LifeSmarts in Hollywood – National Consumers League

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Hello from sunny Southern California! NCL and LifeSmarts staff have arrived at the Sheraton Universal in Universal City, CA, where 33 teams are en route to compete at the 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship event.

Can’t join us in Hollywood? Follow the action online:

2011 National LifeSmarts Championship official event blog

Final day of competition streaming live online, Tuesday, May 3 at noon Eastern / 9 am Pacific

Follow us on Twitter for live score info

Become an NCL and LifeSmarts Facebook fan

NCL statement on Supreme Court arbitration decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion – National Consumers League

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April 28, 2011

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

Washington, DC–The National Consumers League is greatly disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in the case of AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion. Both consumers and workers are frequently subject to mandatory arbitration clauses in the fine print of contracts they are often required to sign in order to get a job or buy goods or services. These clauses are ubiquitous. Yesterday’s unfortunate 5-4 Supreme Court decision, which included a strong dissent by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagan, will allow companies to drastically curtail the fundamental right of consumers or workers to bring a class action when there is evidence of fraud, discrimination or other illegal practices.

Now, whenever a consumer or worker signs a contract to get a cell phone, open a bank account or take a job, they may can be forced to give up the right to hold companies accountable for a wide variety of illegal conduct.

Class actions are an essential tool used to vindicate the rights of workers and consumers, hold corporations accountable and balance the scales of justice. Brown v. Board of Education was a class action.

The National Consumers League does not believe that that the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 – a law that was intended to facilitate private arbitration between parties of equal bargaining power – was intended to serve as a shield against corporate accountability.

The National Consumers League will continue to oppose forced arbitration. Forced arbitration acts as a private system of justice – and too often injustice – and is largely controlled by corporate entities, whose goal is to block average citizens’ access to one of nation’s greatest democratic institutions: an impartial judicial system.

After yesterday’s very disappointing decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, we call upon those members of Congress who stand with consumers and workers to take up legislation ending forced arbitration in consumer and employment contracts.

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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.

The power of a seal of approval – National Consumers League

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When NCL was founded in 1899, one its primary objectives was to achieve better working conditions for workers across the country; the League’s first constitution states, “goods [should] be produced and distributed at reasonable prices and in adequate quantity, but under fair, safe, and healthy working conditions that foster quality products for consumers and a decent standard of living for workers.”

NCL White Label

Florence Kelley, NCL’s first leader, created the NCL White Label campaign to promote decent working conditions by encouraging the sale of products produced under a set of regulatory guidelines. The League implemented a system of inspecting production sites and offered the NCL White Label to products that met the League’s requirements. The League also educated consumers about the negative effects of subsidizing sweatshop labor and urged consumers to boycott goods that failed to carry the label. Eventually, much of the league’s legislative agenda – including a minimum wage and the abolition of child labor – was enacted, forcing manufacturers to reform their abusive production practices.

GoodWeave label

Today, GoodWeave is conducting a similar, outstanding campaign also aimed at eradicating child labor. According to the organization’s website, GoodWeave was founded on a simple premise: If enough people demand certified child-labor-free rugs, manufacturers will employ only skilled, adult artisans, and children will no longer be exploited in the carpet industry. GoodWeave inspects and certifies carpet-weaving facilities and offers its trademarked label to rugs that meet its production standards. However, the nonprofit’s work goes beyond certification, the group also rescues children directly from the looms, helps fund educational opportunities for children, and provides resources for weaving families and communities.

GoodWeave is a member of the NCL co-chaired Child Labor Coalition. Click here to watch a recent CNN news clip or view the video below to learn more about GoodWeave’s valuable work and mission.[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVsxCT8ogb0]

Financial Literacy Month: National Consumers League challenging teens to be ‘LifeSmart’ at annual consumer education competition – National Consumers League

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April 20, 2011

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

Washington, DC — Just in time for April’s Financial Literacy Month, the National Consumers League (NCL) has announced the 34 state champion teams who have earned a spot at the 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship, which will take place this year in Hollywood, CA, April 30 – May 3. LifeSmarts (www.lifesmarts.org) is NCL’s 17-year-old program that educates teens and tweens on real-world financial and consumer literacy issues.

LifeSmarts is a competitive educational program, in which teams of students begin online. Top-scorers progress to state competitions, and state champion teams meet each April to compete in the National LifeSmarts Championship. Last year’s state champion team from Maryland will return this year to defend its national title. For a complete list of state champions, visit www.lifesmarts.org.

