Meet NCL’s 2014 summer interns – National Consumers League

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NCL is happy to have great interns with us this summer. The office is bustling with busy bodies as our intern team of six work hard to help us achieve our goal of helping American consumers and workers.

Connor Barniskis –LifeSmarts

Florida State University ’15 I am going into my senior year at Florida State University and am double majoring in Political Science and Criminology. Although I currently live most of the year in the “Sunshine State” I am originally from “the land of the ice and snow” Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Spending a summer in DC is something I have always dreamed about and I am thrilled with the opportunity to work for the NCL.

The road to interning at the National Consumers League was opened to me by American University’s Washington Semester Program. I was looking for a program that could give me firsthand experience in DC as well as harmonize with my current beliefs and values. After working with my advisor from American University, I discovered and applied for this internship. Believing strongly in consumer rights and safety, I find the NCL work in protecting the average American inspiring. Furthermore, their LifeSmart’s program which helps younger students become intelligent and aware consumers is something that I am proud to help work on. I see it as an opportunity to help change someone’s life by building the LifeSmart’s Program to greater heights. I am also interested in learning more about consumer fraud and the policy and regulations the NCL supports.

I studied abroad my freshmen year and currently work for the International Programs Office at Florida State University during the Fall and Spring as a student recruiter.  I hope to one day work for the State Department as a member of the Foreign Service. It will be a long road but I hope that the tools I will learn here at the NCL will take me to my destination. 

Traveling is a part of who I am and I love seeing how everything here in Washington DC works. I hope to keep learning and growing from my experiences here at the NCL and will apply them to wherever I end up in the future.

Chris Beal – Public Policy

Just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Chris Beal and I’ll be joining the NCL for the summer as their 2014 Google Policy Fellow. I grew up in Detroit and attended Wayne State University, where I received a B.A. in English. My interest in policy work – especially with regard to socially responsible business practices – probably began during my time there. After undergrad I spent a few years working as a consultant for a number of startups and tech companies. That work sparked in me an interest in the way law interacts with both emerging technology and public policy.

So, to the surprise of absolutely no one, I decided to go to law school. I packed my bags and moved from the Midwest to NYC, where I attended Brooklyn Law School. My studies there were focused primarily on matters related to Internet, Information Privacy, and Intellectual Property law. While there I had the opportunity to participate in the law school’s BLIP Clinic, a clinic focused on public policy, emerging technology, and entrepreneurship. This afforded me with the opportunity to meet with a vast array of policymakers and innovators, and to work on a number of interesting legal issues. One such project was my work with the App Developers Alliance, which led to the development of their Patent Troll Defense Network. The Network provides developers and small companies targeted by patent trolls with pro bono support and access to legal clinics.

I am especially excited to be working with the NCL because I will be able to continue my work on tech issues in a way that will have positive, real-world effects on public policy. In an increasingly interconnected world, where the Internet is almost unavoidable in everyday life, I believe it is important that public policy works to adequately protect individuals. Law and legislation can be slow to evolve, and technology is ever the opposite, so it is imperative that there be individuals and agencies dedicated to helping one stay apace of the other. 

Aaron Dai – Public Policy

My name is Aaron Dai and I am a rising junior at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. At Brandeis, I am a double major in Politics and International and Global Studies with a planned double minor in Legal Studies and Anthropology. When I am not writing papers for multiple politics courses, I participate in the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society. I also enjoy being active, playing basketball and swimming whenever I can find time. I first discovered NCL through my university’s career website. After learning more about the organization and its mission and purpose through NCL’s website, I decided that the League would be a wonderful place to gain firsthand experience with regard to the field of public policy and its effects on the consumer population.

I had come quite close to being scammed a few years ago. I received numerous phone calls regarding trips, cruises and cash prizes after I answered a poll question on Facebook. The experience made me realize the importance of informing consumers like myself about possible scams and fraud.  The experience also revealed to me how ordinary people are so easily susceptible to these scams. Thus, the many things that the League is doing with regard to consumer advocacy in the field of consumer protection and fraud in particular makes me extremely excited to be able to work in this field.

