This Just In: FDA Upping Warnings on Arthritis Drugs – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

According to a *fresh story in the Associated Press, the United States *Food and Drug Administration has announced that the manufacturers of Humira, Cimzia, Enbrel, and Remicade must strengthen the warnings about the risk of developing opportunistic fungal infections. FDA’s statement said the agency “has reviewed 240 reports of histoplasmosis, an infection caused by the fungusHistoplasma capsulatum, in patients being treated with Enbrel, Humira, or Remicade. In at least 21 of the reports, histoplasmosis was initially not recognized by health care professionals, and antifungal treatment was delayed. Twelve of those patients died.”

Another significance of this announcement is that it involves the federal agency’s use of its new authority under the *Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 to make safety-related changes to prescribing information or labeling. Learn more *here.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Protect Your Identity from Pretexting – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

This month, NCL’s featuring tips in its *2008 Consumer Calendar: Have We Got Tips for You! on protecting your phone records from “pretexting,” an *ID Theft technique used by criminals pretending to be you in order to gain access to your personal information.

But *NCL’s Fraud Center and the Federal Trade Commission aren’t the only ones out there trying to educate consumers about avoiding ID Theft. Many consumer, finance, and technology reporters have been doing their part to spread the word as well. Here’s a recent story in the Clovis News Journal out of New Mexico, where police are advising locals against scams meant to steal consumers’ identities.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Protect your phone records and your privacy – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

September 2, 2008

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

Washington, DC- Phone records have become another opportunity for identity thieves, warns the National Consumers League, but there are new security measures for protecting personal information and phone records. This month, NCL is offering consumers advice on how to protect themselves from pretexting in its “2008 Consumer Calendar Tips: Do We Have Tips for You!”

“Pretexting,” when an ID thief contacts a telephone company pretending to be a customer, is an illegal way people may attempt to obtain your personal information. The Federal Communications Commission has implemented new rules to make this attack more difficult, by requiring that all people calling for phone records provide their password to the company before any information is released. Over the Internet, access to records will also require a password, and in-person, it will require a photo ID.

The nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, NCL works to educate people about how to make wise decisions in today’s marketplace. Each month, NCL’s Web site, www.nclnet.org, will feature the calendar and tips for the month. Covering a range of subjects from medication safety, to avoiding scams, the tips are sponsored by major companies, government agencies, and organizations. The September tips about protecting telephone records were sponsored by Verizon.

The print version of the calendar was distributed to consumers free of charge through agencies and organizations around the country. There are no printed copies of the calendar remaining.

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Bracing for Gustav – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

It’s been three years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and as we commemorate the anniversary by remembering the victims and destruction it left behind, the region is once again preparing for a serious tropical storm, Gustav, which is currently headed towards Jamaica. You can follow Gustav’s path here.

The federal government offers resources for consumers from all parts of the country on how to prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies, including hurricanes, *earthquakes, *wildfires, and more at www.ready.gov.

 

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

Back to School, Back to Work? – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

In Washington, DC, where the National Consumers League is headquartered, today is the first day of school for hundreds of thousands of kids. The DC Metro area is certainly not unique; students across the country will be filing back into school buildings across the country this week and next, following Labor Day weekend. Earlier this summer, we warned young people about the dangers of taking on summer work that falls into our *Five Worst Jobs for Teens categories (landscaping, traveling sales crews, agriculture, and more). Just because summer’s coming to an end doesn’t mean that the hazards of dangerous work are no longer a threat.

According to the *U.S. Department of Labor, under the *Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 14- and 15-year-olds may work outside school hours in various non-manufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs under certain conditions.

Permissible work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds are:

  • 3 hours on a school day;
  • 18 hours in a school week;
  • 8 hours on a non-school day;
  • 40 hours in a non-school week; and
  • between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when nighttime work hours are extended to 9 p.m.

Child labor laws vary from state from state. Please check with your state department of labor as well. The Department of Labor provides a list of contact information, according to where you live. To learn more about what jobs are too dangerous for underage workers, check out our Five Worst Jobs list. And to learn how to protect yourself on the job, check out our Six Tips for Working Youth. Parents, learn what to watch out for if your teen is working or looking for a job this academic year — or any time.

 

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

Good News: Medicare Bill Passes in the Senate – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

By Catherine Bourque, NCL Health Intern

This summer, Catherine has interned in the health policy department at the National Consumers League. She’s from Washington, DC and, this fall, will begin her senior year at Cornell University, where she’s studying Government and Spanish.

About a month ago, both houses of Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of HR 6331, the Medicare Physician Payment Bill, which stopped pay reductions to physicians treating Medicare patients. We at the National Consumers League support the passage of the bill. It will be crucial to protecting the healthcare of senior citizens across the country who would have been denied care had Congress not taken action to protect this important program and the providers who make the program possible.

