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History

A Look Back on 100+ Years of Advocacy

“To live means to buy, to buy means to have power, to have power means to have responsibility.”

–Florence Kelley, first General Secretary, National Consumers League

For more than 100 years, the National Consumers League has followed these founding principles: That the working conditions we accept for our fellow citizens should be reflected by our purchases, and that consumers should demand safety and reliability from the goods and services they buy.

Promoting a fair marketplace for workers and consumers was the reason for the League’s founding in 1899 and still guides us into our second century.

NCL’s Early Years

During the late 19th century’s Progressive Era, social justice movements emerged to protect the interests and promote justice for working people. As part of that movement, the National Consumers League was chartered in 1899 by two of America’s leading social reformers Jane Addams and Josephine Lowell. These two women were pioneers in achieving many social reforms in communities and workplaces across the country. Under the direction of its first general secretary, Florence Kelley, the National Consumer’s league exposed child labor and other scandalous working conditions. Kelley was to become one of the most influential and effective social reformers of the 20th century. During the early 1900s, she led the League in its efforts to:

  • protect in-home workers, often including whole families, from terrible exploitation by employers
  • promote the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906
  • write and then champion state minimum wage laws for women
  • defend and ultimately convince the US Supreme Court to uphold a 10-hour work day law in the landmark Muller v. Oregon case of 1908
  • advocate for creation of a federal Children’s Bureau and federal child labor restrictions

Along with New Jersey Consumers League Director Katherine Wiley and Louis Brandeis (who later became a Supreme Court justice), Kelley achieved a lifetime’s worth of accomplishments in her 33 years as leader of the League. She worked alongside many other reform-minded women and men to achieve her goals and served as inspiration and mentor to FDR’s Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman ever to serve in as a cabinet member and a close confidant and influential advisor to the FDR.

Mid-Century Challenges

The leadership of the National Consumers League struggled to contend with Kelley’s death in 1932, facing the burden of maintaining the group’s vigor after losing its long-time leader. Lucy Randolph Mason directed the League for the next five years, and Mary Dublin (Keyserling) directed from 1938-1940. In 1939 Dr. Caroline Ware began advising Dublin regarding activities in Washington, D.C. under the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

With first lady Eleanor Roosevelt serving as vice president of the League and testifying on behalf of the organization on numerous occasions, during this time the League focused on passage of the 1938 federal Fair Labor Standards Act. This comprehensive, landmark legislation addressed issues the NCL had raised since its inception including child labor, minimum wage, restrictions on hours worked, and industrial homework. Taking advantage of the expanding definition of social welfare as seen through the ideas of the Roosevelt administration, the League also advocated for:

  • national health insurance
  • improved food and drug safety laws
  • federal pesticide monitoring
  • social security legislation especially for the elderly or disabled
  • unemployment insurance

From 1943-1958 Elizabeth Magee directed the NCL, transferring the group’s office to Cleveland, Ohio, her home. Magee placed new emphasis on:

  • health assistance for migratory workers
  • Medicare and Medicaid
  • wholesome meat and poultry
  • Truth-in-Packaging legislation
  • food additive and color testing
  • worker safety in atomic industries

During the 1970s and 80s, NCL Executive Director Sandra Willett (Jackson) increased attention to consumer education through the “Assertive Consumer” project. The League also promoted consumer participation in government decision-making, which helped open the doors of federal agencies to consumers and their views. During this period, such national figures as Esther Peterson served as vice president of the League. Peterson, a renowned labor and consumer leader, regularly testified on behalf of the League. Peterson became head of the White House Office of Consumer Affairs under President Jimmy Carter and had served as consumer advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson before that.

The 1980s saw significant changes develop in the nation’s health care system. Responding to the need to provide consumers with useful information about these changes, the League, under Barbara Warden’s leadership, organized a major Consumer Health Care Conference, launched a series of consumer health care guides, and established a Medicare education program. The League also:

  • supported enhanced enforcement powers for the Federal Trade Commission
  • opposed the revival of industrial homework sweatshops
  • defended Social Security and Medicare

Under the direction of Linda Golodner (1985 – 2007), the League expanded significantly, continuing to develop its consumer education programs and increase its activism in opposing exploitative child and sweatshop labor. In the late 80s, the group established both the Alliance Against Fraud in Telemarketing and the Child Labor Coalition. The Alliance led to the League’s long-term program, the National Fraud Information Center (later called NCL’s Fraud Center, now simply www.Fraud.org), established in 1992 to assist consumers directly with telemarketing fraud inquiries. Under Golodner, NCL took over the LifeSmarts program, the Ultimate Consumer Challenge, a fast, fun, gameshow-style Internet based consumer education competition for teens and tweens. (Complete information can be found at www.LifeSmarts.org.)

