Bipartisan deal on Federal Reserve may not be best deal for consumers – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Yesterday’s papers indicate that one house of Congress – the Senate – has reached a bipartisan deal to give the Federal Reserve primary responsibility for protecting consumers from abusive and deceptive financial products. But it may not be the best deal for consumers. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), the House Chairman of Financial Services, whose committee oversees the financial community, said he was “dumbfounded” by the idea: “When I first heard it, I thought it was a joke.”

In February of this year, a broad coalition, of which NCL is a member, sent a letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT), thanking him for his strong efforts to enact an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The coalition, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), argued that existing bank regulators had “utterly failed to protect consumers from abusive lending practices in the marketplace because they were not independent of the lenders they regulated and because they subordinated consumer protection concerns to a dangerously shortsighted focus on the near-term profitability of these institutions.”

So, this news coming from the Senate to give the Fed heightened consumer protection powers has been received with very mixed reviews, particularly from consumer advocates. The Fed has been accused of turning a deaf ear to consumer protection time and time again. The Fed has also at times appeared to be a federal agency far more concerned with the health of the business community and keeping interest rates low than with the protection of the little guy. However, others disagree. A former Fed governor, Mark Olson, believes the Fed has made a new commitment to carry out rigorous consumer protection and bank supervision.

We’ll see how this plays out in Congress. The point is that consumers need a tough, unyielding watchdog to reign in the abuses of the credit card company and banks. I’m willing to listen to the arguments, but I too am skeptical that the Fed and its thousands of staff could have become pro-consumer overnight.

Foodborne illness victims lobby Washington for passage of food safety reform legislation – National Consumers League

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By Courtney Brein, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

Today, as part of the Make Our Food Safe coalition’s coordinated events this week, 45 foodborne illness victims and their family members are meeting with senators from their 23 home states to advocate for the passage of FDA food safety reform legislation,  S. 510.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions unanimously passed this bipartisan piece of legislation in November 2009. Now, in order to make food safety reform a reality, the Senate must bring the bill to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. In July, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2749, its version of the FDA food safety reform, which does even more to strengthen the food safety system than does the Senate bill.

For the individuals who traveled from across the country to urge their senators to act, the pending legislation is highly personal. At a dinner following the advocates’ training session yesterday afternoon – an event that both first-time and seasoned advocates attended, to prepare for their legislative visits and share their stories – I had the opportunity to speak at length with a number of the incredible people with whom senators are currently meeting. Their stories are heartbreaking.

The woman to my right, a vivacious stay-at-home mom from Virginia, told me all about the various athletic pursuits of her ten-year-old twins, children she felt particularly lucky to have in her life. In her fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, she contracted listeriosis from a contaminated food product, an infection that spread to her unborn babies and sent her into early labor. The twins faced severe medical complications and an extensive hospitalization. Thankfully, both mother and children recovered. Across the table sat two girls, chatting with each other and the group alternately: a 12-year-old who contracted E. coli O157:H7 during the 2006 spinach outbreak, fell deathly ill, and recovered to become a seasoned advocate; and a college senior visiting Washington, DC to lobby for the first time after spending a week in the hospital last year fighting illness caused by contaminated Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough.

What none of these incredible individuals mentioned over our pasta or bread pudding were the medical consequences that remain for many who suffer from foodborne illness: life-changing conditions such as paralysis, kidney failure, seizures, and hearing impairments. Furthermore, these survivors are the “lucky” ones. Another advocate, a soft-spoken dad from Tennessee, came to DC. on behalf of his six-year-old son who passed away from foodborne illness in 2004. With the pain that comes from the loss of a child clearly written on his face, he said to me, “He got sick, and two weeks later he was gone.”

As the brave advocates will underscore to their senators today, no one should have to suffer, or watch a loved one suffer, as a result of something as necessary and basic as eating. Many of the individuals in the room came to DC this week – and return again and again – to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves: parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren, whose lives were cut short by eating contaminated commonplace foods such as peanut butter or spinach.

In addition to the human face of foodborne illness, this week the Make Our Food Safe Coalition has drawn attention to the economic consequences of foodborne illness outbreaks. Utilizing data from a new report that places the cost of foodborne illness in the United States at 152 billion dollars annually, Make Our Food Safe has created an interactive, online map that enables users to explore the costs of foodborne illness state by state. Both the report and the map underscore the financial consequences of a food safety system that does not adequately protect the public from contaminated products.

