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The Texas traffic fatality rate has fallen to the lowest level ever in 75 years of recordkeeping. Road fatalities have dropped by roughly 12 percent in the span of a year, from 3,476 in 2008 to 3,071 in 2009. Houston’s eight-county region also saw a decrease in 2009 of almost…

Last year saw a record number of prescription and over-the-counter drug recalls, 1,472 different types in all. That number is four times the number of drugs recalled in 2008. While it is difficult to attribute the increase in defective and dangerous drugs to a single reason, the overseas manufacture of…

Oil and gas pipeline work is extremely dangerous – particularly in Texas. According to the National Wildlife Federation, since 2000 the state has been tied with New Mexico for the most pipeline accident fatalities in the country. In that time, there have been over 500 pipeline accidents around the state,…

The state of our nation’s aging natural gas infrastructure has become a major concern in light of the recent string of pipeline explosions. Places like Allentown, Pennsylvania and San Bruno, California have seen firsthand the catastrophic aftermath of natural gas pipeline disasters. And, with 1.8 million miles of gas delivery…

When a passenger vehicle is involved in an accident with a large commercial truck, the results can be devastating. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2009, the last year for which statistics are available, 70 percent of the roughly 3,000 people who died in accidents with…

When the morning-sickness drug thalidomide was introduced in the 1960s, little was known about how medication could affect a developing fetus. But when more than 10,000 babies were born with missing or shrunken limbs, medical experts quickly realized that drugs ingested by women during pregnancy can have powerful and potentially…