings in the dismissal of several members of staff. It had refused to accept ‘inferior’ contracts of employment..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Initial Kaprun payments
Immediate payments are to be made to the relatives of 155 people who died in November in the funicular fire at Kaprun in Austria, by train operating company Gletscherbahnen Kaprun. Insured for AS320mn, the first payments will amount to AS50mn. The..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
Longhaul flight claims
Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is gathering claimants, seeking to establish a class action against at least four airlines for their failure to warn and advise passengers on the risks of developing blood clots during longhaul flights.
In..
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01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001
On the rails, or the ropes?
Angry train passengers in the UK are rejecting petty – or no – compensation for seriously delayed journeys, such as the £7 offered by Northern Spirit for a 10-hour trek over the 75 miles from Blackpool to Halifax. Train companies,..
Online Published Date:
01 January 2001
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126 - 01 January 2001