January 17, 2025: Year in and year out, for over a decade, advocates and obesity specialists worked to get changes in federal policy. They pressed to get bills passed in Congress, drafted white papers, published research findings in medical journals, held roundtables and briefings, and sent letters and emails to policymakers over and over. But, using the Groundhog Day metaphor, the same day would start again.
January 10, 2025: When Jimmy Carter was elected President in 1976, I was a young whipper snapper living in an old, disheveled group house in Washington D.C. When I think back on that time, I fondly remember that his Administration—dedicated to energy conservation, peace and human rights—inspired me and many of my friends to become social justice warriors.
January 6, 2025: Washington, DC – The National Consumer League (NCL) has released a new episode of its We Can Do This podcast, shedding light on the inequities and lack of transparency surrounding the 340B Drug Pricing Program
Award-winning consumer reporter Herb Weisbaum has been the Question Master at the National LifeSmarts Championship for 25 years. We asked him to share his thoughts about the program. LifeSmarts is […]
Growing up, I had my own personal consumer advocate, my grandmother, Big Mama. She taught me to be a skeptical consumer and to watch out for the tricks and traps […]
Growing up in rural, northern New Mexico on a small family farm, being around large pieces of heavy of equipment was normal. Every Luján kid was expected to help around […]
The National Consumers League (NCL) is recognized globally for its work protecting children from being exploited for their labor and from being forced to work in unsafe environments. But NCL […]
As the National Consumers League (NCL) celebrates 125 years and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) celebrates 25 years, it’s a great time to reflect on how far both organizations have […]
With the much-appreciated support of the National Consumers League, One Fair Wage is on the precipice of historic change. After years of organizing and building power with hundreds of thousands […]
Most people know that Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1874. However, it was not until the 1899 invention of the induction coil that staticfree signals across long telephone […]
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.
