Judge’s decision could mean big changes lie ahead for college athletes – National Consumers League

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In March I wrote a blog about the NCAA TV advertising juggernaut during the March Madness tournament. I suggested that the millions pouring into NCAA and university coffers from the blood, sweat, and tears of unpaid college athletes was wrong and that these athletes deserved to be paid a fair wage. 

We’re not quite there yet, but federal Judge Claudia Wilken ruled last week that college athletes have a rightful interest in advertising that exploits their names and images. Wilken reached a compromise on giving athletes the right to be paid for their time. Wilken ruled that the NCAA can cap players at $5,000 a year and keep the payments in trust until graduation or until players leave rather than opening up the free market to college athletes, which would mean the richest schools would have the best teams.

Wilken’s decision opens the door – but just a crack – to student athletes getting a piece of the profits that the NCAA and its member schools make off of their labor. But it’s a decent start and a wake up call to the NCAA to begin to share the wealth with the very athletes that make them so much money. 

Corner grocery stores: where convenience and junk food meet – National Consumers League

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Many of us take for granted the ability to make trips to a full size grocery store. For 23.5 million Americans, accessing a full-size supermarket is a challenge. In some areas, small corner stores are often the only source of food for underserved communities. They act as the main source of groceries, which can be problematic, considering many corner stores stock mainly processed foods that are high in calories, fat, and salt.

Areas that lack convenient, affordable access to traditional grocery stores are often called “Food deserts,” defined by the USDA as low-income, low-access communities with a poverty rate of 20+ percent and at least 500 people who are more than a mile away from a large grocery store in urban areas (or more than 10 miles away in rural areas). Impoverished residents living far from a grocery store are at a higher risk of becoming overweight or obese.

The National Consumers League (NCL) has advocated for strong food policies since its founding in 1899. Pursuing improved food opportunities for consumers around the nation and in Washington, DC, where NCL is headquartered, is a top priority as food policy is a cornerstone of NCL’s mission to promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers. The District of Columbia’s City Council passed the FEED DC Act in 2010 in an effort to improve access to healthy food in low-income neighborhoods. The FEED DC Act awards grants to grocery store projects, such as the “Healthy Corners” program run by D.C. Central Kitchen.

Washington, DC food deserts are most commonly located in wards (the formal term for political sections here in the nation’s capital) 5, 7, and 8. Even in areas of the District that are not food deserts, corner stores serve as convenient neighborhood hubs where residents stop in to make quick, small purchases for snacks or meals. Corner stores offering healthier options could mean a major step in combating obesity among individuals living in lower income neighborhoods.

DC corner stores: How do they measure up?

This summer, the National Consumers League conducted a survey of corner stores in wards 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the District of Columbia. Twenty corner stores throughout the district were included in the survey, primarily near the Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, U-Street, Columbia Heights, and Petworth neighborhoods. The stores surveyed ranged in the goods that they sold from those that offered alcohol and food, to others that focused mainly on food, and some that were simply convenience stores offering a variety of products.

Researchers were pleased to find that every corner store surveyed had some form of fresh produce available. Bananas were by far the most common, with apples and oranges taking a close second and third. It is likely bananas were so commonplace because they cost around $0.60 per pound versus pricier fruits like grapes which cost $2.53 per pound of cherries coming in around $4.50 per pound—not to mention their relatively long shelf life. Fruits that are cheaper, easily portable, require no packaging, and have a long shelf life are the most likely to be sold at corner stores.

Forty percent of stores had more than three different types of produce available, making them good options for consumers in search of healthy choices. There is still plenty of room for improvement. All corner stores should start offering a wider breadth of produce and healthy snacks. Having some fruit in stock is good, but bananas, apples, and oranges alone do not constitute a large enough selection for consumers.

Researchers were also pleased to find that 70 percent of the stores surveyed had produce available either in the front of the store or near the cash register. Putting produce in highly visible places—especially in place of the unhealthy impulse-buys that usually sit closest to cash registers—encourages consumers to choose healthy foods over those processed foods that are high in sugar and fat. Though 70 percent is a good number, advocates would love to see it even higher. Thirty percent of corner stores may appear to have no produce available as it is not visible upon entering the store. Ideally all corner stores would display produce near the front of the shop. Changing where produce is displayed is an easy and inexpensive way to make nutritional foods appeal to consumers.