“We are so proud of this year’s state LifeSmarts champions, who have proven themselves to be the best and the brightest of the next generation of consumers,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “LifeSmarts is a fun, fast, educational program, and a great vehicle for educating young consumers. Our program goes in-depth on the issues kids—and adults–are facing now: making smart choices with financial resources, health care, environmental concerns, and how technology affects our lives.”

The 2011 National LifeSmarts Champion and other winning teams will walk away with prizes including scholarships and savings bonds. In addition to placing as a team, individual students have the opportunity to compete for scholarships for demonstrating knowledge in specific program topic areas. The top eight placing teams and five students who earn individual distinction are awarded prizes.

At this year’s competition, NCL will recognize Visa for a recent announcement of a three-year major grant to underwrite the program, sponsor development of personal finance lessons and teaching tools, increase marketing efforts for the LifeSmarts program, and bolster NCL’s outreach on consumer fraud.

2011 National LifeSmarts Championship headed to Hollywood

Consumer-savvy teens representing 34 states will compete at this year’s national event. Throughout the 2010-2011 program year, more than 22,000 teens competed online for a chance to represent their states at the 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship. Players answered more than 3 million consumer questions in the online competition.

Event info

When:  April 30 – May 3, 2011

Where:  Sheraton Universal City (333 Universal Hollywood Dr., Universal City, CA 91608)

Final match: Tuesday, May 3, 10:45 a.m. PDT / 1:45:p.m. EDT

Awards Ceremony:  Noon – 1:30 p.m. PDT / 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT

Follow the competition online

Parents and teachers can follow the action at the official 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship blog (www.lifesmartsnationals.blogspot.com).

The semi-final and final competition matches will be streamed live at www.lifesmarts.org:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Semi-finals- 9 am Pacific Daylight / 12 noon Eastern Daylight
Finals- 10:45 am PDT / 1:45 EDT

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About the National Consumers League and LifeSmarts

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.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run state-based programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email  lifesmarts@nclnet.org , or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.

Advocates to CPSC, industry: making window blinds safer an easy fix – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It’s hard to believe that something as seemingly benign as a window blind shade could kill a child, but as a recent New York Times story illustrated, we haven’t yet solved the fatal hazard window blinds present to children. Andrew Martin’s Times story is a cautionary tale about what happens when regulators wait and wait for industry to get off the dime and design a safer product. It doesn’t happen without regulatory pressure toward a mandatory standard.

As Martin’s story illustrates, regulators have been aware of the hazards of window cord blinds since at least the early 1980s, when a federal study to determine the causes of child strangulation tied 41 deaths to drapery and blind cords. Everything from warnings to discontinuing certain styles like horizontal blinds with pull cords ending in a loop, to other fixes like a breakaway device, have been tried. In fact, one manufacturer, Comfortex, produced an ad that highlighted its own solution to the cord problem. Comfortex advertised: “In 1996, only one company offered a real solution to the problem of injuries due to cords. While the industry searched for ways to make cords safer, Comfortex found a way to make shades without cords.”

Over a period of many years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been talking about cracking down on the industry and insisting on a cord-free design. Corded window blinds continue to present dangers to kids. It seems that no matter how well the cords on these blinds are hidden, when a child’s crib or bed is near a window with such a blind, the danger that the child will reach into the window blind and become entangled in the cord is always present.

For years, CPSC has asked manufacturers to devise a way to eliminate the risks from window cords or face the possibility of mandatory regulations. But manufacturers have dragged their feet on addressing safety hazards for decades, making minor tweaks or putting the onus on parents to shorten cords or buy tie-down devices.

CPSC has a task force to look at the issue. As an NCL friend and safety expert Carol Pollack-Nelson told the Times, “It was my understanding that we were eliminating the hazard. Now they are talking about reducing the hazard. We don’t want reduced strangulation. We want no chance of it.” We agree with Carol.

As the Times story also noted, a solution has been available for several decades: cordless blinds. The industry has testified that the additional cost of making a cordless blind is $1 to $2. And industry says cordless blinds are more difficult to manufacture than corded blinds.

Are these extra cost and other concerns worth the cost of a child’s life? Talk to parents who’ve lost a child – or seen their child suffer brain damage from being entangled in a window blind cord – and the answer will be, unequivocally yes. Would any of us disagree if our own children’s lives were in question?