I am eager to immerse myself in the work that the League does this summer. In addition to getting myself acquainted with the field of consumer advocacy during my time with the League, I hope to gain a new perspective with regard to public policy and be able to apply the principles and approaches of consumer advocacy utilized by the League to the issues that affect the broader global consumer population. 

Julie Duffy – Child Labor Coalition

Hi, my name is Julie Duffy and I was born and raised in Rochester, New York. However, after eighteen cold and bitter winters I decided to move to the West Coast in search of mild temperatures and snowless winters.  I currently attend the University of San Francisco. However, I will be starting my junior year this fall studying abroad in Amman, Jordan. I am majoring in international studies with a concentration in international economics and a double minor in Middle Eastern studies and public service and community engagement. I am the vice president of USF’s Mexican folk dance club Baile Folklorico de San Pancho as well as member of our Model Arab League delegation. Additionally, I enjoy spending time outdoors, hiking, camping and playing tennis.

I became familiar with the National Consumers League from American University’s Washington semester program, of which I am participating this summer. I have a passion for social justice and I felt that interning with the Child Labor Coalition was a great opportunity for me to engage in the fight against child labor both domestically and abroad. I look forward to the many opportunities this summer offers including learning about important consumer advocacy issues and improving my personal awareness of consumer issues. I am also excited to spend the summer in DC and explore the city! 

Alesha Mitchell – Communications

I have been reading Bishop T.D. Jakes’ “Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive.” I began reading this book first, because Oprah said so and second, because I wanted to know how to effectively live on instinct. I wanted to be assured that I could trust myself and know that my decisions are products of good seeds sown. My relationship with God was and is stronger than ever and I feel myself navigating towards destiny.

In his book, Bishop writes about the giraffe and the turtle. He explains that the giraffe, in its grand stature, is equipped with a 25-pound heart in order to maintain the circulatory flow of blood through its extended neck into its intelligent brain. Bishop then describes how newborn turtles instinctively search for the ocean waters after being hatched on sandy ground. Why is this relevant? Too often, many of us are so distracted by things, other’s opinions, and our own insecurities that we do not hear what we already know deep inside of us. Bishop states that if the giraffe attempts to bend its head to the level of the turtle that the giraffe will inevitably pass out; thus suggesting that the giraffe must operate on the level for which it was designed.

Because I have such a huge heart, I have to keep my head lifted to the level of my destiny. I must not settle for the “status quo” of what society justifies as a career for a young adult woman. Additionally, I must not stand-back when issues arise. I refuse to work with an organization that does not encourage instinctive behavior. During this summer internship with the National Consumers League, I will contribute to this organization’s strive for the well being of all. I am Alesha D. Mitchell and I care.

Paige Whitney – Public Policy

I am a senior of Florida State University double majoring in International Affairs with a focus in Political Science. I am originally from Merrimack, New Hampshire but decided to leave the frigid temperatures for sunshine. I am happy to be back in the Northeast and begin my new adventure at NCL.

I am participating in the Washington Semester Program run by American University. With the help of my advisor at American University I found NCL and applied right away. I believe there is a strong value in consumer safety and awareness which many people across the country are not properly informed about. I am particularly interested in public policy issues which focus on protecting the consumer from fraud. Many consumers are not aware of the risk they place themselves in just by entering their information on a local website or by online shopping. I am also eager to learn more about the other areas NCL deals with such as labor interests and begin my summer here at NCL.

With a background in International Affairs I hope to take what I learn here, at NCL and transfer it on an international basis as a focus of what I hope to be doing in Graduate school. I love to travel and spent my freshman year at FSU in Florence, Italy and London, England. In the future I hope to attend a Graduate program abroad in Switzerland and broaden my experience with public policy to success in foreign policy. 

In a victory for consumer protection, the Supreme Court rules in favor of Pom Wonderful – National Consumers League

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June 13, 2014

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League,  benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League applauds yesterday’s Supreme Court decision supporting the juice maker Pom Wonderful’s lawsuit against Coca Cola.  This is a huge victory for consumer protection.

