November 3, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) has submitted comments urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reject a petition from the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) that calls for new warnings on over-the-counter acetaminophen products. NCL warns that ICAN’s proposed labeling changes are not supported by credible science and could needlessly alarm pregnant women.
November 4, 2025: Washington, DC – Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced actions to restrict the sale of unapproved ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for children. The agency has notified four companies of its intent to take enforcement action against those marketing unapproved fluoride-containing drugs labeled for use in children under age three or for older children at low or moderate risk for tooth decay.
October 20, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) will host its annual Trumpeter Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The evening begins with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
October 7, 2025: Washington, DC — The National Consumers League (NCL) is proud to announce that CEO Sally Greenberg will be recognized at the 3rd Annual Champion for Girls Luncheon hosted by Girls Inc. DC. The event, held on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at The Ritz-Carlton West End, celebrates leaders who champion the rights, opportunities, and futures of girls and young women.
October 3, 2025: I remember like it was yesterday when I found out I was pregnant with each of my kids, now seven and ten years old. I felt a mix of joy, excitement, and worry all at once. But more than anything, I felt protective, thinking about how to keep them safe and give them the best start in life. As President Obama remarked, “To have a child is to have your heart walking around outside your body,” which I think perfectly sums up the realities of being a parent.
September 23, 2025: Washington, DC, – Now that a Presidential memorandum directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure accuracy in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising and the September 9 MAHA Report calls on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to apply its existing authorities to DTC telehealth companies, the National Consumers League (NCL) and 12 patient safety, pharmacy, women’s health and minority health organizations have submitted a petition asking the FTC to launch an investigation of the deceptive marketing practices of telehealth platforms promoting weight loss drugs.
September 22, 2025: Washington, DC— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) postponed the effective date of updates to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which is a Five-Star Safety Rating Program that provides consumers with important information to compare the safety of different vehicles.
September 18, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) strongly opposes the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recommendation to roll back proposed safety standards for table saws. Each year, an estimated 54,850 Americans suffer blade-contact injuries—including 4,000 amputations—costing victims their livelihoods and society more than $4 billion annually.
September 18, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) today welcomed the announcement that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general have sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The complaint alleges that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary rigged the system with deceptive pricing and shady broker deals, raking in hundreds of millions while sticking fans with billions in bogus fees and inflated prices.
September 15, 2025: Washington, DC – Justice delayed was justice denied to millions of Americans who have been exposed to a flood of deceptive advertising about the safety of the same weight loss drugs that the Food and Drug Administration warns are not approved and “could be risky for patients.”
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.
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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.
