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Wood products experts at the International Wood Products Association write that DoubleHeli Tracking Technologies has developed a DNA-based timber tracking system. The company representatives are confident that their international team of genetic scientists can make DNA tracing easy and affordable for the industry to verify the origin of their timber supplies and for law enforcement agencies to conduct spot-checks of timber imports.

Describing DNA as the natural “barcode” they hope to be able to trace wood back from a finished product to its origin. DHTT is creating a DNA geno-graphic database, which is done by analyzing specific DNA markers that are unique to a particular species of timber, but vary across different geographic regions.

Excerpted from iwpa.org.

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In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

The health care reform debate has been focused almost entirely on just two broad issues: the large uninsured population and the rising cost of care. But there’s another problem that plagues our health system, and it’s just as serious. Doctors are losing their ability to treat patients without being obstructed by outside parties. Any discussion about improving our health system must recognize that rules which empower bureaucrats to get in the way of the doctor-patient relationship are a serious threat to the quality of medical care.

A strong, trusting relationship between doctors and patients is crucial to a well-functioning health care system. Without such a bond, serious conditions might go misdiagnosed or improperly treated, patients might give inaccurate medical histories, or doctors’ orders might be ignored.

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In Identification of Potential Severance Damages In Retail Gasoline Properties,

service station expert witness Robert E. Bainbridge writes:

Retail gasoline businesses are especially sensitive to access degradation. In some cases impaired access can make the business unviable and the property unmarketable as a gasoline outlet. The potential for severance damages from access management takings should be regarded with greater scrutiny by stake holders and the courts when retail gasoline properties are involved.

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In Expert Witness – A Valuable Asset, William Gulya, Jr., construction expert witness and President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:

Are attorneys overlooking a valuable asset? Many indeed are. As in any field of expertise, there are good and bad expert witnesses. A slogan I once read said, “The right attorney can make the difference.” So too can the right expert witness.

The right expert witness can be one of the most valuable assets an attorney can use to win his case. Although attorneys know the law, trial procedure, etc., they cannot realistically be expected to know the operations of every type of company. Utilizing an expert witness will provide the attorney the inside knowledge and explanation of corporate details that will help with facts surrounding a particular case. The expert explains strengths and weaknesses that will give attorneys the knowledge to best

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In Understanding Toyota Sudden Acceleration, materials engineering expert witness Joel S. Hirschhorn writes:

When products fail due to a systemic design, materials or manufacturing flaw, large and statistically significant levels of problems emerge fairly rapidly. This is definitely not the case with the Toyota problem. With many millions of Toyota models on which even more millions of miles have been driven, if there had been an inherent materials or manufacturing design defect, then we would have seen untold thousands of cases of sudden acceleration. It literally would have been virtually a daily event happening all over the country in many Toyota models. But, in fact, little more than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported since 2001 that their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own. This is a tiny, minuscule percentage of Toyotas….

In my professional opinion, the likely scenario is a defect in a semiconductor chip used in the electronic control system. A defect that was caused by some infrequent flaw in a raw material or manufacturing process that would not show up in routine quality control testing of raw materials or components. That so many different Toyota models over many years have been found defective signifies the likelihood of a particular problem component made in a specific factory that has been used for quite a while. Moreover, the defect obviously does not ordinarily impair vehicle performance but only manifests itself under some infrequent conditions, as yet undetermined.

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Changes to the way California manages its water delivery system are in the works, including options that avoid central pumps at the south end of the Sacramento Delta, known to harm fish. The plan is to make improvements not only to the pumping system, but also to establish habitat where aquatic and land animals can recover. At a Northern Sacramento Valley Water Forum held in Chico Wednesday, experts discussed the status of the process, with about 100 people in attendance.

Chuck Hanson, a fish biology expert witness, has written more that 75 scientific reports and called as an expert witness for state and federal court cases. Hanson displayed graphs that showed that in the last decade many fish species have declined dramatically. “The message is that what we’re doing isn’t working,” Hanson said.

For more, see chicoer.com.

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In Four Billion Cell Users : Computing Power Anytime, Anyplace, technology expert witness Ron Maltiel of RMG Associates writes:

We are on the verge of the next computing technology wave – a merging of cell phones, laptop computers, internet, gaming controllers, and navigation devices. The new products do everything a laptop can do and are small enough to fit in a pocket, are always at our fingertips, connect to the internet everywhere, all the time and lend themselves to merging the physical and cyber worlds. There will be ten times the number of mobile internet users versus desktop internet users. The potential for this market is much larger than any of the previous computing technology waves.

Since semiconductors are the major building block of these electronic devices, this growth wave will be the key driver of semiconductor chip growth. After all, integrated circuits (IC) make up half of the manufacturing cost for the Google Nexus , Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, and Toshiba TG01. Best estimates indicate an annual growth rate of 30% for semiconductor companies over the next year.

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A Symmes Township, OH, man was sentenced Monday to 180 days in jail for street racing and aggravated vehicular homicide in a Clermont County crash that took the life of a friend riding in his hot-rod car. Purcell’s car was going 70 to 90 mph at the time of the fatal wreck, according to an accident reconstruction expert witness.

Dustin Purcell, 21, had faced up to five years in prison when sentenced by Judge Victor M. Haddad of Common Pleas Court. The prosecution recommended that he be put on probation for five years with the understanding he would speak to kids about the risks of reckless driving. The souped-up 1992 Honda Civic LX driven by Purcell ran off the right side of the narrow, two-lane road, hit a ditch and flipped over three times about 12:22 a.m.

For more, see cincinnati.com.

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All lawsuits filed in federal court against Pfizer over alleged side effects of Chantix, their popular smoking cessation treatment, have been centralized for pretrial litigation before U.S. District Judge Inge Prytz Johnson in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The cases involve similar allegations that Pfizer failed to adequately research their medication or warn about the risk of suicide from Chantix or other psychological side effects.

Experts, including neuropsychology expert witnesses, must be designated by April 2011 and May 2011, for the Plaintiffs and Defendants respectively, with expert depositions set to begin in July 2011 and conclude by October 3, 2011. Motions practice on general causation and liability will then occur through the end of 2011, with case specific expert discovery not permitted to begin until after the Court decides the issues that are generally applicable to cases in the litigation.

For more, see aboutlawsuits.com.

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In July 2008, plaintiff Ted Slaughter filed a medical malpractice lawsuit claiming he was not promptly treated by the Beaumont Bone & Joint Institute after cutting his left hand in a circular saw. Slaughter alleges the delay led to the amputation of his right index finger. On March 4, justices seated on the Texas Ninth District Court of Appeals issued a memorandum opinion that partially reversed the lower courts ruling which kept several Beaumont Bone & Joint employees trapped in the ongoing litigation.

The clinic, in its appellate brief, argued that the “trial court abused its discretion in failing to dismiss (Slaughter’s) claims of direct negligence … when these claims were not (thoroughly) discussed in any expert report.” Conversely, Slaughter argued the appellate court lacks jurisdiction over the matter and claimed the medical malpractice expert witness report does not have to conform to Texas civil law since “no new claims were made in the amended petition.”

For more, see Southeast Texas Recordhttp://www.setexasrecord.com/.