Dave Lieber 
Reader offers a pointed explanation
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
At least one Watchdog mystery may be solved, thanks to alert reader Steve Hammack of Stephenville.
How did a needle get into Pattie Davis' store-bought beef cutlets?
When she took a bite, the needle punctured her left cheek. Davis, of Hawkins, thought it was a sewing needle.
Watchdog reported this on April 6 in a column about foreign objects in food. (Read it at star-telegram.com/watchdog).
Hammack wrote that more likely it was "the remains of a vaccination needle which broke off during intramuscular injection of a vaccine."
"Such needles, especially of a narrow gauge that might be used on a young calf, sometimes break in this manner," he wrote.
Hammack, a retired professor and a beef cattle specialist at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center in Stephenville, said the vaccinators sometimes know when the needle breaks. Removal requires surgery.
Turns out this is an ongoing problem.
Ronald Gill, another livestock specialist at the A&M center, says that needles rarely break but that the beef industry is trying to police itself to take care of the problem when it happens.
The guidelines of the Texas Beef Quality Provider Program, which is led by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Beef Council and Texas Cooperative Extensionelf-enforcement, state: "Under no circumstances can animals carrying broken needles be sold or sent to a packer. Animals should be restrained so if a needle breaks, they can't easily return to the herd. Veterinarians should remove the needle, or the animal should never be sold or allowed to leave the ranch."
Saline solution test
Readers were left with a question after reading the April 13 Watchdog report about a national study involving patients taken in ambulances to John Peter Smith and Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospitals.
Researchers are testing a hypertonic saline solution, slightly more concentrated than blood, on trauma victims who have lost blood or suffered life-threatening injuries. The study is double-blind; that is, neither the patient nor the paramedic knows which solution is being used.
The government has approved unusual rules for the study. If you don't want to participate in the study -- that is, if you want to be given regular saline solution in the event you become a trauma patient --you have to request and then wear a white bracelet for the next year or so.
The bracelet alerts paramedics to give you the regular solution.
Readers asked: If the study is double-blind, how could a white bracelet protect the patient from getting the test fluid? The fluids are coded so the paramedic can't tell them apart. How does the paramedic know which one not to use?
Dr. George Sapko, leader of the national study, told me that a supply of regular saline solution is kept separately and is specially marked for quick access for people wearing white "opt-out" bracelets. Objectors get the usual care without being part of the experiment.
To get a bracelet and not participate, write to roc@utsouthwestern.edu or call 214-648-6726.
DirecTV leases
Thanks to alert reader Martin Cooney of Haltom City for informing me about a class-action lawsuit filed in February against DirecTV.
The suit accuses the satellite company of failing to tell customers that they must eventually return their receivers, even if they paid hundreds of dollars for them, according to TVPredictions.com.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, also involves DirecTV's retailers.
The companies have not "adequately disclosed" that a customer is actually leasing, by paying monthly fees, and not purchasing the DirecTV receiver, according to the suit.
Some customers believe they own the receiver they buy from DirecTV or retailers. They later discover they must pay lease fees and return their receivers if they cancel their DirecTV subscription.
The leasing program began March 1, 2006, so any receiver leased or purchased after that date eventually must be returned.
DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer told me that the company disputes the allegations "and intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit."
Glazed expression
Finally, Steve Christie takes me to task, and when you hear his job title, you'll know why.
He is executive director of the Automotive Oil Change Association, the trade organization for the "fast oil-change industry."
The group is based in Dallas.
The Watchdog's April 15 column was about an Arlington oil-change shop that tried to sell me a $64 oil change when I didn't need it. That same shop manager told me that the American Petroleum Institute recommends an oil change every 3,000 miles. But when I called API, an official there laughed and said API didn't recommend oil-change frequency levels.
Christie took aim at The Watchdog: "I guess my question to you is, what did you expect when you pulled into an oil change facility? When I go into a donut shop, they assume I want a donut, and the only question becomes which one and how many."
Point taken and shared.
watchdog@star-telegram.com