On Tuesday, HELP Committee Chair Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) stated that, if all goes according to plan, food safety legislation is likely to reach the President’s desk by May. It is the hope of the National Consumers League, the Make Our Food Safe Coalition, and the victim advocates on the Hill today that our efforts this week will rededicate the Senate to vote on the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, S. 510, and move food safety reform one step further towards becoming a reality.

Health reform a reality through ‘reconciliation’? – National Consumers League

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By Mimi Johnson, NCL Health Policy Associate

President Obama just released his proposed plan for health reform. This proposal follows last Thursday’s bi-partisan summit to explore health reform compromises and solutions.

In agreement with many Americans, the President suggests we have little time to waste in passing this bill and must move quickly. A likely solution for getting the bill to the President’s desk is to use reconciliation, which was also echoed by Senator Harkin. The reconciliation process was designed by Congress to quickly get legislation through Congress and is often used to reduce the federal deficit. It requires only a majority vote in the House and Senate, and debate is limited.

According to Senator Harkin, the House must first pass the health reform bill that was passed by the Senate in December before it can go through the reconciliation process in the Senate. Some on the Hill suggest this can be done before the President leaves for international travel on March 18; others suggest something might reach the President closer to Easter.

As the President’s plan to Congress reminded us, the reforms proposed will provide consumers with greater choice and control over their health care and lower costs (including reduced premiums), and will end discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

End of an era for Illinois LifeSmarts – National Consumers League

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By Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts Program Director

I just returned from a very successful Illinois state LifeSmarts competition at West Chicago High School in West Chicago, Illinois, hosted by State Coordinator Don Zabelin at his home school. Zabelin coached the winning team that will represent Illinois in Miami Beach in just seven weeks! Before heading to Florida, the West Chicago 1 team members will be studying up on 529s, simple interest, and mattress flammability, but they had a very strong showing in all other areas and ran the table to go unbeaten in the double-elimination competition.

For years, Zabelin has always had a great group of volunteer competition officials representing organizations such as the IL AGO, FTC, IL Securities Commission, Money Management International, Bridgestone, and DeVry University. He makes time during the competition to allow students to hear from all of the officials, and Wally Kleinfeldt of the BBB had perhaps the most direct message of the day, encouraging the students to always do their homework as consumers before any major purchase: “You’ll be doing homework for the rest of your life.”

This competition marked the end of an era, as Zabelin passed the torch to Debra Bartman, who will take over the role of Illinois state coordinator this summer. We wish Don the best as he retires after 33 years of teaching – congratulations on a wonderful career! Don, stay in touch – and don’t forget to write several hundred LifeSmarts questions for us in your newly-found spare time!

Reigning Florida champs en route to Miami – National Consumers League

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By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Assistant

There is nothing better than seeing LifeSmarts in action!

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to travel from the National Consumers League’s office in Washington, DC to attend the Florida state LifeSmarts competition in Tampa. As NCL staff prepares for the National LifeSmarts Championship in April, also to be held in the state of Florida, we are always excited when we have the chance to attend a state LifeSmarts competition and visit with our state partners.

The Florida LifeSmarts program, coordinated by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Affairs, hosted its 2010 state competition at the Florida State Fairgrounds on President’s Day, February 15, 2010. On a day where many students were out of school for the 3-day holiday weekend, 13 student teams from all over the large state of Florida were in attendance to compete for the title of LifeSmarts State Champion and to represent Florida at Nationals.

Teams traveled for five to six hours from far-away cities including Jacksonville and Freeport to showcase their dedication—to not just LifeSmarts, but also to consumer literacy—affirming their commitment to learning the necessary skills to be educated, savvy consumers in today’s changing marketplace. The rounds of competition were tough, culminating in a neck-and-neck battle between the reigning state champs, Seminole County 4-H team and Paxon SAS Varsity from the Paxon School for Advance Studies. While the match was close, Seminole 4-H once again took the title will be on their way to Miami in April.

Florida state champs declared in Tampa.

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Affairs Commissioner Charles H. Bronson was there to cheer teams on. He also gave remarks and congratulations to all 13 teams in attendance, and presented the winning team and coaches with a check for $3,300 on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Affairs.

State Coordinator Gwen Worlds recalled how enthusiastic Commissioner Bronson was when he attended the 2008 LifeSmarts National Championship held in Orlando, FL. “He jumped up from his seat and cheered the Florida team on,” Worlds said. “It was encouraging to the Florida team.”

Congratulations to all teams at the Florida LifeSmarts Competition, and the best of luck to Seminole 4-H in Miami Beach in April!

State LifeSmarts champs declared in Washington – National Consumers League

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This just in from the Evergreen State: A winner has been declared in Washington! Cheney High School has taken the crown of Washington State LifeSmarts Champions and are headed to Miami.

