A real-life example of how a government shutdown hurts food safety – National Consumers League

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kelsey By Kelsey Albright, Linda Golodner Food Safety & Nutrition Fellow Early last week the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) put out a *public health alert warning American consumers that Foster Farms chicken from three of the four processing plants it had been investigating since July could be unsafe to consume.  What is a public health alert, you may be asking, and why not issue a recall if the USDA knows where this salmonella-ridden chicken is coming from?

The government shutdown was a disconcerting affair for food safety advocates like myself. FSIS, a subdivision of the USDA, maintains that their choice to issue a public health alert instead of a recall had nothing to do with the shutdown.  I think otherwise.  Although food inspectors in plants were not furloughed, many other workers that are necessary to keep processes speedy (such as workers who monitor food borne illness outbreaks at the CDC, laboratory technicians that analyze their findings, and other employees that assist with food monitoring) were sent home to twiddle their thumbs while Congress duked out their budget battle.

A fully staffed USDA and CDC are more effective in detecting food borne illness and acting to prevent it than agencies that are “mostly open”. The lack of manpower behind these operations may have led to the issuance of a public health alert instead of a recall.  Finding the origin of an outbreak and proving that a person got sick from a specific product purchased from a specific store that came from a specific plant is a difficult endeavor.

USDA cannot issue a recall if these strict, time intensive processes are not conducted. Instead of going through this lengthy process, FSIS used what information they had gathered and issued a public health alert notifying consumers to cook their chicken to 165⁰F to kill any Salmonella Heidelberg present.  In doing so they also allowed Foster Farms 72 hours to clean up their act or be shut down When 317 people from 20 states have been *confirmed ill with an abnormally high hospitalization rate of 42%, is a public health alert alone enough to protect the public?  Stores like Krogers and Costco have taken matters into their own hands by issuing a recall of products they sold and paying out of pocket for a mistake that was not of their making.   Unsurprisingly, Foster Farms did clean up their act and were not shut down, but it doesn’t change the fact that Salmonella Heidelberg contaminated chicken is still on the shelves of many grocery stores.  Foster Farms has yet to own up to their egregious mistake by recalling their chicken and the USDA isn’t holding them to it either.

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

Spreading consumer awareness about dietary supplements around the globe – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

NCL was invited to present at a conference on health and nutrition at the charming seaside town of Dalian, a one and a half hour flight east of Beijing. Our past work surveying consumers on dietary supplements and NCL’s focus on the safe use of medication, no doubt, generated the invitation. The tour guide described China’s shape on a map as that of a rooster, with Beijing being the eye and Dalian being the beak. So there I was in the rooster’s beak, meeting academics, scientists, community workers, and doctors from around the world.

Much to my surprise, the hosts of the conference included NCL’s presentation entitled “Dietary Supplements: What Consumers Should Know,” as one of the conference’s keynote addresses. That put me at the podium with seven other presenters, all of them men who were either doctors or academics. This was an eminent group: for example, another keynoter, Sir Roy Calne, a doctor at Cambridge University in the UK, had performed the first liver, heart, and other organ transplants during the 1960s.

From the outset, the connection between the different presentations seemed to be a stretch. Many of us found ourselves at this conference asking each other, how is it you came to be invited? No one was quite sure. But looking back over the past several days, I don’t think I’ve ever been with a group of such accomplished, smart, thoughtful, and interesting people. One group of presentations focused on reports and research in pediatrics. That brought together an incredible group of mostly female pediatricians including surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, radiologists, and many more who discussed issues ranging from child abuse to ER and child trauma. These women were uniformly impressive, friendly, and approachable. The nice thing, too, is that because I was the only female in the opening session and talked about the importance of consumer awareness and a consumer voice on dietary supplements (based on a terrific presentation that our staff prepared for me about dietary supplements and how they can be beneficial or dangerous), these women doctors instantly knew who I was, were grateful a woman was represented as a keynoter, and came to know and like the work NCL is doing to reach out to consumers.