The 21st Century and Beyond

Under the leadership of Sally Greenberg, Executive Director (2007 – present), NCL is focused on four key priority areas: fraud, child labor, LifeSmarts, and health care reform, while continuing to promote a range of additional general protections for consumers and workers. NCL has been instrumental in uniting consumer and labor groups on issues of common interest and in leading the call on Congress and the President to adopt pro-consumer policies, including reinstating the Office of Consumer Affairs in the White House.

Today, the NCL:

  • spearheads efforts to promote the safe use of medication, including convening a multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder campaign to promote better medication adherence (ensuring that patients adhere to their medication regimen) in conjunction and with the support of a federal agency
  • comments frequently on matters of concern to consumers and workers before the Department of Agriculture, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Labor
  • promotes better working conditions for migrant farmworker families and teen workers, both internationally and at home through the Child Labor Coalition
  • is fighting to improve product safety, as well as misleading or confusing labeling on food and beverage products
  • maintains several consumer-friendly Web sites, where consumers may download current publications and alerts on current issues ranging from avoiding fraud to maintaining one’s mortgage, to understanding bloodthinners.
  • participates in the Safe Food Coalition, which promotes effective meat and poultry inspection
  • distributes tens of thousands of publications annually, on topics including food and drug interaction, safe over-the-counter medication use, budgeting and credit, and telephone service
  • convenes a consumer-labor coalition that meets regularly, bringing union and consumer groups together for discussions and joint activities of concern to workers and consumers.

As the League enters its second century, it faces many of the same questions of social justice and consumer protection that Florence Kelley confronted in 1899, except now the marketplace is global in a way that neither Kelley nor her colleagues could have imagined. How do we eliminate child labor? How do we ensure food safety? What is a decent minimum wage for workers? How can privacy be effectively protected?

These questions and the new ones that will inevitably arise will challenge the National Consumers League in its next 100 years. We look forward to building the organization and meeting the challenges facing consumers and workers today.

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PBPA Commends HHS Funding to Support Maternal and Infant Health

The Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance (PBPA), a coalition of maternal and women’s health advocates dedicated to improving preterm birth outcomes in the United States and addressing its disproportionate impact on women of color, applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for awarding nearly $350 million to states across the country to improve support for safe pregnancies and healthy babies.

“For far too long, U.S. maternal health care has lagged behind that of other developed countries, particularly for women of color,” noted Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. “This additional funding will enable local health departments and nonprofits to better address the health care needs of the most vulnerable mothers and their babies.”

The funding, awarded by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will support home visiting services, increase access to doulas, address infant mortality and maternal illness, and improve data reporting on maternal mortality.

“Maternal health care in the U.S. has consistently failed women of color,” Greenberg continued.  “We applaud HHS for this additional funding that will help to improve the maternal health for all mothers and babies, especially women of color and those most at-risk.”

The funding announcement follows the release of a report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights which found that Native American women are more than two times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women in the U.S. This disparity was further exacerbated for Black women in the U.S., who are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.

“In addition to expanding programs to support maternal health, we must increase representation from racially and ethnically diverse groups in research and clinical trials, particularly those studying treatment options to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality,” said Greenberg.  “The need for the additional HHS funding and the report from the Commission on Civil Rights clearly illustrate how critical representative research and real world evidence are to ensuring all mothers and their babies have the same opportunity for the best possible health outcomes.”

Diverse research for a diverse America: The value of equitable, real-world research

August 12, 2021/in Blog, Health, Prevention Blog Post

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to hardship for all Americans, it is clear that people of color have been disproportionately burdened. Across the health care continuum, addressing this disparity has become part of the broader conversation about the history of systemic racism and the underlying social determinants of health that negatively affect the mental, physical, and economic health of individuals and entire communities.

The pandemic has underscored persistent health disparities, and there is growing recognition that representation in research and clinical trials can have a profound impact on health outcomes. A lack of representation from racially and ethnically diverse groups in research and clinical trials have typically led to gaps in data, missing the opportunity to assess the full impact of various treatments and drugs across a range of populations. The collection and use of real-world research and data to inform the potential use, risks, and benefits of medical products and treatments can ultimately lead to better health outcomes, particularly for those who have been underrepresented in the past.