Wency Offril, in the office of the state coordinator, reports that Rob McKenna, Washington State Attorney General, stopped by the state competition, held earlier this month to make welcome remarks to the students, teachers, and coaches before the day of matches started and was gracious enough to stay to take pictures with each team.

Chief of the Consumer Protection Division had a great time serving as Question Master. Offril thanked coordinator Will Rance and his team of WSECU volunteers for putting on a fun day for all involved.

Follow the excitement of this and other Lifestate state competitions and the media coverage we’re seeing on our site.

Improving quality of food labels a priority for 2010 – National Consumers League

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The final post in a four-part series, in which we present the food issues we anticipate will affect American consumers the most in 2010.

By Courtney Brein, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

Over the past several years, health claims on food labels have gained significant traction as an advertising tool, and products bearing such statements now litter the marketplace, boosted by a greater national attention to the obesity epidemic and relative inaction on the Food and Drug Administration’s part in reining in these advertising hooks. In the fall of 2008, the National Consumers League sent a letter to the FDA Commissioner (at the time – he’s since been replaced by Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg) Andrew von Eschenbach, drawing attention to General Mills’ use of drug-like claims about the cholesterol-lowering benefits of consuming Cheerios® – an action which prompted the agency to issue a warning letter to General Mills the following spring. Additionally, to deter the use of exaggerated claims by General Mills – and others – in the future, in September of 2009 NCL sued General Mills for claiming that eating Cheerios® would reduce total and “bad” cholesterol, a suit that currently awaits trial in the District of Columbia’s local court. Consumers should look to see the suit settled, and – ideally – a precedent set, sometime this year.

Later in fall 2009, shortly after NCL filed its lawsuit, the issue of front-of-package labeling gained widespread attention when a number of actors called for an FDA investigation of the “SmartChoices” program, leading the agency to announce its plan to better regulate such claims and the extensive group of participating manufacturers to suspend the program – at least for the time being. In its letter to the food industry, the FDA announced that it will develop a set of science-based standards to guide manufacturers in making front-of-package claims, in addition to determining whether particular labeling claims currently used on packaging are misleading, and the Smart Choices program announced it would voluntarily postpone operations. While the agency will not initially use regulatory tools to mandate new labeling standards, it has not ruled out such measures, should the industry not align its claims with the new guidelines. The FDA has also announced that it will continue to conduct consumer research to inform its work.

The FDA has not made its timeline for this work public; however, the Web site for First Lady Michelle Obama’s new “Let’s Move” initiative announced that the agency will complete guidance by the end of this year. Consumers should expect – and push for – industry action to follow. It is time to stem the tide of weak health claims that currently overwhelm consumers and detract from the usefulness of legitimate claims on truly nutritious products. Furthermore, the front of the package is not the only location where nutrition-related claims and statements can mislead consumers; while the nutrition facts panel provides critical information, it is not as user-friendly as it might be, and the current format enables food manufacturers to disguise some less appealing elements of products, such as moving added sugars down the list of ingredients by weight by listing various kinds of sweeteners separately, and claiming multiple servings for items conducive to single-serving consumption, such as 16 and 20 ounce beverages.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published a suggested nutrition facts label makeover, which would rectify problems such as these and make the panel more useful to – and accurate for – consumers. An updated nutrition facts panel is long overdue, and deserving of the FDA’s attention in 2010. Regardless of whether the agency acts in the coming year, consumers should anticipate the issue garnering attention on the national stage, particularly with the publication of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Issuers to find loopholes in Credit CARD Act – National Consumers League

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The new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act — also known as the Credit CARD Act — goes into effect today, eliminating many of the industry’s worst practices haunting consumers. One of the most useful provisions of the new law requires issuers to disclose to consumers how long it will take to pay off the debt if they only pay the minimum monthly payments.

In her column Sunday, the Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary – and past NCL Trumpeter Award recipient – has identified for readers the new loopholes in the law that card issuers will no doubt take advantage of in order to balance the pro-consumer changes going into effect with their own interests. Which is their bottom line, she writes. Not yours.

Beginning Monday, some of the more outrageous practices of credit card issuers will be outlawed. But just like a bully on a playground who doesn’t punch when the teacher is watching, lenders will find ways to continue pummeling consumers.

Read Singletary’s full article here and start thinking about how these changes will affect your personal finances.

NCL applauds I.M.P. and Ticketfly agreement to reduce service fees – National Consumers League

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February 19, 2010

Contact: (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) today applauded the announcement by I.M.P. and Ticketfly that their agreement to offer primary ticketing services at the Merriweather Post Pavillion amphitheatre in Columbia, Maryland with result in up to 30 percent lower service fees on tickets.

NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer organization, has made the reduction in service fees a primary goal of its efforts to promote affordability and transparency for consumers in the live event marketplace. “At a time when consolidation in the industry leaves little hope for consumer benefit, it is encouraging to see independent venues and ticketing services working together to lower these service fees,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Consumers are rightfully fed up with outrageously expensive fees that are all too often tacked on to the face value of a ticket. We are happy to see that I.M.P. and Ticketfly agree with the vast majority of consumers who think that being charged extra to print out a ticket on their own printer with their own ink is inexcusable.”

NCL and I.M.P. chairman Seth Hurwitz recently worked together with other consumer, antitrust, and industry groups to oppose the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. Despite a huge outpouring of consumer opposition, the U.S. Department of Justice ultimately approved that merger with conditions.

“If the DOJ is not going to stand in the way of the new live event industry colossus, consumers will increasingly look to creative arrangements between independent actors like I.M.P. and Ticketfly to put a check on the seemingly unstoppable increase in ticket prices,” said Greenberg.

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About the National Consumers League

Founded in 1899, the National Consumers League is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

School lunch programs making parents queasy – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It should come as no surprise: food in the Washington, DC public school cafeterias is lousy and that kids dump the veggies into the trash – that is the latest dispatch from The Slow Cook himself Ed Bruske, a former Washington Post reporter who spent a week at his daughter’s DC elementary school cafeteria watching what got served up to the kiddies.

Bruske, who can usually be found in the pages of the Washington Post entertainingly describing attempts to make the perfect pot roast or risotto, got an eyeful at the school cafeteria. He details what goes into the meals we serve our kids and the ingredients sound both unappetizing and unhealthy: grey beef crumbles, pale-looking spaghetti sauce containing dextrose/and or high-fructose corn syrup, cheddar cheese that looks more like cottage cheese, scrambled eggs from a factory in Minnesota and shipped frozen to DC with an ingredient list that includes modified cornstarch, xanthan gum, liquid pepper extract, citric acid, lipolyzed butter (I have no idea what that is but it doesn’t sound good!), and medium chain triglycerides.

Bruske found that most meals were made from processed foods that had been precooked and frozen, all in an effort to keep the menus within the tight budgets allocated for school lunches. Meals are designed to require minimal time and skill, with freshness and flavor being the first to go. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee actually brought in a new food service, which was supposed to stress “fresh cooked” foods. Apparently that’s not working out as planned. Bruske also observed kids eating a breakfast of frosted cookies with soaring sugar content and chocolate and strawberry milk options that contain almost as much sugar per serving as a Coca-Cola. That’s a shame, because the children of Washington DC have one of the highest obesity rates in the country. DC might consider approaches other school systems have taken to get kids to eat healthier:

In a Lynnfield, MA, elementary school, officials have begun offering kids incentives—in the form of points that can be redeemed for things kids want including t-shirts, backpacks, skateboards, etc—when they choose healthier options. They offer an “imove menu” that includes chicken Caesar salad wraps, stir fry, pasta and broccoli salad, fresh fruit, carrot sticks, and yogurt. It also includes such kid favorites as chicken nuggets (albeit a low-fat, low-sodium version), lasagna, and pizza. The big difference is that pizza is never offered with a side of French fries; instead, its high-fat content is moderated with sides of green beans and yogurt. And the program’s been a success.

The Pine-Richland School District outside of Pittsburgh has switched to whole-grain rolls and pizza crusts and eliminated traditional French fries (today’s version is oven-baked, and even those aren’t allowed every day). The district offers a wide variety of seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables, including raw vegetables served as side dishes, and the high school occasionally serves brown rice instead of white. All lunch meats are turkey.

This list of innovative approaches to getting good healthy food into school cafeterias is too long for me to list. Another very good resource is “TwoAngryMoms.org” a group formed by parents unhappy about unhealthy offerings in school cafeterias. They have a terrific toolkit for changing how your child’s school approaches the meals served in their cafeterias and lots of good resources on *their Web site. Another insightful read is a blog, Fed up with School Lunch, following the experiences of an Illinois school teacher who has vowed to eat what the cafeteria is serving every day in 2010.

Discovering at a young age what it means to eat fresh, healthy, and delicious food is a gift that all children deserve. We are indebted to Bruske for telling us—in graphic detail—how much better we can and should be doing for the children of Washington, DC. Michelle Rhee, you have your work cut out for you!

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.