I also had the chance to meet Australian Paul Miller, who is with the Olive Council in his country. He is working to help expose and ferret out the problem of adulterated olive oil in markets around the world. This is a rampant problem that degrades the quality of olive oil world wide, creates a competitive disadvantage for those olive oil producers who play by the rules, and steals money from the wallets of consumers who pay far higher prices than they should for adulterated olive oil. This issue hits home for NCL, given our experience fighting food fraud, and testing products such as adulterated lemon juice. We hope to work with Miller and government regulators in the US and elsewhere to help expose this problem. NCL is grateful to the organizers of this BIT First Annual Conference on Food and Nutrition for including a consumer voice in the program. I found the gathering unusually rewarding, made many new friends and contacts for NCL, and learned a great deal from the many academics and doctors from around the world who are engaged in such noble and important work.

Consumer groups outline shutdown’s impact on consumer protection – National Consumers League

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October 11, 2013

Washington, DC – A coalition of leading consumer groups today sent a letter to Members of Congress calling out the lapses in consumer protection caused by the ongoing government shutdown.

The letter highlights how the shutdown has hindered work across a wide array of issues, including airline and auto safety, food and product safety, financial services and investor protections, as well consumer protection efforts at the EPA, FCC, FDA and FTC. Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League, Consumer Action, National Consumer Law Center on behalf of its low-income clients, Public Citizen, National Association of Consumer Advocates, and US PIRG signed on to the piece calling for an end to the impasse.

The groups write, “Consumers rely on the government to ensure the safety of the food they eat, the air they breathe, the products they use, the cars they drive, and the planes on which they fly.  Consumers also expect that the government will help to protect them from predatory financial schemes, fraud and scams.  Many of these consumer protections have been significantly curtailed as a result of the shutdown…We urge a speedy resolution of the shutdown so that the government can resume its critical role on behalf of all consumers.”

Rachel Weintraub, Legislative Director and Senior Counsel for Consumer Federation of America, will present these concerns in testimony at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing examining the impacts of the government shutdown on our economic security. The hearing is scheduled to take place Friday at 1 pm.

The full text of the letter is below:

October 11, 2013

Dear Member of Congress:

As the government shutdown continues, a coalition of consumer organizations has compiled information about how the shutdown is affecting the safety and wellbeing of millions of American consumers.  We are sharing this document with you today.

Consumers rely on the government to ensure the safety of the food they eat, the air they breathe, the products they use, the cars they drive, and the planes on which they fly.  Consumers also expect that the government will help to protect them from predatory financial schemes, fraud and scams.  Many of these consumer protections have been significantly curtailed as a result of the shutdown. 

Airline Safety

At the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 15,514 of 46,070 employees (34%) have been furloughed.  Air traffic controllers and baggage screeners are considered essential and are on the job so air travel continues.  However, most of the staff that supports the air traffic controllers are on furlough.  Virtually the entire safety inspection force has been sent home, with only one manager at every office across the country left to answer the phones.  This is unprecedented in U.S. aviation history; even during the 1996 government shutdown, most safety inspectors remained on the job.  Earlier this week, FAA announced plans to bring back 800 inspectors, oversight staff, and others. But that is only about 15% of the FAA’s furloughed airline safety personnel.

Food Safety

During the shutdown, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has retained about 55% of its staff.  According to the Health and Human Services’ shutdown plan: “FDA will be unable to support the majority of its food safety, nutrition, and cosmetics activities.”  This means that FDA will not conduct routine food safety inspections, some compliance and enforcement activities and will not be monitoring imports.  Much of the laboratory and scientific research necessary to inform public health decision-making also will not be conducted.   