Existing efforts to improve inclusion

Efforts to expand diversity and representation in medical research are underway in Congress. Policymakers are encouraging the incorporation of Real World Evidence (RWE) in drug development through the recent Cures 2.0 draft legislation released by Reps. Diana Degette (D-CO-1) and Fred Upton (D-MI-6). While the status quo limits us from effectively reaching underserved populations, the proposed legislation would allow studies that include RWE for some drugs after they have been approved. At the heart of this issue is a growing appreciation that the same therapy can affect different populations in different ways, which is why Cures 2.0 supports collecting data that more accurately reflects the unique experiences and needs of patients across diverse populations.

Recognizing the potential for RWE in maternal health

The lack of representative research in the field of maternal health is undeniable, and its implications are staggering. The dismal state of maternal care in the United States reflects how our health care system has failed women of color, including by not adequately studying treatment options to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality. The need for RWE is clear when you consider the persistent disparities in health outcomes that plague minority communities.

Preterm birth and its disproportionate impact on women of color is a stark illustration of the need to make progress on representative research in maternal health. Preterm birth is the second-largest contributor to infant death in America today. Despite the tremendous physical, emotional, and financial toll that preterm birth continues to take on our country — disproportionately so on women and families of color — not enough therapeutic tools currently exist to prevent it.

Today, “17P,” the only FDA-approved treatment to help reduce the likelihood of spontaneous, recurrent preterm birth in the United States is at-risk of being withdrawn from the market in all its forms, including the branded product and five generic versions. Unfortunately there is conflicting evidence from two different clinical trials, one representative of a diverse U.S. population and another studied in a largely white population in Europe. It’s not a straightforward comparison. If 17P is withdrawn, the women most affected by preterm birth, predominantly women of color, would be left without an FDA-approved treatment option.

The FDA is considering the path forward, including additional data collection through leveraging RWE from past patient use. The success of the first (approval) trial for 17P in the impacted communities signals the importance of RWE. Continued access to 17P is, at its core, a matter of health equity. Black women must not yet again be left vulnerable to a system that historically has overlooked them.

PRETERM BIRTH PREVENTION ALLIANCE APPLAUDS FDA’S GRANTING OF HEARING FOR THE ONLY FDA-APPROVED THERAPIES TO REDUCE RECURRENT PRETERM BIRTH

WASHINGTON, DC, August 26, 2021 –

Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance a coalition of maternal and women’s health advocates dedicated to improving preterm birth outcomes in the United States and addressing its disproportionate impact on women of color, commends the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for granting a public hearing to discuss 17P, the only FDA-approved class of branded and generic treatments to reduce preterm birth in indicated patients.

We appreciate the FDA’s willingness to hear directly from individuals facing prematurity and the providers who treat them about their experiences with 17P,” said National Consumer League’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “It is an important step towards better understanding variations in efficacy across diverse populations and ensuring all women have an equal chance at the best possible outcomes.”

Last week, the FDA agreed to grant Covis Pharma, the manufacturer of the branded 17P product Makena its request for a public hearing to discuss 17P. Hydroxyprogesterone caproate—or “17P”—has been approved since 2011 and is the only FDA-approved class of treatments to help prevent spontaneous, recurrent preterm birth in the United States. In 2020, the FDA proposed withdrawing 17P in all its forms, including the branded product and its five generic versions, based on conflicting efficacy data from two studies composed of vastly different populations, one predominantly inclusive of women in the U.S. most vulnerable to preterm birth and one not.

“Mothers and birthing people deserve access to the best possible treatments to prevent preterm birth. We cannot achieve birth equity if we study pregnant women as a monolith,” said Blythe Thomas, Initiative Director of 1,000 Days. “It is only by systematically researching the real-world, post-market impact of 17P on individuals from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, while maintaining access for all affected, that we can reduce disparities in maternal and infant health.”

While the hearing date has not yet been set, the Alliance looks forward to sharing the perspectives of affected individuals and their physicians with the agency once the hearing is scheduled and will continue to advocate for at-risk moms and babies of all races and ethnicities.

