The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

                                                                

Bausch & Bomb The eyes have it -- fungal keratitis, that is

1. Eyewash

The optics aren't looking too good lately at Bausch & Lomb (BOL).

Fresh off some bruising accounting problems, the Rochester, N.Y., company got another black eye this week. Bausch & Lomb halted shipments of its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution as authorities probe a rare eye infection called fungal keratitis.

The Food and Drug Administration says the Centers for Disease Control has received reports of 109 cases of suspected fungal keratitis. Of 30 patients for which complete data were available, 28 were contact-lens wearers and 26 remembered which products they used, the FDA says. All 26 reported using ReNu solution, with five reporting the use of other products, too. Eight patients needed cornea transplants.

"The CDC data released today are both troubling and perplexing," CEO Ronald L. Zarrella said Monday, "as there is an apparent disproportionate representation of U.S.-manufactured ReNu with MoistureLoc in the underlying data."

The setback isn't the first for ReNu. In February, Singapore's health ministry said that of 22 people hit by recent fungal corneal infections, all but one had used ReNu multipurpose solution, Reuters reported. Bausch & Lomb stopped selling ReNu in Singapore that month.

Yet Bausch & Lomb insists there is no evidence its lens solutions are causing infections. Though retailers like Walgreen (WAG) pulled the product from their shelves this week, ReNu with MoistureLoc continues to look "as safe and effective as anything on the market," Zarrella claims. He adds that Bausch & Lomb stopped U.S. shipments of ReNu with MoistureLoc "in the interest of public health."

And indeed, the company has been a tireless public servant of late. "Bausch & Lomb Reminds Contact Lens Wearers of Importance of Proper Lens Care," read a press release Friday. The text offers helpful pointers like "Never put contact lenses in the mouth" and "Do not use cream soaps to clean contact lenses."

And while you're at it, pour that ReNu with MoistureLoc down the drain.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 93. A spokeswoman rejects the notion that issuing lens-care instructions is unusual and says the company did so "obviously to underscore the importance of good hygiene."

To view Colin Barr's video take on Bausch & Lomb's entry in Five Dumbest this week, click here.