Most Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors of meat and poultry continue to work.  The USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service will continue manning every meat production facility with full-time inspectors.  However, a meat and poultry hot line consumers can call for information about food safety or to report problems is closed.  The agency has said that “A lengthy hiatus would affect the safety of human life and have serious adverse effects on the industry, the consumer and the Agency.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has 68% of its staff furloughed, which means that CDC is at significantly reduced capacity to identify and respond to foodborne illness outbreaks, and is unable to support state and local partners in disease surveillance. PulseNet, CDC’s national network of public health laboratories that detects multi-state food-borne illness outbreaks was non-functioning as a result of the shutdown.  This hampered CDC’s capacity to track the recent Salmonella outbreak linked to poultry that sickened close to 300 people.  The employees who run PulseNet are now back to work since the CDC determined that PulseNet was vital to protecting the public from “imminent threats.”  Still, consultation with states and laboratory work to link outbreaks that might cross state borders will remain at reduced capacity during the shutdown.

Environment

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) furloughed 96% or 16,205 employees, leaving 613 workers on the job.  Most EPA operations have come to a halt.  EPA programs to protect public health, air quality, and safe drinking water and to regulate pesticides and pollution are mainly longer-term in nature and therefore are not considered essential to prevent imminent risk to human health.  Clean up at 505 Superfund sites (property contaminated by toxic chemicals) in 47 states has been suspended. Some laboratory staff continues to work as are emergency responders (responding to environmental emergencies). Some limited enforcement activities continue, but with skeletal staff.  

EPA’s Energy Star program for certifying energy efficient appliances and electronics is currently closed.  EPA also will not be updating its fuel economy website with new vehicle fuel-economy ratings.  The consequence is that there will be no EPA oversight of the accuracy of new fuel economy ratings until the government reopens.  

Financial Services/Investor Protections

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are both funded through the appropriations process and thus, are directly affected by the shutdown.  The CFTC, which oversees the commodities market and the bulk of the derivatives market, was immediately forced to furlough the vast majority of its 700 employees, leaving only 28 employees working at the agency.  This comes at a time when both agencies are struggling under enormous workloads to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and, in the case of the SEC, the JOBS Act.  That process has virtually ground to a halt at the CFTC, where key rules to protect against risks in the derivatives market were just beginning to take effect.  The shutdown also leaves the CFTC with only a handful of people to police the markets for fraud and manipulation, less than 5 of the 50 individuals who normally perform this function.  The SEC has reported that it has enough carry-over funding to allow it to operate essentially normally for “a few weeks.”  But that funding will run out if the shutdown continues for an extended period of time. 

The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are self-funded and not subject to the appropriations process.  All will remain open and operational.  Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is funded through the Federal Reserve, it will also remain open and operational. 

In addition, education loan borrowers who have a dispute with their loan servicer (or debt collector) will have a hard time resolving the dispute because the Department of Education’s ombudsman’s office is mostly shutdown.  

Product Safety

Four percent of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) total workforce remains on the job – that translates into 23 employees (including 5 commissioners) out of 540 full-time employees.  None of the employees currently working are field investigators or port inspectors.  The CPSC is conducting only business that “protects against imminent threats to human safety, and protect government property” and rulemakings, recalls, and civil penalty negotiations are suspended unless they rise to this level of threat.  Saferproducts.gov, CPSC’s consumer incident data base, is receiving reports but will not be publishing them thereby denying consumers the opportunity to learn about potentially dangerous products.

Two terrible examples bring home the impact of the shutdown on the CPSC’s ability to do its critical safety work.  Last Monday, a two year old girl in San Diego, California was killed when a chest of drawers with a television on top of it tipped over and fell on her, crushing her to death.  A one-year-old boy from Hitterdal, Minnesota, swallowed part of a laundry pod last week and has been hospitalized due to his injuries.  He was just moved out of intensive care and is breathing on his own.  However, CPSC is unable to investigate these serious incidents and is unable to work to educate consumers about how to avoid these serious and preventable safety hazards.

Auto Safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) furloughed 333 workers out of a total of 597.  As a result, NHTSA is not able to alert consumers about recalls.  Rulemakings, defect investigations, research, and testing is also on hold. NHTSA’s web site states that “Due to a lapse of Federal Government funding, NHTSA is unable process safety defect complaints after close of business September 30, 2013.  Consumers can continue to file complaints via this website, but they will not be evaluated by NHTSA staff until funding and services are restored.” Activities funded by the Highway Trust Fund will continue.  These activities include occupant protection and distracted driving research and development under the office of Traffic Injury Control. Any auto safety defects that emerge during the shutdown will not be investigated properly, leaving consumers and our highways at risk.

Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice

Less than 20% of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) employees (approximately 241 of its 1,178 workers) are exempt from furloughs.   Employees responsible for protecting life and property through the prosecution of enforcement actions are working. Most legal actions have been stayed; for those few cases where the court has not granted stays, agency work continues.  However, the agency expects no rulemakings during the shutdown, and staffers overseeing the Do Not Call registry, Consumer Response Center, and spam database have suspended work.  Consumers who are identity theft victims cannot access information that the FTC provides about the steps they should take or how to report the problem.

The FTC’s website is not functional—on the FTC’s home page, it states, “Unfortunately, the Federal Trade Commission is closed due to the government shutdown: the FTC Premerger Notification Office will be open to accept HSR filings; consumers may file FOlA requests, but they will not be processed; consumers cannot file complaints or register for Do Not Call; all public workshops, roundtables, hearings and conferences are postponed until further notice.” 

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is similarly affected.  Sixty-three percent of its workforce has been furloughed.  That could significantly impair its merger enforcement activities, including its pending challenge to the American Airlines/US Airways merger, and other important enforcement activities that protect consumers against harm from anticompetitive business conduct.

Housing Finance

The mortgage market is operated primarily by nongovernmental entities in the private sector, but the shutdown is having an impact in this area.  Mortgage loans may be delayed because the Internal Revenue Service (impacted by the shutdown) is not in a position to verify income for borrowers.  In addition, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is operating with only a skeleton staff and is unable to do full quality control reviews of loans receiving FHA mortgage insurance through delegated underwriters.  Over time, this could reduce the quality of the FHA portfolio and lead to higher losses for the insurance fund.

In the affordable rental housing field, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has funded current contracts with public housing agencies to provide rental subsidies for very low income renters.  But very shortly current funding will expire, and agencies responsible for paying landlords on behalf of very low income tenants or for directly operating housing for such tenants may be unable to meet their obligations.  Assistance for homeless families and single individuals, typically provided by private, nonprofit operators using federal funds, is also at risk if the shutdown extends further.  Similarly, affordable housing developers are reporting that projects in their pipeline are on hold because officials at HUD and USDA’s Rural Housing Service are unable to respond to questions, process applications for assistance, or sign off on proposed or final development deals. 

Drug Safety and Medical Devices

The FDA is partly funded by user fees, which are paid by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.  Some activities related to the user-fee funded programs, such as product approvals and safety communications for drugs and devices, will continue.  About 75% of the FDA staffers who have been retained have jobs that are funded by user fees.  Nevertheless, FDA’s own website acknowledges that the agency “cannot predict whether we will experience delays in (the programs under the law overseeing drug testing and safety) in the event of a protracted lapse in appropriations.”  The website goes on to say that with regard to medical devices, “certain review activities…may be suspended during the lapse period.”

Energy

The Department of Energy (DOE) has furloughed approximately 69% of its personnel (9,595 furloughs out of 13,814.)  DOE has some multi-year appropriations that will continue to be spent until they run out, but most DOE programs, including research and renewable energy projects, will not be able to operate for very long.  Important efficiency rules related to televisions, furnace fans, and other appliances, which will save consumers millions of dollars, could be delayed because they cannot be published in the Federal Register until the government reopens.

Health/Social Security

The health insurance exchanges are open, and implementation of the American Affordable Care Act proceeds.  Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits are being paid, but new applications may not be processed until the government reopens.  Depending on the length of the shutdown, payments to Medicare providers may be affected.

