A Trusted Source for Reliable Health Information

For more than a century, the National Consumers League (NCL) has been a vigorous advocate for consumers, playing a pivotal role in protecting health and safety, by providing vital and reliable information on medical and food products so that individuals and families can make informed decisions about matters that affect their well-being.

Since being chartered in 1899, the organization has worked to create and strengthen protections for consumers. These critical protections were led initially by the work of its first general secretary, Florence Kelley, who helped spread the word about the importance of typhoid vaccines to mitigate a disease outbreak at the end of the 19th century and helped lead the League’s efforts to promote the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which laid the foundation for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Indeed, the work and mission of NCL shares much with the FDA, an agency that embraces a basic responsibility to provide the public with accurate, science-based information so that Americans can make well-informed decisions about their health. We’ve seen great success in this area, thanks in part to the work done by NCL. Nevertheless, we still face great challenges, and I am confident that NCL will play a very important role in addressing these as well.

Our nation has enacted important laws to help protect consumers, and we have marshaled extraordinary progress in science and technology in the development of new treatments and cures for diseases. Despite these and other advances that enable us to improve our health, we are today witnessing a troubling new development in, and threat to, public health. Notably, we are experiencing a worrisome decline in our nation’s life expectancy that is in part linked to an increasing prevalence and cumulative impact of a number of chronic diseases — heart, vascular, metabolic (such as obesity and diabetes), and lung and kidney disease, and to troubling rates of overdoses, suicides, and gun violence.

Just as regrettable is the growing problem of misinformation about public health, science, and medicine. A stream of misinformation and often unfounded opinions, most often spread via the Internet and social media, is eroding the public’s trust in science and government agencies, such as the FDA, making it increasingly difficult for the public to verify facts and advice from these trusted sources.

While not a new problem in our nation’s history, the digitization of our culture and the rapid growth of social media have exacerbated the pervasiveness and impact of the problem. This is an area where NCL’s powerful voice and unimpeachable credibility can have an enormous impact. Neither the FDA, nor the entire federal government can combat the spread of misinformation on its own. It is going to require a concerted non-governmental response. Few organizations are better positioned to succeed at this task than the National Consumers League.

It wouldn’t be the first time NCL rose to the occasion. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, NCL was an essential voice – helping Americans better understand the virus, its variants, and how to protect themselves from infection. The organization testified before the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panels on vaccine development and safety and advocated for limits on social media misinformation during that crisis.

Similarly, NCL has provided enormous public benefit through its work to help consumers understand food labeling, to hold companies accountable for the claims they make regarding food and health care products, and with programs such as Script Your Future that help raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence among patients, particularly those with chronic health challenges.

There is an old saying that a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can get out of bed. Given the speed and reach of social media today, that analogy can be applied to misinformation, which is disseminated far too quickly to be adequately countered with trustworthy facts. However, we don’t have the luxury to surrender. The lives and well-being of too many people depend on our ability to provide the public with reliable information grounded in science.

I am confident in our ability to overcome this latest challenge, thanks in large part to allies like the National Consumers League with its long track record of empowering generations of Americans to make well-informed decisions to secure their health and their futures. I look forward to NCL’s continued activism, engagement, and leadership.

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Robert M. Califf, M.D. is Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.