Good News for Consumers: Potential Safety Hazards Getting Better Disclosure by Feds – National Consumers League

by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Some good news for consumers: we’ll soon be getting far better disclosures about potential safety hazards for food and drugs. In a blog about a month ago, I cheered the passage of major reforms in the Consumer Product Safety Act, which will help protect consumers, especially the most vulnerable ones — children — from dangerous or defective products. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulates more than 15,000 consumer products, ranging from all-terrain vehicles to electrical outlets to high chairs and bassinets.

Last week I sat in on an all-day briefing, sponsored by the CPSC, detailing highlights of the new law. One of the most important and exciting changes is that CPSC will be setting up a public database to give consumers access to information about products that other consumers, or CPSC, or manufacturers themselves have found dangerous, defective, or otherwise problematic.

Also last week the CPSC announced that it was recalling — without the manufacturer’s cooperation — a bassinet that has been implicated in the deaths of two babies, and that it was making the announcement as a result of new powers Congress had granted under the reform legislation. As a parent shopping for a bassinet, you’d certainly like to know about any hazards associated with this product. In the past, CPSC hasn’t been able to share complaint information, unless the product had been recalled, without checking with the manufacturer first. Under the new law, more general disclosures will be available at the public database of the agency’s Web site. At the meeting last week, CPSC officials noted that the opening of the database is some months away from being ready, but they say they may get it up and running ahead of schedule, which is great news for consumers.

It’s no coincidence that the Food and Drug Administration also announced this week that it will begin to list drugs whose safety is under investigation on its Web site every three months. Once again, Congress directed FDA to do it. However, while the federal safety agency will name the drug and the nature of the “adverse events,” it will not describe their seriousness or the number of complaints received, according to the Washington Post. That’s too bad, because with that information consumers can better assess the level of risk when their doctor prescribes a drug with potentially harmful side effects.

Of course, publishing such information can have a downside. FDA says that its adverse event hotline has received many reports that turned out to be false alarms. The upside, however, is that many times the full impact of side effects isn’t understood until the drug hits the market and many more people are taking it. The hope is that the public will have access to much more information on the safety and side effects of the drugs they are taking through this more open process—always a good thing for consumers.

LifeSmarts to kick off 15th competition year – National Consumers League

September 4, 2008

Contact: 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League announced the start of the 2008-2009 LifeSmarts season, with a new competition year beginning Sept. 15 at the program’s online home, www.lifesmarts.org, along with a variety of new resources for state coordinators, mentors, and youth. LifeSmarts is an educational competition that tests middle school and high school students nationwide on real-life consumer issues through online quizzes and live contests. While the competition formally begins Sept. 15, students and coaches may register online and begin taking practice quizzes and downloading resources today.

“We’re thrilled to be launching the 15th year of LifeSmarts,” said Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “This program delivers real-world knowledge to students and then allows them to shine in competitions. In its first 15 years, LifeSmarts has grown in numbers of student and adult participants, state partnerships, corporate sponsorships, and, most importantly, quality of the program’s content,” said Hertzberg. “LifeSmarts competition questions have become more and more challenging, reflecting the increasingly complex marketplace that today’s consumers face. We’re proud to be preparing our teens and tweens to become the next generation of smart consumers and workers.”

Each year, thousands of students answer millions of questions on consumer-oriented issues ranging from personal finance and health and safety to the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. Starting online each fall, the competition progresses to live state play-offs, and then builds to a high-spirited National Championship, which will be held in 2009 in St. Louis, MO. At last year’s national competition held in Minneapolis, MN, students on the state champion team from Arizona were crowned the 2008 national champs.

NCL partners with coordinators in 30 states, including Better Business Bureaus, credit unions leagues, state attorneys general and consumer protection agencies, FCCLA chapters, Jump$tart Coalitions and others, to staff and promote the program.

“The National Consumers League’s mission is to inspire confidence and safety in the marketplace,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “The LifeSmarts program, our consumer education initiative for youth, gives students the tools to make smart decisions and feel confident about their place in today’s fast-paced marketplace.”

New this fall at www.lifesmarts.org are dozens of up-to-the-minute teaching resources for coaches, including innovative personal finance lessons made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Visa. Other major LifeSmarts contributors include the Verizon Foundation, American Century Investments, Best Buy, American Express and Toys“R”Us. To see a full list of current LifeSmarts contributors, visit www.lifesmarts.org. To test your LifeSmarts abilities, take a sample quiz at https://start.lifesmarts.org/. From there, click on “Daily Quiz” to get started.

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About the National Consumers League

Founded in 1899, the National Consumers League is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

This Just In: FDA Upping Warnings on Arthritis Drugs – National Consumers League

According to a fresh story in the Associated Press, the United States Food and Drug Administration has announced that the manufacturers of Humira, Cimzia, Enbrel, and Remicade must strengthen the warnings about the risk of developing opportunistic fungal infections. FDA’s statement said the agency “has reviewed 240 reports of histoplasmosis, an infection caused by the fungusHistoplasma capsulatum, in patients being treated with Enbrel, Humira, or Remicade. In at least 21 of the reports, histoplasmosis was initially not recognized by health care professionals, and antifungal treatment was delayed. Twelve of those patients died.”

Another significance of this announcement is that it involves the federal agency’s use of its new authority under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 to make safety-related changes to prescribing information or labeling. Learn more here.

Protect Your Identity from Pretexting – National Consumers League

This month, NCL’s featuring tips in its 2008 Consumer Calendar: Have We Got Tips for You! on protecting your phone records from “pretexting,” an ID Theft technique used by criminals pretending to be you in order to gain access to your personal information.

But NCL’s Fraud Center and the Federal Trade Commission aren’t the only ones out there trying to educate consumers about avoiding ID Theft. Many consumer, finance, and technology reporters have been doing their part to spread the word as well. Here’s a recent story in the Clovis News Journal out of New Mexico, where police are advising locals against scams meant to steal consumers’ identities.

Protect your phone records and your privacy – National Consumers League

September 2, 2008

Contact: 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC- Phone records have become another opportunity for identity thieves, warns the National Consumers League, but there are new security measures for protecting personal information and phone records. This month, NCL is offering consumers advice on how to protect themselves from pretexting in its “2008 Consumer Calendar Tips: Do We Have Tips for You!”

“Pretexting,” when an ID thief contacts a telephone company pretending to be a customer, is an illegal way people may attempt to obtain your personal information. The Federal Communications Commission has implemented new rules to make this attack more difficult, by requiring that all people calling for phone records provide their password to the company before any information is released. Over the Internet, access to records will also require a password, and in-person, it will require a photo ID.

The nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, NCL works to educate people about how to make wise decisions in today’s marketplace. Each month, NCL’s Web site, www.nclnet.org, will feature the calendar and tips for the month. Covering a range of subjects from medication safety, to avoiding scams, the tips are sponsored by major companies, government agencies, and organizations. The September tips about protecting telephone records were sponsored by Verizon.

The print version of the calendar was distributed to consumers free of charge through agencies and organizations around the country. There are no printed copies of the calendar remaining.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.