Dangerous Beauty Part 2: Why you don’t want to be anywhere near the formaldehyde in a Brazilian Blowout

Today’s post comes to us from our colleague Charlie Domer of Wisconsin.

This is the second installment in our series on the dangers of hair-straightening products with formaldehyde.

For many of us, the word formaldehyde conjures up images of high school biology class, and glass jars full of preserved frogs. But for Molly Scrutton, a stylist from Portland, Oregan, it most likely calls to mind the sore throat and aching chest she felt after giving her clients the Brazilian Blowout hair treatment.

After investigating and learning that other stylists had suffered from similar symptoms, Scrutton reported it to local health officials. Since then, Brazilian Blowout has been found to contain over 10 times the amount of formaldehyde considered safe.

Turns out formaldehyde is pretty nasty stuff. Here’s why:

Formaldehyde does terrible things to the body.

Formaldehyde can irritate the eyes and nose, causing coughing and wheezing. It can cause allergic reactions of the skin, eyes and lungs, such as asthma-like breathing problems, skin rashes, and itching. Effects reported by users of formaldehyde-laced hair straightening products include eye disorders, nervous system disorders, respiratory tract problems, chest pain, vomiting and rash. If you have been exposed to a hair straightener and suffer from any of these symptoms, you should seek medical treatment immediately.

Sometimes the effects of formaldehyde exposure are irreversible or fatal.

When formaldehyde is sprayed into the eyes, it can cause blindness. It is also a known carcinogen, and has Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Monday Workers’ Compensation Q&A: I didn’t lose time from work…

QUESTION: WHEN I GOT HURT, I DID NOT LOSE ANY TIME FROM WORK. SHOULD I BOTHER TO FILE A WORKERS COMPENSATION CLAIM?

ANSWER: LOST TIME IS NOT A REQUIREMENT TO FILE A CLAIM

Joe was working a plumbing job at a construction site. He was tightening a connection to an S pipe when the wrench slipped and so did his wrist. Lucky for him, it was only a fracture. The ER was quiet and empty and two hours Joe was back on site, supervising Mike on pipe installation and making sure the job got done. Sure he would have to do some physical therapy on his wrist but that would happen on the weekends. He wouldn’t lose a day of work as he healed.

As he and Mike finished up their day’s work, Mike mentioned to Joe that he should file a Workers’ Comp claim. “But why?” asked Joe. “I was only gone for two hours and the physical therapy will happen on Saturday. Don’t you have to be out for like weeks to file a claim? Nah… I’m not going to file.”

File, Joe! File!!

You don’t have to miss a day of work in order to file a successful claim. Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Dangerous Beauty: FDA says Brazilian Blowout lied about the deadly formaldehyde in their product

 

Today’s post comes to us from our colleague Charlie Domer of Wisconsin.

It all started a little over a year ago, when an Oregon hair stylist reported difficulty breathing, nosebleeds, and eye irritation after using the popular Brazilian Blowout hair-straightening product on her customers. Based on her referral, Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division, and eventually the national Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) began testing hundreds of hair straightening products. They found formaldehyde, an irritating and carcinogenic substance, in many of them. In particular, the product called Brazilian Blowout, which is falsely labeled as formaldehyde-free, was found to contain dangerous amounts of the substance.

They found formaldehyde, an irritating and carcinogenic substance, in many of the products.

Well, now the FDA has also issued a warning letter to the makers of Brazilian Blowout saying that the levels of formaldehyde in their product are extremely high. In the FDA’s tests, levels of formaldehyde in samples ranged from 8.7% to 10.4 %, more than 10 times higher than the 0.2% that is considered safe. Brazilian Blowout’s chief executive Mike Brady says he Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Monday Workers’ Compensation Q&A: I told my supervisor about the accident, is that enough?

QUESTION: I TOLD MY SUPERVISOR ABOUT THE ACCIDENT BUT I DID NOT SUBMIT AN ACCIDENT REPORT. AM I GOOD TO GO WITH THE VERBAL NOTICE?

ANSWER: ALWAYS REPORT AN INJURY IN WRITING

Joe was working a construction job when Mike accidentally beaned Joe on the head with a 2X4. After seeing a couple of Tweety Birds and a whole bunch of stars, Joe went down to his supervisor’s station and told him he had just had an accident. Then he went off to the ER to make sure he was not seriously injured, relieved he had taken care of business at the job site. All he had to do now was get better.