“The Coca Cola juice product contained .5% of pomegranate and blueberry juice and is the epitome of deceptive advertising,” said the League’s executive director, Sally Greenberg. “Coca Cola tried to argue that the FDA laws preempt a private lawsuit against it. They lost the argument, and we are pleased that the makers of Pom Wonderful pressed their case against Minute Maid juice, which has outrageously labeled their product with pictures of pomegranate and blueberries despite the fact that very little of this juice is in the drink. This is false and deceptive advertising of the worst kind. Moreover, the Supreme Court preserved the Lanham Act’s provision for private lawsuits by competitors, a very important avenue for enforcing false and deceptive claims laws.”

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the unanimous decision for the court, saying that the Minute Maid juice product contained a “minuscule amount of pomegranate and blueberry juices.” More specifically, he said, it is made up of “99.4 percent apple and grape juices, 0.3 percent pomegranate juice, 0.2 percent blueberry juice and 0.1 percent raspberry juice.”

“The product’s front label,” he added, “also displays a vignette of blueberries, grapes, and raspberries in front of a halved pomegranate and a halved apple.”  Lower courts had dismissed Pom’s lawsuit, accepting Coca Cola’s argument that the FDA has exclusive enforcement authority. Instead, the Supreme Court found that FDA law could be harmonized with the Lanham Act, a false advertising statute that permits private lawsuits, and that they can be applied in a complimentary fashion.

Justice Kennedy was animated at the April oral argument on this case, speaking as a consumer who genuinely believed what was on the Minute Maid Juice label.

If “Coca-Cola stands behind this label as being fair to consumers,” Justice Kennedy told the company’s lawyer, “then I think you have a very difficult case to make. I think it’s relevant for us to ask whether people are cheated in buying this product.”

The lawyer, Kathleen M. Sullivan retorted, “We don’t think that consumers are quite as unintelligent as Pom must think they are,” adding, “They know when something is a flavored blend of five juices and the non-predominant juices are just a flavor.”

Justice Kennedy frowned. “Don’t make me feel bad,” he said, “because I thought that this was pomegranate juice.”

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About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, 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. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL launches all-new nclnet.org – National Consumers League

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June 9, 2014

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League,  benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC—The nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, the National Consumers League (NCL), today announced the launch of its newly redesigned website, nclnet.org. The new site will give consumers and workers a more interactive, easier-to-navigate, and more user-friendly experience.

“This redesign will make visiting the site for information, sharing stories, and learning about the latest scams and policies affecting consumers far easier,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director. “The new site incorporates feedback from our constituents and allies—and we are excited to bring these new features and resources to consumers and workers.”

The site offers streamlined navigation of NCL’s advocacy issues, as well as better access to its programs including LifeSmarts, Fraud.org, the Child Labor Coalition, and Script Your Future. The new site also features tools for consumers and workers to participate in the League’s advocacy efforts via petitions, letters to policymakers, and shareable content.

The new home page features a better overview of the organization’s 115-year-old mission and showcases more of the day-to-day work of staff, including the newest press releases, From the Expert blog posts, events, and other announcements.

“We welcome visitors – new and returning!” said Greenberg.

For more information about the National Consumers League and its programs, visit the new website at nclnet.org.

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About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, 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. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Making the case for a soda tax – National Consumers League

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Last week the Center for the Science in the Public Interest hosted the National Soda Summit in Washington, DC. Strange name for a conference, I know.  Without further explanation, one might conclude from the title that his was a Coca-Cola extravaganza. Au contraire. CSPI, which was founded in by Dr. Mike Jacobson in 1971, gets the credit for getting Americans, for the first time, to question what’s in their food, ask how nutritional that food is, and ask why our food choices make us unhealthy.

Sweetened drinks such as soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, and sweetened coffees and tea, add large numbers of calories to the diets of children and adults. They are associated with chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Undoing the damage that’s caused by unhealthy foods – and the ubiquity of unhealthy drinks available to us every day –is a long slow process. Walk into a 7-11 sometime and count the number of empty calorie options that add massive amounts of calories to our diet every year.