The CPSC should stop pussyfooting around. We have a product that with a pattern of injury, there’s a technology to make it safe, and doing so is not prohibitively expensive. After years of handwringing, the CPSC should move forward at long last and put a mandatory standard in place for window blinds. No child should have to die because regulators and industry can’t make a simple decision to adopt a safer design for window shades.

Working more than 20 hours a week is a bad idea for teens – National Consumers League

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These days, being a teenager isn’t easy. Teens’ overburdened schedules often include juggling afterschool activities, sports practice, and homework, which combined with working part time for extra spending money or to contribute to household expenses, leaves many teens feeling overworked, stressed, and stretched to the limit.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to a quarter of all U.S. high school students participate in the workforce.  Legislators are well aware of the hectic pace of adolescence, and most states place limits on the amount of hours teens can work, with 20 hours a week the standard limit. Despite the considerable evidence working over the 20 hour limit leads to slipping grades, increased dropout rates, and other behavioral problems, states like Missouri and Maine have recently introduced legislation that would repeal many child labor protections or increase the amount of hours teens are allowed to work.

Research has consistently shown that working over the standard 20 hour a week limit negatively affects teens in a variety of ways:

Academic & behavioral problems. Researchers from the University of Washington, the University of Virginia, and Temple University issued a recent report finding that working more than 20 hours a week during the school year leads to academic and behavior problems. [Source: Monahan, Lee & Steinberg, Child Development, January/February 2011.]

  • The more hours a student works, the more likely their grades are to be lower. [Source: Singh, Journal of Educational Research, 91.]
  • Low grades—even a small difference in sleep matters. Researchers from the College of the Holy Cross, and Brown University Medical School found that students who reported that they were getting C’s, D’s and F’s in school obtained about 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed about 40 minutes later than students who reported they were getting A’s and B’s. Even a little sleep makes a big difference! [Source: Wolfson & Carskadon, Child Development, 1998.]

Dropping out. A study published in the Sociology of Education demonstrates that working more than 20 hours each week leads to higher dropout rates [Source: D’Amico, Sociology of Education, 57]

  • Another study in the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) reports that students who work between 1 and 15 hours per week are more likely to complete high school; however, students who work more than 15 hours each week are more likely to drop out.  [Source: Warren, LePore & Mare, AERJ, 37]

Sports & after school activities. Youth who work long hours may also be unable to take full advantage of valuable extra curricula and community activities that promote learning and school engagement [Source: McNeal 1995; Osgood 1999; Schoenhals et al. Sociology of Education, 83, 1998].

Youth work and college. Research suggests that high school student who don’t work at all or work more than 20 hours are less likely to go to college than students who work 1-20 hours. [Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Report on the Youth Labor Force. (2000).]

Lack of sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than one quarter of high school students fall asleep in class now. Four in 10 adolescents go to bed after 11:00 pm on school nights. “Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep,” observes  Cornell University psychologist James Maas, PhD, one of the nation’s leading sleep experts.

  • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified adolescents and young adults (ages 12 to 25 years) as a population at high risk for problem sleepiness based on “evidence that the prevalence of problem sleepiness is high and increasing with particularly serious consequences.” (NIH, 1997) [source: National Sleep Foundation web site]
  • One of the major recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation’s research report Adolescent Sleep Needs and Patterns: “Child labor laws [are needed] to restrict the number of hours and the time of day that adolescents are permitted to work.”

Driving deaths. Sleepiness can contribute to injuries and deaths related to lapses in attention and delayed response times at critical moments, especially while driving. Drowsiness or fatigue has been identified as a principle cause in at least 100,000 police-reported traffic crashes each year, killing more than 1,500 Americans and injuring another 71,000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1994). Young drivers age 25 or under are involved in more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes. [Source: National Sleep Foundation web site].

According to a report in Forbes, 49% of fatal crashes happen at night, with a fatality rate per mile of travel about three times as high as daytime hours. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers occurredfour times more at night than during the day (37 percent versus 9 percent). If Maine allows teens to work till 11:00 as proposed legislation would allow, the number of teens killed or injured in drunk-driving accidents will increase.

Workplace injuries. Each year, about 230,000 teens are injured at work. Longer and later hours will increase the likelihood of an injury because of the correlation between fatigue and injuries. [Source: NIOSH]

Workplace violence. According to the 2009 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 521 Americans were murdered in the work place. An estimated 2 million Americans are the victims of workplace violence each year. Teens tend to work in jobs that elevate their risk for workplace violence—service and retail jobs that involve exchanging money and dealing with the public. Working till 11:00 would increase the chances that teens will be working alone or closing up, exposing them to additional risk.

