cell phone Ban: In a ruling on May 7, 2007, the Supreme Court of the State of New York supported the department of education's (DOE's) ban on the use of cell phones in schools. Eight parents had sued the city calling the ban "irrational and unsafe'.

They claimed it intruded "on a parent's right to determine a child's care, custody and control'. The DOE claimed that cell phones were disruptive and students used them to cheat. A group of parents are likely to appeal against the court's decision.

lindane loses: A Chicago federal judge recently dismissed a product defamation lawsuit against the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, an environmental organisation, and two Michigan paediatricians by Morton Grove, the Chicago-area producer of pharmaceutical lindane.

The drug company had filed a suit in August 2006 accusing the organisation and the paediatricians of "disseminating false, misleading, and libelous statements about the safety profile and effectiveness of lindane' after they supported the Michigan Legislature's ban on pharmaceutical products containing lindane