SpaceX Sues Safety Expert for Defamation

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is suing Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc. and its vice president, Joe Fragola, in Fairfax County Court for making what SpaceX says were defamatory allegations about the safety and reliability of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. 

At the heart of the suit is a June 8 email Fragola allegedly sent to NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, Bryan O' Connor, saying he was trying to verify a rumour that the Falcon 9's first stage experienced a double engine failure during its December launch and blew up just after separation. SpaceX denied in its complaint that this occurred.

 

"'Early in June 2011, on behalf of Valador Fragola attempted to obtain a consulting contract from SpaceX worth as much as $1 million,' the SpaceX complaint states. 'He claimed that SpaceX needed an 'independent' analysis of its rocket to bolster its reputation with NASA based on what he called an unfair 'perception' about SpaceX. SpaceX did not respond favourably to Fragola's offer.

 

"'SpaceX subsequently learned that Fragola, within the scope of his employment at Valador, and by using his email account at Valador, has been contacting officials in the United States Government to make disparaging remarks about SpaceX, which have created the very 'perception' that he claimed SpaceX needed his help to rectify.

 

"SpaceX then quotes an email that it claims Fragola sent to a NASA official in NASA's Washington headquarters, on June 8: 'I have just heard a rumour, and I am trying now to check its veracity, that the Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated. I also heard that this information was being held from NASA until SpaceX can 'verify' it.'

 

"SpaceX adds: 'Fragola's statements are blatantly false, and as a purported 'expert' in the industry, he should have known that the statements were false'. SpaceX says 'there was not "double-engine" failure, nor even a single engine failure,' and that Fragosa knew and expected that his statements to NASA would be forwarded within the Government to other persons and entities, including the Aerospace Advisory Panel ('ASAP'), which among other things investigates safety and design issues of rockets."

Fragola, according to his Valador bio, was a member of the NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study team that in 2005 picked the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rockets that the agency set out to build under the Constellation program.

See a copy of the court documents here.

Zinc Poisoning: Overuse of Zinc in denture cream

When he began getting weak, 61-year-old Ronald Beaver, from Miami in the US, figured he might just be feeling his age. Eventually his problem was traced to a serious blood disorder caused by low levels of copper.

It wasn't until several weeks later that Beaver's doctor mentioned that getting too much zinc can trigger loss of copper. The only source of that much zinc they surmised was the tubes of PoliGrip denture cream he had been grossly overusing for a decade.

Now Beaver, who said he never fully recovered, and hundreds of other people claiming similar problems are suing consumer products giants Procter & Gamble Co., which makes Fixodent, and GlaxoSmithKline, maker of PoliGrip.

At least 25 lawsuits from 11 US states have been consolidated for pretrial hearings before a federal judge in Miami, who will decide if they go to trial or not. Another hearing is planned for next month.

The companies say denture cream containing zinc is safe when used as directed and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates denture adhesives, has never issued any warnings about the products.

Indeed, the amount of zinc found in the recommended application of denture cream is similar to the amount found in a 6-ounce hamburger, and the overwhelming majority of users have no problems. The zinc improves adhesive power.

The legal action followed a 2008 report in the medical journal Neurology about a possible link between denture cream zinc and nerve damage. Doctors at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas described four patients who all used excessive amounts of denture cream and had various nerve-related disorders.

The researchers said their report did not prove denture cream caused the problems, but concluded the issue warranted further study. The human body needs both zinc and copper in the proper amounts, and zinc is commonly found in many foods, vitamin supplements and even cold lozenges. Too much zinc, though, can purge the body of copper.

A copper deficiency can cause nerve damage, resulting in symptoms such as weakness and numbness in arms and legs; difficulty walking and loss of balance; and even cognitive or memory impairment, according to the National Institutes of Health.