###

ABOUT THE PRETERM BIRTH PREVENTION ALLIANCE

The Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance (PBPA) is a coalition of maternal and women’s health advocates who share a common concern about the state of preterm birth in the United States and the proposed market withdrawal of 17P, the only FDA-approved class of treatments to help prevent spontaneous, recurrent preterm birth. Formed in 2021 by the National Consumers League, the 15 partners in the PBPA seek to improve preterm birth outcomes in the United States by maintaining access to safe, FDA-approved treatment options and advocating for more diverse medical research that adequately represents the experiences of women and newborns of color. Women of color need a seat at the table. To learn more, visit www.pretermbirthalliance.org

LEADING PATIENT ADVOCATES LAUNCH PRETERM BIRTH PREVENTION ALLIANCE TO PROTECT CRITICAL ACCESS TO THE SOLE FDA-APPROVED CLASS OF THERAPIES TO REDUCE RECURRENT PRETERM BIRTH

WASHINGTON, DC, April 20, 2021 – Today, the National Consumers League (NCL), along with a coalition of patient advocacy organizations dedicated to advancing the health of mothers and infants, announced the launch of the >Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance.

Members of the Alliance are joining forces in an effort to preserve patient access to the only Food & Drug Administration-approved class of treatments for pregnant women who have previously had an unexpected, or spontaneous, preterm birth. Together, Alliance members seek to ensure that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) hears concerns from the full range of stakeholders about the potential risks and impact of withdrawal for at-risk pregnant women and their providers.

For the fifth year in a row, the U.S. preterm birth rate has increased (to 10.2 percent of births), and preterm birth and its complications were the second largest contributor to infant death across the country. Preterm birth also represents a significant racial health disparity, with Black women in America experiencing premature delivery at a rate 50 percent higher than other racial groups throughout the country.

However, in 2020, the FDA >proposed withdrawing hydroxyprogesterone caproate, commonly called “17P” or “17-OHPC”, the only FDA-approved class of branded and generic treatments to help prevent the risk of preterm birth in women with a history of spontaneous preterm birth. The FDA is currently determining whether to hold a hearing on the status of 17P, based on conflicting efficacy data from two studies composed of vastly different patient populations, one inclusive of women in the U.S. most vulnerable to preterm birth and one not.

“We’re fighting for a more inclusive healthcare system that gives everyone an equal chance to have the best outcomes possible,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League. “We don’t believe that removing 17P from the market without gaining a better understanding of who could benefit the most from its use is in the best interests of patients, nor their healthcare providers, particularly as there are no other approved treatment options available.”

To date, 14 organizations have joined NCL to advocate for the health interests of at-risk pregnant women and infants, including: 1,000 Days; 2020 Mom; American Association of Birth Centers; Black Mamas Matter Alliance; Black Women’s Health Imperative; Expecting Health; Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Montana; HealthyWomen; Miracle Babies; National Birth Equity Collaborative; National Black Midwives Alliance; National Partnership for Women & Families; Sidelines High-Risk National Support Network; and SisterReach.

“As a trained obstetrician and gynecologist, I know firsthand the impact of preterm birth on Black women and birthing people. I also know that racism – not race – is the driving factor leading the disproportionate impact of preterm birth on Black women and birthing people thereby exacerbating systemic inequities in maternal and infant health. To achieve birth equity, which is the assurance of the conditions of optimal births for all people with a willingness to address racial and social inequities in a sustained effort, we must work to protect and uphold a standard of care for spontaneous, recurrent preterm births and ensure it remains accessible and affordable for all who stand in need,” added Dr. Joia Crear Perry, founder and president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative.

The Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance is calling for the FDA to grant a public hearing to fully consider all of the data, additional research methods, and stakeholder perspectives before deciding whether to withdraw approval of this critical class of therapies. The health of America’s moms and babies warrants the utmost care and consideration.

###

ABOUT THE PRETERM BIRTH PREVENTION ALLIANCE

The Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance is a coalition of maternal and women’s health advocates who share a common concern about the state of preterm birth in the United States and the proposed market withdrawal of 17P, the only FDA-approved class of treatments to help prevent spontaneous, recurrent preterm birth. Formed in 2021 by the National Consumers League, we seek to improve preterm birth outcomes in the United States by maintaining access to safe, FDA-approved treatment options and advocating for more diverse medical research that adequately represents the experiences of women and newborns of color. Women of color need a seat at the table. To learn more, visit www.pretermbirthalliance.org.

Initial support for the Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance is provided by Covis Pharma.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org

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