Myron Levin

Myron LevinMyron Levin founded FairWarning after more than 20 years as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where he was a member of the California investigations desk. He has won numerous honors and awards for his detailed investigations of health and safety matters, including an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship and the National Press Club’s Consumer Journalism Award. He has reported on the tobacco industry, auto and tire safety, and a variety of product liability issues. He likes hiking and playing racquetball, and he owns a minuscule share of a professional minor league baseball team. Myron is a member of FairWarning’s board of directors.

Articles

ARTICLES

A FairWarning Story

What’s in a name? Ghostly spirits stalk the medical literature

"Spinning science to sell drugs"
Myron Levin
November 7, 2019
The idea sounded fishy to Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. She was not about to put her name on a ghostwritten article for a medical journal. But she was curious, so she played along for a while. An associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, Fugh-Berman was contacted in 2004 by a medical communications firm working for drug maker AstraZeneca with a proposition: Would she like an author credit on a forthcoming article to be submitted to a journal?
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FairWarning
A FairWarning Story

Lawmakers question influence of industry at CPSC

Myron Levin
April 2, 2019
Leaders of a House committee have called on the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ann Marie Buerkle, to disclose her contacts with business groups, citing a “disturbing” report by FairWarning that “suggests you are prioritizing the interests of industry over the safety of consumers.”
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government rulemaking
A FairWarning Story

Industries turn to Bracewell lobbyists to scuttle product safety rules

Myron Levin
March 15, 2019
Justin Miller was 16 when he took his first ride on a recreational off-highway vehicle, or ROV. He came home missing a hand. The powerful 1,100-pound machine tipped over and landed on the Northridge, California, teen, mangling his hand so severely that seven surgeries couldn’t save it. At the time of the accident in 2008, similar reports of gruesome injuries and deaths were piling up at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
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A FairWarning story

Mistrial declared in high-stakes Johnson & Johnson talc-cancer case

Myron Levin
September 25, 2018
A mistrial was declared today after a California state court jury deadlocked on whether Johnson & Johnson was responsible for the asbestos-related cancer of a woman who blamed her illness on longtime use of contaminated baby powder. Soon after starting a sixth day of deliberations, jurors in Los Angeles Superior Court told Judge Margaret L. Oldendorf that they were at an impasse, with eight of 12 favoring an award of damages to the plaintiff, Carolyn Weirick.
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A FairWarning story

Safety would take a back seat if Senate passes bill on driverless cars, critics say

Myron Levin
September 13, 2018
Consumer advocates are attacking a bill heading for a vote soon in the U.S. Senate that would clear legal obstacles for the deployment of driverless cars — a proposal that, critics say, lacks safeguards needed to protect the public and largely would let vehicle manufacturers regulate themselves. The measure, which is being pushed by auto and tech industry lobbyists, is called the AV START Act, standing for “American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies.”
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A FairWarning story

Johnson & Johnson hit with $4.69 billion loss in baby powder-ovarian cancer case

Myron Levin Stuart Silverstein
July 13, 2018
The legal assault on Johnson & Johnson and its signature baby powder reached new heights today, when a state court jury in Missouri found the company responsible for the ovarian cancers of 22 women, and ordered the drug and consumer products giant to pay $4.69 billion in compensatory and punitive damages to the cancer victims or their survivors.
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accident
A FairWarning story

Study finds Apple’s CarPlay, Google’s Android less distracting, but still not safe

Myron Levin
June 27, 2018
Automakers have packed many of their new models with distracting infotainment features that allow drivers not only to play music and get directions, but to talk, text and use social media while tooling down the road. Now new research has found that two popular smartphone-based systems –Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto – are somewhat simpler and safer to use than the built-in electronics.
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