On the tables at the conference were two-liter bottles of Mountain Dew and Pepsi and Coke and energy drinks– with notes on how much sugar each contained – try 64 teaspoons in the Mountain Due and 72 in the Pepsi. Bags of domino sugar were mounted on one table to demonstrate the absurd amounts of empty calories in these drinks. That’s a little bit deceptive because the sweetener in these drinks isn’t sugar but high fructose corn syrup. However, the calories are the same.

NCL supports a tax on sweetened drinks, with proceeds devoted to school nutritional education programs.  The latest research from the Robert Wood Johnson is that a calorie –based tax on drinks would reduce consumption of beverage calories. Based on sales data from supermarkets in New York, a .04 cent per calorie tax on sugar sweetened beverages would reduce the consumption of beverage calories by 9.3 percent. Research shows that a variety of pricing strategies can create incentives for healthier choices. Interestingly, a 20 percent increase in the cost of sweetened beverages, is estimated to reduce consumption by 24 percent. Like cigarettes, soda is price sensitive; raising the price of these empty calorie drinks may be just what we need to lower consumption levels.

 

Vaccination confusion putting nation’s health at risk – National Consumers League

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The New York Times recently broke the news that, largely because of a new anti-vaccine movement spreading across the country,  cases of measles have reached a 20-year high. The article reported that 85 percent of this year’s cases were in people not vaccinated because of religious, philosophical or personal objections. Fear that misinformation could result in undoing the progress we have made against diseases like measles have been realized.

This piece, authored by Sally Greenberg, originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

A Sept. 14, 1961 New York Times headlineboldly proclaimed “Measles Vaccine Effective In Test, Injections With Live Virus Protect 100 Per Cent of Children in Epidemics.” Before the measles vaccine, this was a disease that infected nearly every child in America by the age of 15, killing up to 500 children a year and hospitalizing an estimated 48,000 more across the country. The measles vaccine, safe and cost-effective, was a marvel of modern science. Spread by coughing, sneezing, and close personal contact, measles has no cure or treatment and is highly contagious.

That is what makes vaccination so essential. Parents who choose not to vaccinate endanger their children — one in five children who contract the disease will be hospitalized — and also threaten the health of their peers, their families, and their communities. Though whether to vaccinate or not is framed as “personal choice,” the fact is that this choice has major health repercussions. The anti-vaccination movement is not wed to science but rather a false narrative based on… nothing.

Vaccine misinformation began with a 1998 report, published in the medical journalThe Lancet, which claimed to establish a link between vaccines and autism. The study has since been discredited, disproved, and retracted. However, a recent survey commissioned by the National Consumers League (NCL) found that 33 percent of parents with children 18 and younger continue to believe “vaccinations can cause autism.”

The good news is that an overwhelming majority of adults (87 percent) support mandatory vaccinations for school-aged children.

The body of evidence supporting the effectiveness and safety of vaccine use is extensive. After nearly 40 years of measles vaccinations, in 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared measles “eliminated.” The term “eliminated” means that there was no reported disease transmission for a continuous 12-month period. Yet, in 2013 the CDC reported 189 cases of measles, and the pace of infection continues.

In California alone, a state where parents can choose not to vaccinate their children based on “personal belief” exemptions, we’ve seen 51 cases of measles reported so far in 2014. In the same period last year, there were only four cases reported in California, and there have not been more than 40 cases reported in the state since 2000. In the last decade, the rates of unvaccinated children in California have increased at an alarming pace. In 2007, an estimated 1.4 percent of kindergarteners were not vaccinated; by the beginning of the 2013 that number had more than doubled to 3.1 percent.

We must not allow anti-vaccination rhetoric to undermine these critically-important methods for keeping children and adults safe from illness or disease. A century ago, parents lived in fear of losing a child, or multiple children, to typhoid, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, small pox, whooping cough, mumps, and other diseases for which we today have vaccinations. Many of us grew up with little or no fear of death or impairment from these diseases. While it is true that no vaccine or drug, aspirin included, is 100 percent safe, the overall good these medications provide to the health of our population — by a huge magnitude — outweighs the tiny number of those who experience adverse reactions. Absent a valid religious belief or health concern, especially in the case of children, vaccinations are our moral imperative.