Healthy Corners Program

In NCL’s survey, researchers encountered one corner store that was affiliated with a program called “Healthy Corners” run by D.C. Central Kitchen. This program, which builds on the Healthy Corner Store Program run by D.C. Hunger Solutions, distributes healthy foods to corner stores in neighborhoods that lack grocery stores or other means of getting healthy food. It provides a small stipend to store owners and routinely delivers produce and other healthy snacks. Through the program, storeowners can buy produce at wholesale prices and in smaller quantities than they would be able to get through conventional distributors. They are then able to sell produce at below-market prices, making it an even more appealing option for customers.

The role of programs like this in bettering the health of low-income communities is vital. As of 2013, 33 stores participated in Healthy Corners, grossing more than $40,000 in annual sales. The produce provided to corner stores through Healthy Corners is not going uneaten; 7,500+ health conscious snacks are served to DC residents each month.

Researchers didn’t survey wards 5,7, and 8—where they would have been even more likely to find stores participating in the Healthy Corners program, because those wards are home to food deserts. The demonstrated success of these programs, where they are put in use, begs for expansion, starting with communities most in need and ultimately branching out across the city.

Update:  Since this article was posted DC Central Kitchen announced that it expanded its Healthy Corners program from 32 to 62 corner stores, nearly doubling outreach to neighborhoods that need healthy options most.  A grant from the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development made this possible.  

Looking Forward

When it comes to providing produce access to low-income residents of the district, there is always room for improvement. The FEED DC Act, which helps fund the aforementioned Healthy Corners Program, also aims to encourage green technology in food stores and create jobs in areas of high unemployment. Additionally, the Cottage Food Act of 2013 lifts health department license requirements that very small business owners, bringing in less than $25,000 in revenue annually and likely just starting out, would typically need to abide by.  Both of these laws serve low-income communities by supporting businesses’ ability to provide healthier foods in unique ways. A continued push for legislation that eases restrictions on small business owners and aids in their distribution of healthy choices is necessary to ensure progress continues in the most underserved communities.

Pursuing new ideas to provide access to healthy foods is also vital. Mobile produce vans are increasingly popular. New York City has employed them to bring low-cost produce to some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the city. Likewise, the District has a “Mobile Market” provided by Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture. Similar to many of today’s farmers markets, the Mobile Market accepts and even encourages using SNAP/EBT benefits to purchase produce. The “Bonus Bucks” program doubles the purchasing power of food assistance benefits.

Efforts such as these aren’t going unnoticed. They serve as a vital resource for many District residents. Continued support and expansion of existing programs in conjunction with new efforts are a major step toward turning around poor health consequences in low-income areas. The first step in getting DC residents to eat healthier is giving them a choice.

Who wants my health data and what are they going to do with it? The paradox of data privacy – National Consumers League

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Do we really know how our health information is being used?  While patients want to know that their personal health information is protected by the HIPAA privacy rule, patient information is one of the best ways for the health system to improve care by learning from the patient experience.

At a recent annual meeting of Consumers United for Evidence Based Health Care (CUE), a national coalition of health and consumer advocacy organizations committed to empowering consumers to make the best use of evidence-based healthcare,  a panel of speakers discussed issues around patient privacy and the availability of data for research.

As HIPAA currently operates, patient consent is needed for formal research that “contributes to the general knowledge.” But the internal use of personal health information for health care operations and to improve care , is NOT covered by HIPAA and thus patient informed consent is not required. In other words, as Deven McGraw from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips explained, if a health care organization uses research for its own internal use, then they are not subject to HIPAA requirements, but if an organization wants to share what is learned with the outside world to improve public health, then HIPAA applies. If we want to encourage sharing of research findings shouldn’t we make it easier, and not harder, to do so?  It seems that under the current paradigm we do not incentivize the sharing of knowledge.