Work help teens gain valuable experience, teaches them much needed skills, and provides necessary spending money—but a few simple rules should be followed. First, teen workers should select a job that is not unusually dangerous (see NCL’s “Five Worst Teen Jobs” report for guidance in selecting the proper job). The student workweek should be limited to 20 hours or less and should not go past 10 p.m. on a school night. Students should never work alone or without supervision and should receive job safety training and discuss job safety with their employer and their parents. Safe and healthy youth work experiences don’t just happen–teens, parents, and employers must work together to make them happen.

It’s National Parks Week! – National Consumers League

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If you are fortunate enough to live close to a national park, consider getting out there and discovering something new about one of the 394 national parks in the United States.

For one year each week, the National Park Service waives admission fees in order to encourage people can affordably witness the connection between human and environmental health and the vital role America’s national parks play in both.

Did you know that America’s national parks aren’t just protected forests and deserts? The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act.

Whether you prefer a 20-mile backcountry hike in Yosemite or a leisurely stroll around Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, moving outside is good for you and offers a chance to explore these places you own. Search the events calendar to find your National Park Week “must-dos,” and share your national park experience

Lessons to be learned from a newsworthy medical malpractice case – National Consumers League

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By NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg

Medical malpractice and abuse of the government payment systems tend to go hand in hand, but the medical profession rarely blows the whistle on its own members. Vishal James Makker, a Portland, Oregon doctor, has finally lost his operating privileges after an investigation – launched by the Wall Street Journal – showed that he performed multiple spinal fusion surgeries on the same patients and billed Medicare for huge reimbursement charges. Makker is also facing multiple malpractice lawsuits, with one filed last week, for a total of 9 such suits in seven years. What’s interesting here is that the medical profession does such a poor job policing itself; several years ago the Oregon Board of Medicine, clearly perceiving that Dr. Makker’s surgeries were subpar, forced the doctor to undergo remedial training for unnecessary surgeries and billing for procedures he didn’t perform. But they let him continue practicing.

The result is that Dr. Makker continued to harm patients with unnecessary and harmful surgeries while bilking the government to cover the cost. From January 2009 to May 2010, Dr. Makker was performing two to three surgeries a week—the highest rate of spinal fusion surgeries among 3,407 surgeons who performed the procedure on 20 or more Medicare patients in 2008 and 2009. Dr. Makker’s rate was ten times the national average. He operated on some of his patients as many as seven times.

Further adding to the intrigue is the fact that Makker had a sweetheart deal with a spinal implant maker, which gives financial incentives to doctors who use its products in their surgeries. The Wall Street Journal says that the surgeon received $519,674 from the spinal implant manufacturer in a year and a half’s time.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned from this scenario. First, the American Medical Association fights medical malpractice lawsuits with a vengeance but doctors do a lousy job of policing their own. A tiny percentage of doctors commit the vast majority of malpractice and physicians know who are the bad apples are, but, as with Dr. Makker, they don’t police them effectively. This doctor is under scrutiny largely because of a newspaper article. The second lesson to take from the Makker case is that it’s unhealthy to have doctors get financial rewards to do more surgeries with a manufacturer’s devices. It puts all the wrong incentives in place.

Lastly, as Congress debates deep cuts in Medicare, policing doctors who abuse the system by overbilling for unnecessary procedures would save many millions. That’s a far better approach than punishing patients who rely on Medicare for their health care.

NCL calls on FDA to crack down on misleading claims for tomato sauces made from concentrate – National Consumers League

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April 14, 2011

Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC–Labels for Del Monte Seafood Cocktail Sauce, Contadina Pizza Sauce, Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce, and other tomato sauces, spaghetti sauces, and purees deceptively claim they are “Made from California Vine-ripened Tomatoes,” contain “Select 100% California Tomatoes,” or use “only the finest tomatoes” when, in fact, they are reconstituted from industrial tomato concentrate.

In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Consumers League (NCL) urged the agency to warn the food industry that claims implying that products are made from fresh ingredients when they are actually made from concentrate are deceptive under federal law. NCL also reiterated its 2009 request that FDA require that all fruit and vegetable products remanufactured from concentrate state “From Concentrate” on the fronts of food packages.

