November 3, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) is deeply alarmed by the federal government’s refusal to use billions in emergency funds to sustain the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
October 30, 2025: 1968 was a pivotal year in US history, and not only for the anti-war protests, the signing of the Civil Rights Act, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. That same year, CBS News aired “Hunger in America,” a Peabody-winning documentary that opened the eyes of Americans to the fact that over 10 million people – nearly 20 percent of the public – were suffering from hunger and malnutrition in a land of plenty.
October 24, 2025: Washington, DC – The FBI’s recent arrests for fraudulent NBA sports betting highlight the risk consumers take when gambling. The public deserves a fair playing field. This is an industry that has seen consumers get taken advantage of far too often.
October 23, 2025: Washington, DC – Today, the Senate HELP Committee will hold a hearing on the 340B program, marking an important milestone in the conversation around reforming the program so it serves vulnerable patients – as it was intended to.
October 21, 2025: “One step forward, two steps back” describes situations where progress is hindered by setbacks. This accurately reflects the state of obesity care today. On the positive side, the disease that now affects more than 100 million adult Americans is finally getting recognition as a priority health issue. This is due to several important developments demonstrating the value of treating obesity as a serious chronic disease:
October 20, 2025: On a recent Sunday in October, I flew to Kansas City to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Kids and Cars. The organization was formed by my friend and colleague, Janette Fennell, who dedicated her life’s work to preventing injury to children after she and her husband were kidnapped in their car. More on this story later, but it has a happy ending.
August 29, 2025: America once swore we would never go back. Never again would children be robbed of their childhoods—or their lives—in sweatshops, factories, and slaughterhouses. That promise was won through the relentless efforts of Florence Kelley and Frances Perkins, pioneering leaders of the National Consumers League.
August 21, 2025: Washington, DC –Yesterday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) withdrew several proposed rules to mitigate product safety dangers, including hazards posed by table saws, off-highway vehicles, and aerosol duster products.
August 18, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) today praised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for bringing an enforcement action against Key Investment Group and its affiliates for violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 (BOTS Act).
August 1, 2025: Washington, DC – On July 31, 2025, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the rising cost of healthcare and the urgent need for patient-focused reform. Lawmakers and expert witnesses discussed challenges with employer-sponsored insurance, the lack of price transparency, and the profit-driven nature of the U.S. healthcare system.
The work of the National Consumers League is making a difference in people’s lives across the country. Meet some of the consumers touched by our programs.
Read about NCL’s impact
Paige, 55, a Nashville wife and mother of two, answered an employment ad for secret shoppers. Before sending payment to the scammers, she reached out to NCL.
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A grease fire flared up in Decklan’s kitchen. As his family scrambled and panicked, fearing that the whole house might erupt in flames, Decklan remained calm. He hurried over to the pantry, grabbed some baking soda, and dumped it on the fire quickly extinguishing the blaze.
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Cincinnati resident Charles, 45, lost his computer business — and health insurance— during a time of economic downturn. A diabetic, Charles was now unable to afford his medication. He stopped taking it which made him seriously ill and put his life at risk.
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Jeremy is a fast-food worker who has been employed at a number of Chipotle restaurants in New York City. When he was just 20 years old, he took part in an NCL research project that revealed that management practices within the fast food chain were putting workers—and food safety for customers—at risk.
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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.