Nancy Kass, of Johns Hopkins Bloomsburg School of Public Health, stated that it is time for a new ethical framework for a learning healthcare system that will increase the likelihood of continuous learning, and in which participants’ rights are protected. According to Kass, what happens in clinical practice should be used to learn about how we can improve health care for our own practices as well as others. While we may be concerned about use of our health information for research purposes, our personal health information is already being used in many ways – ranging from ensuring quality of care to licensing and certification purposes. With the advent of electronic health records, how clinical practices use our data has drastically changed. “You want to protect patients from risk but also have good research,” said Kass. The reality is that there already is a systematic collection of patient data (without informed consent), which is used for internal operations – and patients have no idea.

How do we create a trusted data collection system?  One way is to get patients more involved in research. PCORI, a government agency, was initiated by the Affordable Care Act to involve patients in a meaningful way in research. Research results should be shared with the patients who participate in the research in an accessible format, where hopefully conclusions are made based on a common data model.  We should also improve patient consent forms so that they are understandable and accessible to patients. Right now the consent forms are complicated and full of legal terms that make you wonder if the form is designed to protect the patient or the research. Peter Doshi, University of Maryland, explained that current consent forms do not say that if your data will or will not be used by others for the good of public health. Informed consent forms should change and FDA has recently developed a model consent form.

Experiences with researchers failing to obtain informed consent and not being transparent about research goals, such as with the Tuskegee experiment, demonstrate the importance of both informed consent and transparency in the collection of data. The dilemma is how we balance the need for those protections, while encouraging research to improve clinical care.

In this age of electronic health records and ongoing collection of our personal data wherever we turn, both patients and health care providers and organizations have a responsibility to promote and engage in continuous learning activities to improve the quality of clinical care. We need to increase the likelihood of continuous learning, while ensuring that learning proceeds in an ethically acceptable fashion and that participants’ rights are protected.   Health care providers and organizations have a responsibility to be transparent and disclose all the ways data are being used, and the patient has an obligation to participate in these learning activities so that clinical care can be improved for all of us.

Sonderman named National Consumers League Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Development – National Consumers League

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August 11, 2014

For immediate release: August 11, 2014
Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League (NCL) has named Amy Sonderman Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Development, effective September 1. In her new capacity, Sonderman will direct NCL’s fundraising strategy and external partnerships. NCL is the nation’s pioneering consumer and labor advocacy organization, founded in 1899 and headquartered in Washington, DC.

Sonderman succeeds former Vice President of Development Larry Bostian, who has been named Senior Advisor to Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

“We are thrilled to have Amy assume this leadership position for our organization,” said Greenberg. “Her dedication to NCL’s mission and proven track record of creating lasting relationships with external partners will benefit our numerous programs and initiatives.”

“Making the marketplace and workplace safer for consumers and workers is a large and long-term challenge, and no one organization can do it alone,” said Sonderman. “I am proud to lead NCL’s efforts to forge partnerships and gather support from labor organizations, responsible corporate partners, and fellow advocates to advance such an important mission.”

“I congratulate Amy, and I’m grateful for the chance to take on this new role,” said Bostian. “I look forward to continuing to contribute to NCL’s mission while increasing my volunteer involvement in addiction recovery.”

Sonderman was previously Director of Partnerships and Development at NCL. Before joining NCL in 2011, she worked in fundraising at the Muscular Dystrophy Association and at the Girl Scouts of America. She also previously served as the Associate Executive Director at the Greater Pittston YMCA, where she began her nonprofit career. Sonderman graduated with honors from University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in Political Science and earned a Masters in Public Administration from Marywood University. She is a member of the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

As Senior Advisor, Bostian will continue to work in fundraising and assist Greenberg on special projects and assignments. 

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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.

Fish farms: Good, bad, or downright ugly? – National Consumers League

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fishfarms.jpgDid you know fish accounts for 17 percent of the world’s protein intake? That may not seem like a lot, but by 2050, farmed fish production is expected to more than double to meet global demands. Fish are the most environmentally-friendly animal protein to produce, efficiently converting feed into meat while generating a fraction of the greenhouse gasses of livestock production. But as it stands now, our earth’s rivers, lakes, and oceans are fished to their limits.