No, Joe! No!

Yes, Joe satisfied the notice requirement. However, Joe was NOT good to go.

Supervisors sometimes have a funny habit of forgetting conversations or oral notices of an accident. Even if Joe’s supervisor were his best friend, when push came to shove there could be no telling what the supervisor might say in Court front of a Judge.

Furthermore, Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

The NFL’s surprising occupational hazard: obesity that kills, PART 2

Today we have a follow-up post from our colleague Len Jernigan of North Carolina.

A few weeks ago, we shared a post about a surprisingly common illness affecting retired NFL players: chronic obesity.

In 1990, less than 70 players in the NFL weighed more than 300 pounds. Today there are more than 350 who weigh that much. All this weight adds up to
higher death rates for retired NFL linemen than for the general public.

Retired NFL players are more likely to have medical conditions that go along with obesity Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Monday Workers’ Compensation Q&A: My injury isn’t serious

QUESTION: MY INJURY WAS NOT SERIOUS. SO WHY SHOULD I FILE A CLAIM?

ANSWER: BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. ALWAYS FILE A CLAIM NO MATTER HOW MINOR THE INJURY.

As a Central Park Parks Department Supervisor, Joe was always in the thick of things, literally and figuratively. He ran a crew of 50 and everyone looked up to him. After a really bad storm that left the Park a disaster area, Joe corralled his crew and they all got to work clearing tons of debris and cutting down trees that were about to topple.

One such tree required someone to shimmy up and secure a rope for the tractor. Joe didn’t think twice and up he went. Down he came with a twisted knee. “Hey,” Joe, thought, “if I can still stand and walk, it must be no big deal.” So Joe didn’t stop to get his “minor” injury examined and he didn’t file a claim for that “minor” injury. Instead, he continued to work another 12 hours.

Oh no, Joe! No! Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Work Injury During Sex: Ridiculous?

 

This post comes to us from our colleague Charlie Domer in Wisconsin. While the topic of sex provides some entertaining context, Charlie does point out that, when you are traveling for business, even injuries that happen during non-work-related activities may be covered by workers’ compensation. While this article addresses Wisconsin law specifically, New York law is very similar.

Work Injury During Sex: Ridiculous? Not really. From time to time lurid headlines raise eyebrows about employees who claim worker’s compensation for injuries occurred during sex. The most common response is “How ridiculous . . . The employee is not being paid to have sex (unless she is a hooker).”

A most recent headline notes an Australian woman who had hotel sex with an acquaintance and was injured when a wall-mounted light fell on her during the encounter. She sought worker’s compensation because the incident occurred during a business trip and she claimed having sex on a business trip is “an ordinary incident of life” that entitles her to payment under worker’s compensation law.

Traveling employees are deemed to be in the course of employment at all times while on a trip

Traveling employees receive broad worker’s compensation coverage Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.

Monday Workers’ Compensation Q&A: Hurt again, filing a new claim

QUESTION: I PREVIOUSLY HURT MY BACK AT WORK. JUST RECENTLY, I HURT IT AGAIN. DO I NEED TO FILE A NEW WORKER’S COMP CLAIM?

ANSWER: Under the New York State Workers’ Compensation Law, an injured worker has two years to file a claim from the date of the accident. Even if a worker injured the same body part, it is essential that a new case be filed.

On April 14, 2000, Joe Worker hurt his back on the job. The injury caused him to lose two months of work because of a back sprain. He then went back to work and stayed on the job without difficulties until July 22, 2003. On that day, he had a new accident that also caused a back injury. An MRI showed that he now had a herniated disc that required surgery. But Joe did not want to have the surgery because he could not get time off from work.

Unfortunately, he did not know he should file a new claim. Because he had hurt his back in 2000, he figured that this recent injury was related to the old case. On October 5, 2005, Joe’s back was killing him and he finally agreed he needed surgery. However, when Joe contacted the New York City Law Department he was advised that because they had no record of an accident from 2003 his surgery was being denied. When Joe contacted the carrier on the earlier case, he was told that surgery had been denied because it was not related to the 2000 date of accident. Joe then contacted his private carrier who denied liability because this recent injury was the result of a work-related accident. Joe was stuck.

The way to avoid this problem is that Continue reading →

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
Attorney Advertising.