HEALTH

Dow, Corning Cleared in Implant Cases: A federal judge has ruled that Dow Chemical Corp. and Corning Inc. are not liable for any injuries from silicone breast implants using products from their joint venture Dow Corning Corp. The ruling means that other defendants in the consolidated federal litigation will share a greater part of the liability, pointing to new changes in a proposed $4.75-billion global settlement of both federal and state cases, lawyers said. Defendants, the manufacturers of breast implant products, were still working out the funding of the settlement when U.S. District Judge Sam Pointer in Birmingham, Ala., issued his ruling that the two companies are separate from their joint venture Dow Corning, which made the implants.