Declarations

SUV Crashworthiness

“In the latest tests, the Tiguan’s performance is a standout. It sailed through the front and side crash tests without a single downgrade for structure or measures of injury likelihood recorded on the dummy.”

—Insurance Institute for Highway Safety President Adrian Lund comments on Volkswagen Tiguan’s performance in crash tests. The Institute completed front, side and rear crash tests on eight small SUV models. For the first time, every model tested came equipped with electronic stability control as standard equipment. Institute ratings of good, acceptable, marginal or poor are based on results of front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against whiplash injury in rear crashes. The best performers, earning the Top Safety Pick award, were the 2009 Ford Escape, 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander, 2008 Nissan Rogue and 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan.

Drinking Age Debate

“Lowering the drinking age passes this big problem to those in the high school community already dealing with very serious underage drinking issues. Underage drinking is an adult problem and, more specifically, parents play a key role in educating their children well before peer pressure begins.”

—Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD’s new national president says “no way” regarding the recent debate by some officials over whether to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. A Nationwide Insurance survey found that Americans continue to overwhelmingly reject a push to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. According to the survey, 72 percent of adults think lowering the drinking age will make alcohol more accessible to kids, and nearly half believe it would increase binge drinking among teens. More than half say they are less likely to vote for a state representative who supports lowering the legal limit or send their children to colleges or universities with “party school” reputations.

Docs: Lawsuits Protect Public?

“Even if the FDA is doing the best it can, it simply can’t see the future clearly enough to pre-empt manufacturers from litigation. The (court) system represents one of the key defense mechanisms that individuals have if a manufacturer has not made the risks of a product clear to the public.”

—Dr. Jeffrey M. Darien, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, comments in a friend-of-the-court brief in a major case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawsuits can serve as “a vital deterrent” and protect consumers if drug companies do not disclose risks to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it approves medicines for use, the Journal’s editors said in the brief. The FDA “is in no position” to guarantee drug safety, the brief said. Darien added in an interview that he hoped arguments over legal distinctions would not obscure the reality that the FDA is overwhelmed trying to keep up with drug safety problems, which can range from rare but serious side effects, to shortcomings in manufacturing plants as far away as China.