Since NCL’s previous complaint to the FDA, the largest producer of tomato sauces, ConAgra Foods, has taken some corrective steps. The company’s Hunt’s brand removed the claim “Packed full of premium vine-ripened tomatoes” from its tomato sauce label, and the words “packed in season” were removed from the company’s Angela Mia Pizza Sauce label. Other misleading claims, however, remain. NCL has written ConAgra saying the company has “taken a step in the right direction” and urged further corrective actions.

“Consumers are paying premium prices for products that imply they are made from fresh ingredients, but are really remanufactured from concentrate,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL.

Products that NCL believes are still deceptively labeled include:

• Del Monte Seafood Cocktail Sauce that claims “Made from California Vine-ripened Tomatoes” on the front of the package when, in fact, it is made from concentrate (tomato paste and added water). An image of a vine-ripened tomato appears directly below the claim.

• Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce that states on the label “In colorful Naples, pasta sauces are pure and simple, with ripe, red tomatoes…” when the product is actually made from concentrate. The claim has been deleted from new “value size” 44 oz jars of the sauce, but still appears on the label of the smaller, 24-oz. product.

• Contadina Pizza Sauce and Contadina Puree that state “Contadina picks the Freshest Tomatoes,” and “Our vine-ripened Roma style tomatoes are grown to a rich red color before picking…” (a picture on the front label depicts vine-ripened tomatoes and a tomato field and the term “ROMA STYLE TOMATOES” appears on the front of the package below the Contadina brand name). The products, in fact, are made from concentrate.

Other products with misleading labels identified by NCL are Francesco Rinaldi Original Traditional Pasta Sauce and Gia Russa Tomato Puree.

“Companies making misleading claims should note that ConAgra, the industry leader, has changed some of its labels to ensure that their claims are honest and fair. We hope this sends a signal to other companies that taking corrective action is the smart thing to do given recent increases in regulatory scrutiny by federal and state authorities,” said Greenberg.

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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

Food manufacturers’ claims ‘ripe’ with deception – National Consumers League

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When you reach for a bottle of spaghetti or pizza sauce at your local supermarket, would you rather the product be made from fresh, California vine-ripened tomatoes or reconstituted from industrial tomato concentrate? Food manufacturers like Del Monte and Contadina are guessing you prefer fresh ingredients in your food, and are going so far as to place false, misleading labeling on some of their products to entice consumers to buy them.

Unscrupulous food manufactures slapping inaccurate statements on their products to justify premium prices is nothing new. In the tomato sauce industry, concentrated tomato paste is often mixed with water to produce a common, accepted, and budget-friendly tomato sauce, and the ingredients list on such a product should indicate a concentrate was involved. If a product made from concentrate, however, includes claims such as “packed full of premium vine-ripened tomatoes,” “select 100% California tomatoes” and “packed in season,” these are deceptive practices under federal food labeling law.

NCL has been keeping an eye on this “from concentrate” and other food labeling issue for decades. In 2009 NCL wrote to the FDA asking the federal watchdog to crack down on misleading claims on tomato sauces. Products that NCL points to as deceptively labeled today include:

  • Del Monte Seafood Cocktail Sauce that claims “Made from California Vine-ripened Tomatoes” on the front of the package when, in fact, it is made from concentrate (tomato paste and added water). An image of a vine-ripened tomato appears directly below the claim.
  • Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce that states on the label “In colorful Naples, pasta sauces are pure and simple, with ripe, red tomatoes…” when the product is actually made from concentrate. The claim has been deleted from new “value size” jars of the sauce, but still appears on the label of the regular size product.
  • Contadina Pizza Sauce and Contadina Puree that state “Contadina picks the Freshest Tomatoes,” and “Our vine-ripened Roma style tomatoes are grown to a rich red color before picking…”

Back in 2009 NCL wrote to FDA to urge the agency to warn the food industry that claims implying that products are made from fresh ingredients when they are actually made from concentrate are deceptive under federal law. NCL also requested that FDA require that all fruit and vegetable products remanufactured from concentrate state “From Concentrate” on the fronts of food packages.

NCL is happy to report that since issuing the FDA complaint, the largest producer of tomato sauces, ConAgra Foods, has taken some corrective steps. The company’s Hunt’s brand removed the claim “Packed full of premium vine-ripened tomatoes” from its tomato sauce label, and the words “packed in season” were removed from the company’s Angela Mia Pizza Sauce label. Other misleading claims remain and work still needs to be done, but ConAgra has taken strides in the right direction.

In tough economic times, when consumers are still carefully monitoring their budgets and fuel and food prices continue to rise, having accurate pricing and product information is more important than ever; there is simply no room for duping consumers with false product information.