Telecommunications

According to the FCC’s shutdown plan, approximately 30 FCC employees – or less than 2% of its approximately 1750+ employees – have been deemed essential and exempt from the furlough.  Among those deemed essential are the three Commissioners (though not their legal advisors), the inspector general, and a small number of employees who are tasked with critical functions such as the protection of life and property, disaster response operations, and integral national security functions.  However, some of the FCC activities that will cease under the shutdown include: merger reviews, responses to consumer complaints, consumer protection, local competition enforcement, licensing of broadcast, wireless, and management of radio spectrum, and equipment authorizations (which bring new electronic devices to the American public).  Work has been delayed on the highly anticipated spectrum auctions and could affect the timing of the first of these auctions, which were supposed to take place in January.  Finally, the FCC has ceased maintaining its online systems, leaving the public unable to access the resources, public comments, and consumer education materials available on its website.

We urge a speedy resolution of the shutdown so that the government can resume its critical role on behalf of all consumers.

Feel free to contact Rachel Weintraub with Consumer Federation of America at rweintraub@consumerfed.org or (202) 387-6121 or Ellen Bloom with Consumers Union at ebloom@consumer.org or (202) 462-6262 for further information.

Sincerely,
Consumers Union
Consumer Federation of America
National Consumers League
Consumer Action
National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients
Public Citizen
National Association of Consumer Advocates
US PIRG

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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.

To have power means to have responsibility – National Consumers League

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This post originally appeared on SOCAP International’s Web site Guest blog by Matt D’Uva, President of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals I had the absolute privilege to attend the Trumpeter Award Dinner on Tuesday night hosted by the National Consumers League.  NCL, founded in 1899, is an inspiring organization.  They have been fighting the good fight for important causes such as workers’ rights, consumers’ rights, and equal pay for equal work.  Although the organization is well over 100 years old, this year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Trumpeter Awards Dinner which, of course, made me think about the interesting connection between this celebration and SOCAP’s own 40th anniversary.

Organizations like NCL have been a critical player in important movements in the history of our country, such as the consumer movement which helped create new legislation, practices and accountability which ultimately led to the creation of SOCAP and literally the customer care profession.  I believe that leaders like Florence Kelly, the first general secretary of the NCL (and the namesake of one of the Trumpeter Awards), would be thrilled to see the power of consumers today.  I believe she would be challenging organizations like SOCAP and our members to ensure that the Voice of the Consumer is alive, strong and elevated within companies on every issue.  Ms. Kelly once famously said, “To buy means to have power, to have power means to have responsibility”. This responsibility is born by consumers, by customer care executives and by organizations like SOCAP and NCL.  To that end, SOCAP has worked hard to build a partnership with the National Consumers League to ensure that we are living up to Ms. Kelly’s challenge of taking our responsibility seriously to consumers.  For example, SOCAP—working through our local chapters and our national members—actively supports NCL’s LifeSmarts program which works with young people in grades 6 – 12 to help them learn important skills to better and more educated consumers.

Our members help write questions, volunteer their time, and donate funds to help the LifeSmarts program grow.  As SOCAP’s President and CEO, I also serve as a member of the Advisory Board. We have also been working with NCL on other programs such as their Fraud.org project protecting consumers from bad players who mean to do them harm, the very opposite of customer care.  Additionally, we have started important dialogue with NCL about the issue of consumer privacy.  Privacy is an important topic for customer care and business, especially as we see the great opportunities to use Big Data to build meaningful, authentic relationships with consumers.  It is through these important partnerships like this that SOCAP can contribute to your internal conversations.   To that end, I invite you to participate with us at our 2013 Annual Conference (October 27-30 in Scottsdale, AZ) where we will convene a panel session with NCL leaders as well as industry representatives from Microsoft and Publishers Clearinghouse to discuss issues around consumer privacy and what we can learn from consumer organizations and industry working together.  This will be the first of many discussions on this important topic and we hope you will join us. I am proud of SOCAP’s history of supporting customer care experts who are the heart and soul of industry and who bring the voice of the consumer to decision makers.  I am also proud to share a bit of our history with the consumer groups like NCL who have fought to push for the transparency and openness that customer care provides.  As we look to the future, our partnership will ensure that SOCAP members remain at the forefront of pushing our profession and service to customers through listening and engagement.