Aquaculture (neat, huh?) will become vitally important in the near future to keep up with demand. Though industrial farming gets a lot of slack across the board, fish farming may be our answer to fulfilling the animal protein needs of the world’s growing population.

Why do fish farms get such a bad rap? For starters, antibiotics are an ever-growing concern in industrial farming. Eighty percent of the antibiotics used in the United States are used on livestock. It’s estimated that farmed salmon are fed more antibiotics per pound than any other livestock. Antibiotic resistant bacteria, created as a result of antibiotic overuse, are responsible for the deaths of 23,000 Americans each year.  Cramped underwater pens lead to filth and sickness, raising concerns about the spread of disease. Contention also surrounds what farmed fish are eating. In some cases, farmed fish eat other wild fish, negatively impacting the ocean ecosystems; in other cases they are fed pellets, which may not adequately meet their nutritional needs, and result in fattier, less nutritious, and less flavorful fish.

These problems are undoubtedly challenging, but attempts are being made to overcome them. Fish farmers are starting to open “on land” fish farms that eliminate any chances of diseases spreading in the ocean. Scientists are also finding new ways to filter water and keep farmed fish in a contained, clean environment so antibiotics are not required. These fish are reported to grow twice as fast as their ocean-raised counterparts. Advancements have been made in raising higher-maintenance ocean fish in land bound, sterile environments, making on-land fish farms a viable option for some rarer, more expensive species. Fish farmers are using less fishmeal, or ground wild fish, than they were 20 years ago, further taking pressure off the overfished ocean.

Consumers play a large role in the positive reinforcement of developing and using new sustainable fish farm technologies. The majority of fish we eat, 91 percent, comes from abroad. At home, we ship away third of what we catch. Buying American-grown and processed fish is not only more sustainable because it isn’t shipped as far, but it also supports developing cleaner ways to farm fish in our own country.  At the grocery store, consumers can keep an eye out for seafood that bares a Sustainable Seafood Certification.

Consumers who are concerned about farmed fish and wish to only purchase fish raised in the wild should try to eat fish and shellfish that fall lower down on the food chain. These fish are less likely to negatively impact the environment because they require less feed. Tilapia, catfish, and carp are all good options. Mollusks, like clams, oysters, and scallops, are the most environmentally-friendly source of animal protein, as they don’t use freshwater and they serve to clean the environment around them. Fish play a key role in fulfilling the protein needs of the world population. Now is the time to use purchasing power as a vote to promote positive aquaculture practices and reduce our impact on the ocean.

Dos and Don’ts for College-bound $tudents – National Consumers League

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92_college_movein_.jpgMillions of young people are arriving on the nation’s college campuses this month—finally, life without parents for the first time for many! Unfortunately, many of these young people will be entering the consumer marketplace with little understanding of how to navigate it successfully—credit cards? utility bills? rent? And even worse—many students may fall prey to scams targeting college students.Whether they are heading off to college, a job, or to their first apartment, young adults should keep these dos and don’ts in mind this fall:

  • DO read the fine print. While credit card companies are now largely prevented from offering their wares on college campuses, there are still many “gotchas” lurking out there for unsuspecting consumers. Those gotchas love to hide in the fine print of things like apartment leases, gym memberships, cell phone contracts, student loan applications, spring break vacation package agreements and yes, credit card applications.
  • DON’T sign anything until you understand your responsibilities. Will you be locked in to that gym membership for years to come? Does that free t-shirt come with a credit card that has a high interest rate and annual fee? How much will it cost to break the lease on your apartment if your roommate unexpectedly moves out and leaves you with the full month’s rent?
  • DO make sure you have contact info (the phone numbers or Web addresses for services that can help) if you get in trouble. The local Better Business Bureau, Office of Tenant Advocate, and state and local consumer protection bureaus are good numbers to have handy if you feel that a local business or landlord is taking advantage of you.
  • DO create a budget and stick to it. Create a list of all the expenses you’ll be responsible for, like books, regular meals, rent, and transportation. That way you’ll have a system to help make sure nights out with friends don’t eat in to you required living expenses.
  • DON’T leave personal information unsecured. While young consumers may not have a lot of money to drain from bank or credit card accounts, their credit reports are often clean. This makes them tempting targets for identity thieves. File away important documents, shred credit card offers and keep a close eye on credit and debit card statements for suspicious charges.
  • DO watch out for scams targeting young people. For example, educational grant scams regularly make Fraud.org’s list of top scams each year, suggesting that scammers may be going after students looking for ways to pay for college in a tough economic environment. Watch out for scams that promise “guaranteed scholarships” or “an inside track on getting money for college.” Also stay away from any service that requires a credit or debit card account number to apply for or hold a scholarship.
  • DON’T leave your social network privacy settings unattended. Scammers scan these networks for information they can use to pitch believable-sounding scams. It usually only takes a few minutes to set privacy settings to make them more secure. Many college students may be surprised to find just how much of their personal information they were sharing in the first place.