Fraud warning: Malware scams locking computers for ransom

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92_computer_lock.jpgCrooks are targeting consumers and businesses with sophisticated technology that, spread through email and difficult-to-detect downloads, encrypts the contents of a hard drive, making it impossible to use one’s files. Hackers target unsuspecting users and then claim that their data is being held for ransom — and, once a consumer pays, there’s no guarantee that the data will be unlocked.According to the Federal Trade Commission, after the malware is installed by an unsuspecting computer user, the Cryptolocker crooks send a ransom note demanding hundreds of dollars in payment via Bitcoin or another anonymous payment method before they will unlock the files. Once a consumer pays the ransom, there’s no guarantee that the fraudster will not simply ask for more money.

Even if you pay the ransom, are you really willing to bet that the criminals running this scam will honor their promises and unlock your computer files? Experts say it’s unlikely.

Ransomware has been around for a decade, but the frequency and severity of CryptoLocker scams appears to be on the rise, raking in millions of dollars for crooks.

A study by the University of Kent found that 2 out of every 5 CryptoLocker victims pay the ransom. This malware is especially sneaky, as it can be disguised as JPEG images, as PDF files, as Microsoft Office files, and other innocuous, familiar files. There are even reports that Facebook could be one of the likeliest places to get a CryptoLocker malware. Businesses have also been reported to be victimized by these scams.

It’s not just individuals who are vulnerable. but even computers for whole businesses. ABC 33-40, a news station in Birmingham, Alabama, was hit with the Crypto Locker virus. The director of engineering for ABC 33-40, Ron Thomas, described his station’s experience with the virus. “You buy this $300 Green Dot MoneyPak, you cannot use a credit card for it, it had to be cash or debit card. Once they claim the funds, they unlock your files. If those files had been lost, it could’ve affected 10 years’ worth of work by several departments,” said Thomas in a local news report.

Avoid Cryptolocker and other malware scams!

  1. Back up your files frequently on a separate device (which does not remain connected to your main computer) or use free cloud storage systems that are available online.
  2. Be on the lookout for suspicious looking phishing emails and links. Do not click on links or attachments from untrusted senders.
  3. Consider using ad-filtering applications that are free for your web browser to avoid clicking on suspicious links from ad pop-ups either by accident or by compulsion.

Exposing discriminatory car loans – National Consumers League

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92_bostian.jpgLet’s say you’re at the auto dealership, negotiating terms for your new car. At the next sales desk is a family whose income, credit score, and assets are identical to yours. When all is said and done, however, your loan costs $300 more than your fellow customer’s. How come? Most likely, it’s because you’re African-American and your fellow customer is white. Wait a minute, isn’t that illegal, you wonder? Well, sure, but how do you prove it? 

Who’s overseeing these so-called “interest-rate markups” that so often penalize African-American and Latino customers solely on the basis of race and ethnicity. 

Experts from the Center for Responsible Lending, Office of the Controller of the Currency, and other groups described these offensive practices at at a May 22 congressional briefing chaired by CRL staffer and NCL board member Ken Edwards. In addition to congressional staffers, reporters and advocates attended, as did NCL staffer Amy Sonderman myself. Participants also heard from several Representatives, including Hank Johnson, Steve Horsford, and Tony Cardenas, who decried discriminatory interest-rate markups, saying, “People are cheated out of what they’ve earned!” Rep. Johnson reminded participants that in 2004 Ally Bank (successor to GMAC) paid an $80 million fine to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the National Consumer Law Center. Despite that, interest rate markups are so lucrative that this discriminatory practice continues. 

What can be done? According to Enrique Lopezlira on the National Council of La Raza, Congress should fix the “carve-out” and give the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau statutory authority to regulate car loans by auto dealers. Michael Archer from the Marine Corps Installations East, urged stronger regulation. “Troops need better financial education, but it isn’t enough. Many don’t even know they’ve been swindled, and too many don’t think it would be effective to register a complaint.”

$300 more per car, just because you’re African-American. This is one tiny aspect of racial discrimination in our “post-racial” America. Let your Representative know what you think.