NCL statement of opposition to FDA decision to delay the compliance date for menu labeling to May 2018 – National Consumers League

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May 4, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), in response to a decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay the compliance date for menu labeling from May 5, 2017 to May 7, 2018, has issued the following statement, which may be attributed to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

Menu labeling guidelines were first introduced as a provision under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The rules require restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and cafeterias, with more than 20 locations, display calorie counts on their printed menus and posted menu boards.

We are disappointed that the FDA has yielded to industry pressure to extend compliance dates yet another year. Industry lobbyists argue compliance will be complicated and costly. However many chains, such as McDonalds, Panera, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks, have already responded to the proposed rules and very helpfully posted calorie and nutrition information for the benefit of all consumers. Studies have shown that companies that offer voluntary calorie amounts actually offer lower calorie meal options than establishments that don’t disclose nutrition information.

Readily available nutritional information allows consumers to make informed choices about what they and their families consume. Even industry agrees. A report by Unilever found that as many as “67 percent of U.S. diners indicated they wanted to know about fat content and calorie content on menus.” Additional research presented by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found: 80 percent of Americans support menu labeling in chain restaurants; 77 percent want calorie labeling at convenience stores; and 81 percent favor having supermarkets provide calorie information for their prepared, restaurant-type foods.

FDA will open a 60-day comment period starting  May 4, 2017. We encourage consumers to submit comments during this period and urge the FDA to enforce menu labeling that gives consumers the nutritional information they want and will use. Additionally, members of Congress are also trying to weaken menu labeling rules. An anti-menu labeling bill named the “Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (S.261/HR.772)” was surreptitiously attached as a rider to the FY2017 appropriations bill. We urge consumers to call their members of Congress in opposition of this misleading bill. Consumers can call them through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

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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.

National Consumers League testimony to Senate: Congress must act to restore air travelers’ rights – National Consumers League

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May 4, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today called on the Senate to take immediate action to address the lack of competition in the industry that fuels incidents like the now infamous Dr. David Dao video being violently removed from a United flight. 

“It is time for Congress to step in and restore consumers’ rights in the airline industry,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg, who testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security. “Only through Congressional action can American consumers be assured that the next time they fly, they won’t become the unwitting star of their own viral airline video.”

Read Greenberg’s full testimony here.

The consumer group blamed unchecked consolidation for an environment characterized by anti-consumer practices, policies, and experiences. Since airlines were deregulated in the late 1970’s, there have been no fewer than 40 airline mergers. Currently, more than 80 percent of domestic flights are controlled by four major airlines. 

“The near-complete lack of competition has enabled U.S. air carriers to worry more about profits and less about customer service and consumer rights,” said Greenberg. “Although recent headlines have shined a spotlight on the airlines’ most egregious practices, frequent air travelers were already familiar with how anti-consumer the industry has become.”

Unchecked consolidation has led to higher prices, fewer flights, worse service, and the rise of excessive fees for things like baggage, cancellation, seat selection, and other services that were at one time free to customers. The major airlines are raking in record profits–in 2015, the biggest airlines brought in $14.69 billion in ancillary revenue. Consumers are increasingly powerless in the airline marketplace and have been forced to suffer from a decrease in comfort and amenities, with shrinking seats, aisles, and bathrooms.

Before the Senate, Greenberg called for Congress to take action and implement a Passenger Bill of Rights, strengthen consumer protections, and require airlines to justify fees and reverse the trend of “unbundling” services. To read her full testimony, click here.

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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.

NCL disappointed by President Trump’s appointments of Teresa Manning and Charmaine Yoest to key HHS positions – National Consumers League

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May 2, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer organization, founded in 1899, joins our colleagues in the women’s and reproductive health communities in expressing grave concerns about President Trump’s appointment of Teresa Manning to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In this HHS position, Manning, a former lobbyist with the National Right to Life Committee and legislative analyst for the conservative Family Research Council, will be in charge of the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) and the Title X National Family Planning Program, the nation’s only dedicated source of federal funding for family planning. The Title X program supports high-quality, culturally sensitive family planning services and other preventive health care for millions of low-income, under-insured and uninsured individuals who may otherwise lack access to health care.

“It is inexcusable for the President to appoint an anti-choice and avowed opponent of birth control to head the office responsible for overseeing the Title X program. Teresa Manning has a long history of attacking contraception, calling family planning ‘something that occurs between a husband and a wife and God.’ Appointing Teresa Manning to head OPA is tantamount to putting a fox in charge of the hen house,” said NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Unfortunately, Manning’s appointment is yet another example of the Trump Administration’s anti-woman agenda.” 

Additionally, just last week, President Trump appointed Charmaine Yoest, the former President and CEO of the anti-choice group Americans United for Life, to the position of HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. “We know that the best way to reduce abortion is to provide universal free birth control. Rather than protecting and promoting women’s reproductive health, however, the Trump Administration is dead set on rolling back the clock on the health and well-being of our nation’s women,” said Greenberg.    

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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.