Some background: on July 1st, a 10 percent reduction in the pay rate to Medicare physicians went into effect, leading many physicians to stop accepting Medicare patients for cost reasons and making it difficult for many senior citizens to find physicians who would. The Medicare bill will delay the 10 percent deduction for 18 months, financing the continued payments to physicians with a reduction in payment to the Medicare Advantage program, the Medicare health plan program.

After both the House of Representatives and the Senate voted by veto-proof margins to pass the bill, President Bush followed through on his threat to veto the bill, citing that the bill would hurt the Medicare Advantage program. The Medicare Advantage program provides flexibility for Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in private insurance programs.

The House overrode the veto by a vote of 383 to 41, with 24 more Republicans voting in favor of the bill. Similarly, in the Senate, the veto was overridden by a vote of 70 to 26 with 21 Republicans voting to override the veto. While not a permanent fix for the Medicare payment system, the passage of this bill shows Congress’s commitment to providing care for the elderly and making this care a reasonable venture for physicians.

How’d You Do? – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

Yesterday, we shared four sample LifeSmarts question to test your ‘smarts. How’d you do?

  • Foods that bear the radura logo have been: c. Treated by irradiation
  • You are a 16-year-old employee. Which of the following are you not allowed to do under the federal child labor laws: c. Be a delivery driver
  • Which of the following calls would be prohibited when you register for the National Do Not Call list? c. Telemarketing calls
  • What kind of personal information is not covered by any federal privacy law? c. What you watch on cable television
  • Which of the following is not an advantage of using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs? c. They cost less

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

The back-to-school sales prove it: Summer is coming to an end. During these warm days, NCL staff has been busy preparing for the 2008-2009 LifeSmarts program year, which will officially go live in just a few weeks. To get your juices flowing, see if you can handle a couple LifeSmarts practice questions. (We’ll post the answers tomorrow.)

Foods that bear the radura logo have been:

a. Organically grown
b. Treated with pesticides
c. Treated by irradiation

You are a 16-year-old employee. Which of the following are you not allowed to do under the federal child labor laws:

a. Work as a hired farmworker
b. Cook on a grill in a restaurant
c. Be a delivery driver

Which of the following calls would be prohibited when you register for the National Do Not Call list?

a. Political calls
b. Surveys
c. Telemarketing calls

What kind of personal information is not covered by any federal privacy law?

a. Titles of videos you rent
b. Items you buy at a supermarket
c. What you watch on cable television

Which of the following calls would be prohibited when you register for the National Do Not Call list?

a. Political calls
b. Surveys
c. Telemarketing calls

Which of the following is not an advantage of using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs?

a.  They last longer
b.  They use less energy
c.  They cost less

Stop! for Brake Safety Awareness – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

Everybody’s talking about gas and fuel efficiency these days, but this month we’re celebrating Brake Safety Awareness. Keeping your car in good shape can prevent crashes and protect your investment, and brakes are one of the most important systems in a vehicle. This month in NCL’s Consumer Calendar, we’re helping consumers learn the importance of a safe brake system and urging them to pull into an auto repair shop to get their brake

s checked during Brake Safety Awareness Week, which is coming up: Aug 24-30.

During Brake Safety Awareness Week, an initiative of the Motorist Assurance Program (MAP) and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), all MAP Participating Service Facilities will check your car’s brakes for free by technicians that are MAP qualified or ASE certified.

Unemployed = Unemployment Benefits, Right? – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Not necessarily. I always assumed that when you worked, then lost your job, you’re automatically entitled to unemployment benefits—they are part of our American “safety net.” Turns out I was wrong: according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal, July 29, only 37% of the country’s unemployed received benefits in 2007, down from 55% in 1958 and 44% in 2001. The Journal based its numbers on Labor Department statistics.

The workers who don’t qualify for unemployment include part timers, people who quit or were fired, and those who didn’t earn enough money in a one-year “base period” that often excludes the most recent 3-6 months. Most states’ base period includes the first four of the last five completed quarters. States often require an average weekly wage in calculating their base period.

Covering a mere 37% of the unemployed is unconscionable. Unemployment benefits are often the only life jacket that workers can grab onto to keep food on the table and the lights on. Low income workers bear the brunt of this policy, with fewer than 15% of low wage workers getting benefits, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The House of Representatives passed a bill last year to provide an additional $7 billion to allow part-time workers to receive benefits and count earnings more generously. The Senate is supposed to take up a similar bill this fall. Our friends at NELP (National Employment Law Project) are working to get the bill passed and they argue that 300,000 additional workers would qualify for benefits if states changed the way they determine the base earnings period. An employer-based group in Texas was quoted as saying the bill isn’t a “panacea for everyone who happens not to be working.” No, but laid off workers aren’t looking for a panacea. They’re looking for a little help to feed their families. At an annual cost of $550 million, we ought to be able to make that happen.