Consider these tips the beginning of your journey to becoming a savvy consumer. Remember that the good consumer habits you develop as a college student can yield benefits in school and beyond.

President Obama continues year of action with executive order protecting workers – National Consumers League

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July 31, 2014

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

President Obama continues his Year of Action today signing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order. This order will require that prospective federal contractors with contracts over $1 million disclose past labor law violations and will create a framework for how federal agencies should consider such violations. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that there are roughly 24,000 businesses with federal contracts, employing about 28 million workers. Most significantly, the order bans federal contractors from forcing employees to give up their ability to seek justice in court through mandatory arbitration clauses workers are forced to sign as a condition of employment. The executive order also requires contractors to provide employees with a stub containing detailed info about their pay, taxes, withholdings, and other payment information. 

The following statement can be attributed to Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League:

“Time and again, President Obama has demonstrated that if Congress is unable or unwilling to act to protect American workers, he will. Today marks another important step for increasing workplace protections. In order to know if they’re being paid properly, employees need to have access to the hours worked, including overtime hours, taxes, fees, and any paycheck deductions. This order will end the practice of employees being forced to sign mandatory arbitration agreements with employers. We commend the President and DOL for compelling contractors to treat workers fairly as a condition of getting access to federal contracts and being paid with taxpayer dollars under these contracts.” 

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About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, 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. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

 

A SWEET Act that will improve the nation’s health – National Consumers League

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July 30, 2014

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy group, supports the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax Act of 2014 (SWEET Act), introduced today by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT). The bill has two original cosponsors Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). This groundbreaking measure will levy a one cent tax per every teaspoon (4.2 grams) of caloric sweetener (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) on most sweetened beverages.

A tax on sweetened drinks has proven to be an effective strategy for reducing consumption. A 2014 study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that a .04 cent per-calorie tax on sweetened beverages would reduce annual per person consumption by 5,800 calories. Sales data collected from supermarkets across New York State found that this  .04 cent tax reduced consumption of beverage calories by 9.3 percent.

“A soda tax on sweetened beverages is one way to reduce consumption and direct tax funding toward education and prevention of obesity,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League. “Incentivizing consumers to make smart purchasing decisions will help reduce consumption of soda and other drinks that are bereft of any nutritional value. With skyrocketing obesity rates among adults and children, these conditions and their ancillary health consequences place a tremendous burden on our healthcare system.”

The national obesity rate now stands at 34.9 percent of adults and 17 percent of children. Communities of color have disproportionately higher rates of obesity with 47.8 percent of adult African Americans being obese and 42.5 percent of adult Hispanics being obese. High rates of obesity lead to diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues which cost our healthcare system an estimated $190 billion every year.

Revenue collected from the new SWEET Act tax would be provided to the Prevention and Public Health Fund to support initiatives aimed at reducing rates of obesity and decreasing healthcare expenses from weight-related medical issues. 

In November, San Francisco, CA and Berkeley, CA will vote on imposing taxes on sweetened beverages. In Mexico, a tax on soda was enacted in January 2014 that imposes a one peso per liter tax on sweetened drinks, increasing the cost of a two-liter soda by about 10 percent. 

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About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, 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. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

 

The unfairness of unpredictable and unstable work schedules – National Consumers League

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Ever had a shift canceled at the last minute or been called in to work on your day off?

