Sunbeam Products has issued a recall of one of its crock pot products due to a burn hazard. The recall came just two days before the Thanksgiving holiday, during a time when crock pots are often in use.

Details of the Crock Pot Recall

The product involved in the recall is the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Multi-Cooker. Almost one million of these defective products have been sold. According to the recall, the multi-cooker may pressurize if the lid hasn’t been locked in place completely. The pressure can make the lid to detach when the crock pot is in use. If the hot food or liquid ejects from the pot, it can lead to serious burns.

The recall impacts mostly purchases in the US with almost 29,000 in Canada. The cookers were bought at Walmart, Target and online at Amazon as well as other national retailers. The timeline was from July 2017 and up to the time of the recall. The crock put costs between $70 and $100. To find out if your crock pot is part of the recall, you can look at the bottom of the base or on the electrical plug on one of the prongs for the codes K196JN through K365JN and L001JN through L273JN.

It’s advised that anyone with this product not use it as a pressure cooker, but it can be used for sauted and slow cooking recipes. The company will send lids to consumers for free to replace the defective ones if they contact the manufacturer.

The recall notice advised that if consumers use the product as a pressure cooker, they should make sure the lid is in the fully locked position. They can tell if it is secured by making sure the arrow on the lid is aligned with the lock on the base.

Burn Injuries and the Serious Consequences

Sunbeam has gotten more than 100 reports where the lid detached in use. This resulted in almost 100 burn injuries. These burns range from first-degree to third-degree.

A first-degree burn is considered superficial because it only impacts the first layer of skin. This type of injury may not require medical care, but it can be quite painful. However, some cases may require a visit to the doctor or hospital if it covers a large area or hurts too much. Third-degree burns are much more serious and require immediate medical care because the burn impacts the other layers of skin. Infection is often a major concern with third-degree burns as well as other complications.

A person with a third-degree burn may feel a great deal of pain, but it can also be numb. There is often scarring from this type of burn. However, any burn can be considered serious if not taken care of properly.

While many products are recalled and often ignored, this recall from Sunbeam is considered serious and should not be taken lightly. Anyone with one of these products is at risk for serious and permanent injury.

About 90 percent of the more than 39,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer over Essure injuries have been resolved by a $1.6 billion settlement. Bayer said in a statement that the settlement resolves most filed and unfiled cases and that it continues to work with plaintiff’s lawyers to resolve the remaining cases.

FDA Actions and Essure Injury Complaints

The settlement comes after years of complains of adverse events involving the metal coils which are placed in the fallopian tubes. Some of these complaints say that the coils can perforate the tubes, tear the uterus, and that the coils can break causing little metal shards to migrate elsewhere in the body. Women have also complained of heavy bleeding, pain, and other side effects that the patients were forced to undergo hysterectomy.

In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed restrictions on the device and required patients to review the Patient- Doctor Discussion Checklist and sign prior to being implanted with the birth control device. Bayer made the decision to stop selling Essure in the United States not long after citing declining sales.

Post-Market Surveillance Reports

The required 522 study, a post-marketing surveillance plan, was also extended by the FDA from three to five years. The FDA published the first spreadsheet of Essure adverse events on August 11, 2020, which includes events that Bayer knew or learns of during the period of November 2016 to November 2020.

The first spreadsheet includes more than 1,400 events including pain, device fragments, pregnancy, and organ perforations, including 1376 reports of serious injury, 53 reports of death and 24 reports of malfunction.

Essure Lawsuit Settlement

Many of the plaintiffs alleged in court filings that Bayer knew or should have known about the risk of adverse events, including organ perforation, device breakage, and device migration. They also allege that Essure birth control was improperly design and can break and migrate after being implanted. They accused Bayer of misrepresenting the efficacy and safety of the contraceptive device and Women who suffered Essure injuries alleged in court filings that Bayer concealed the risks and dangers of the device from the FDA, the medical community and from the women who relied on the device.

Many of the terms of the settlement are confidential, and Bayer did not admit to any wrongdoing in the court filings.

Roundup is a weed killer used on farms throughout the United States. However, studies have been done which show this is a dangerous product with many side effects. One of those side effects is cancer, which can be fatal. In fact, numerous lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup.

Types of Cancer Caused by Roundup

Much research has been done to link Roundup to certain types of cancer. One of the most well-known is Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. However, it is also tied to several others, including:

• Renal cell carcinoma
• Skin tumors
• Hairy cell leukemia
• Various types of lymphoma
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
• Pancreatic islet cell tumors

There is also some support that Roundup may cause damage to DNA and chromosomes. Some believe it may also create a higher risk for Parkinson’s disease.

What is Roundup?

Roundup is a weed killer manufactured by Monsanto since the 1970s when it was first introduced. It was so successful at killing weeds without harming the crops that it has become the most widely used product for weed control throughout the world.

Monsanto is also one of the engineers of seeds, and it has developed crops that are resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient found in Roundup. Farmers can spray the fields with Roundup and not hurt the crops while getting rid of weeds.

The weeds have developed a resistance to glyphosate, which means the product must be sprayed more heavily. This has caused a higher exposure to the product for farmers.

Numerous studies have been released on the risks associated with Roundup and other weed killers. One such study was done by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and they looked at five different pesticides to determine if they could cause cancer. From the research conducted, glyphosate was labeled as probably carcinogenic for people.

The studies came from agricultural exposure of people in the US as well as in Canada and Sweden. There was also evidence that the ingredient in Roundup could cause cancer in lab animals.

More research is being done to determine what levels of exposure can increase the risk for developing these types of cancer. The US Environmental Protection Agency conducted their own study in 1995 and labeled as probably carcinogenic for humans. The agency has changed its position and now states that it is not a carcinogen. In fact, it says Roundup is low toxicity if it’s used as directed.

The EPA drafted another assessment in December of 2017 that went even further to say there was no toxicity towards animals – even birds within their normal environment.

Lawsuits Filed

More than 800 lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto since the IARC report was released. They are claiming that the manufacturer should have warned users about the risks of using the product instead of promoting it as safe.

According to many of the claimants, they did not wear protective clothing and gear when spraying Roundup. In fact, some of them were directly exposed when the spray accidentally got on their skin. People from all over the country have been exposed, on large agricultural farms and in small backyards.

While Monsanto is the producer of Roundup, which is the top-used pesticide in the world, it is not the only company that manufacturers weed killers with the same active ingredient. However, lawsuits claim that it is not just the glyphosate that is the cause of the cancers. It is the mix of other ingredients, such as animal fats, that increase the carcinogenic properties of the chemical.

The situation is not a simple one as many other reports show a different view. In fact, over 800 studies have been done to show the safety of glyphosate, according to Monsanto. One such agency, the European Chemicals Agency, stated that the ingredient is not classified as carcinogenic. Other reports from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and even the United States support that claim.

The first trial against Monsanto was held in California with a verdict coming in August 2018. The verdict was for $289 million but was reduced to $78 million. It did hold the manufacturer responsible for a plaintiff with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Punitive damages were also awarded.

The second trial, which was also the first federal trial also provided a victory for the plaintiff with payment of $80 million ordered. More lawsuits will likely be forthcoming given the verdicts already received.

Monsanto still maintains that the pesticide is safe for use on weeds when label instructions are followed.