It’s OK to eat fresh spinach again, as long as it’s from the Pacific Northwest. On Thursday, both Haggen Food &Pharmacy and Top Food &Drug stores began selling spinach grown in the region. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared most spinach growers from the cloud of suspicion surrounding an E. Coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach. The federal agency determined that the contaminated greens came from three California counties: Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara.

Sonus to start test of new cancer drug

Sonus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is starting a phase 1 clinical study for its second potential cancer drug, Tocosol camptothecin. The trial, which will determine the drug’s safety and dosage limits, is expected to enroll up to 61 patients with advanced tumors at cancer centers in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. The Bothell company’s lead drug candidate, Tocosol paclitaxel, is in a crucial phase 3 study with breast cancer patients.

More fire risks for laptop batteries

Consumers are being asked to return 526,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. because they could catch fire, the latest in a record-setting recall involving nearly 7 million computers. IBM Corp. and Lenovo Group, the world’s third-largest computer maker, were seeking the recall of rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries purchased with ThinkPad computers. A laptop caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport this month. It is the fourth recall in recent weeks involving Sony laptop batteries.

Record company sells famous tower

Music company EMI Group has agreed to sell the iconic Capital Records Tower, a defining feature of the Los Angeles city skyline. The tower, which was designed to look like a stack of records and was built in 1956, has been sold for $50 million to Argent Ventures, a New York-based commercial property owner and developer. EMI will continue to lease space in the tower. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and The Beach Boys recorded in the building.

Counterfeit lighters douse Zippo’s sales

The maker of Zippo lighters plans to lay off about 15 percent of its work force, partly because knockoffs of its trademarked lighters are hurting the bottom line. Zippo Manufacturing Co. said that it plans to lay off 121 workers, effective today. Besides the knockoffs, the company also blamed “often confusing” Transportation Security Administration regulations governing lighters, an increase in gasoline and heating fuel prices and anti-smoking pressure.

From Herald staff

and news services