For 74% of adults in today’s labor market last minute shift changes are not rare occurrences. Work schedules in low-wage jobs are often unpredictable and unstable, making it nearly impossible for employees to plan their lives around their constantly changing schedules.

Last week, New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse profiled workers struggling to find balance in their work and life responsibilities in A Push To Give Steadier Shifts to Part-Timers. Many of the workers’ stories involved similar issues: problems commuting to work only to find that there is no work, ever-changing shifts making child care an impossibility, and the constant worry of not having enough money to pay the bills.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, there are nearly 20 million low-wage workers in the US and 76% of workers in the ten largest low-wage jobs are women. While low wages, typically paying less than $10.10 an hour, make it hard for workers to support themselves and their families, it is not the only problem they face. Too often these jobs include work scheduling policies and practices that pose problems for workers with significant responsibilities outside the job, including caregiving, pursuing higher education and training for or holding down a second job.

“The volatile work schedules of today erode earning potential, push workers out of the work force, and exacerbate inequality, especially for women and workers of color who are more likely to work part-time jobs. For a fair paycheck, these workers need wages and hours with dignity,” said Carrie Gleason, Director of the Fair Workweek Initiative for the Center for Popular Democracy.

With some employers using “just-in-time scheduling” to lower labor costs, it puts workers’ schedules at the mercy of consumer demands and often results in employees being given very little advance notice of their work schedules. For employees this type of policy means fluctuating hours between full-time and part-time, the inability to pursue further education, and the uncertainty of having enough hours to pay the rent, utilities, groceries and childcare.

Fortunately, Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and George Miller (D-CA) and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the Schedules That Work Act this week in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The Act would help combat the problem of unpredictable and unstable work schedules. It lays out a modest variety of rights and protections for employees including: a voice in their work schedules, advance notice of schedule, protection against employer retaliation, and the right to report pay and split-shift pay.

Fair, flexible, and reliable scheduling is a simple way to ensure workers are treated with dignity and respect. In a perfect world employers would view employees as human beings with competing life demands rather than numbers on a spreadsheet. The Schedules That Work Act takes an important step towards that goal.

To learn more about workers’ scheduling struggles, please click here.
To learn more about the Schedules That Work Act, please click here.

NCL expresses grave concern about Bolivia’s decision to lower age of work to ten – National Consumers League

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July 22, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization with a long history of fighting to improve child labor laws in the United States and abroad, decries the decision last week by Bolivia to enact a new law that lowers the age of work from 14 to 10.

“Ten-year-olds belong in school–not in mines, forests, and factories. Bolivia’s baffling action is a huge step backward and endangers the country’s 500,000 working children,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg, who is also the co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which NCL has co-chaired for 25 years. “In the last decade, the world has made remarkable progress in reducing abusive child labor by one-third, according to estimates by the International Labour Organization.”

“While the new law is aimed at ‘self-employed’ children, our great fear is that the health and safety of Bolivia’s many thousands of children in hazardous work–like mining–will be endangered as a larger number of children sent out to work by their families will be legally employed,” said Reid Maki, NCL’s director of child labor advocacy and the coordinator of the CLC. The U.S. Department of Labor lists nuts, bricks, corn, gold, silver, sugarcane, tin, and zinc as products produced with child labor in the country. Children are already doing some of the most grueling work in the world in Bolivia.”

“Bolivian government officials have said that they are unable to control child labor and that lowering the age of work will lead to greater protection of child workers because their work will now be legal,” said Greenberg. “Essentially, the government of Bolivia is surrendering. The level of exploitation will increase, and children will pay the price.”

“We also do not accept the argument that legal child labor is a necessary tool to reduce poverty in Bolivia, which ranks 70th on the ‘fragile states index,’ an annual ranking of the stability and the pressures countries face,” said Maki. “If 69 countries facing greater problems than Bolivia have not had to lower the age of work, surely Bolivia does not.”

“I’d like to remind the global community of the words of Hull House reformer Grace Abbott, an early child labor advocate in the United States,” said Greenberg. “’If you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for…poverty, you will have both until the end of time.'”

 

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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 https://nclnet.org.