NCL commends UMWA for historic settlement – National Consumers League

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October 11, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323,   benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, congratulates its allies at the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), who have reached a global settlement with Peabody Energy and Patriot Coal. This hard-fought settlement will provide funding of more than $400 million to cover future health care benefits for retirees affected by the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal.

NCL has long been allied with the cause of American workers and has a close and abiding relationship with the UMWA. In 2012, NCL honored UMWA President Cecil Roberts with the Trumpeter Award, NCL’s highest honor.

The following statement can be attributed to NCL’s Sally Greenberg:

We are pleased for our UMWA brothers and sisters, as well as for all active American workers and retirees and are grateful for the indefatigable work of the UMWA to reach this global settlement with Peabody and Patriot,” said Sally Greenberg, the League’s Executive Director. “For months, UMWA has fought long and hard to find compromise, keep Patriot Coal operating, save jobs, and ensure the well-earned security of its retirees. We commend them for their success.

In April of this year, NCL joined one of many protests in St. Louis aimed at Patriot Coal’s bankruptcy that placed in jeopardy the pension and heath care benefits of UMWA retirees. NCL believes that Patriot was set up to fail when it was formed by Peabody with more liabilities than assets in 2007 and we have stood with our brothers and sisters at the UMWA to pressure legislators, Peabody, and Arch, to live up to the agreements they made with workers.

There’s no harder or more arduous job than going down into the mines for 12 hours a day. The work results in ailments from breathing in coal dust and Black Lung disease to injuries caused by the hard labor involved in mining. It’s only fair that these miners and their families get good lifetime health care and a decent retirement plan.

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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.

Consumer group launches campaign to help teens use over-the-counter pain medications safely during the school year – National Consumers League

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October 10, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, 202-835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — According to the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy group, the National Consumers League (NCL), use of over-the-counter (OTC) medications to relieve pain, cold and flu symptoms, and allergies among American teenagers is widespread but often uninformed. The Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization today is launching a national multi-media campaign aimed at educating teens and young adults about the risks of misusing OTC pain medications.

“When it comes to safety and health, teens often think they know more than they actually do,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “We have found teens as young as 13 years old, uninformed and self-medicating with OTC medications. And, while many teens do look to their parents and other adults for counsel and instruction about using OTC medications, many adult consumers aren’t properly using the medications themselves, setting a bad example for their children, and putting themselves at risk of serious health consequences.”

Today NCL is launching TakeWithCare.org, an interactive site for teens to educate about the safe use of OTC pain medications. TakeWithCare addresses some of the most common misconceptions about the safety of the medications: the importance of reading and following labels, taking the labeled dose and consulting with parents and health care professionals. NCL has also created new OTC safety curriculum for its LifeSmarts program, a national consumer education competition and in-classroom aid for middle and high school students, and is today releasing the research about teen use of OTC medications that was used in the development of the new site.

Over-the-counter pain medications containing acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are among the most commonly used drugs in the United States, yet also pose dangers when misused. Taking more than the recommended amount can cause liver damage (in the case of acetaminophen) and stomach bleeding (in the case of NSAIDs). According to the Food and Drug Administration, many cases of overdose are caused by patients inadvertently taking more than the recommended dose of a particular product, taking multiple medicines containing the same active ingredients, or by taking both OTC and prescription versions concurrently.

Research commissioned by NCL has found that Americans, young and old, are in need of education on the safe use of OTC pain medication, and it was this research that drove the organization to produce the new educational campaign. The 2009 Harris Interactive survey conducted online among both teens aged 13 to 17 and adults aged 18 and older, found that nearly as many American teenagers (75 percent) as adults (84%) have used OTC pain medications  in the past year. Nearly two in three of teen respondents (64%) said they have used an OTC pain medication in the last six months, most commonly for headaches, sports or exercise-related pain and muscle aches, or menstrual pain. More than two-thirds (69%) of teen OTC pain medication users consult with their parent(s) before taking the OTC pain medication. The survey found a substantial percentage of teens are using the medicines regularly: Incidence of use of OTC pain medications daily or several times per week is 15 percent among 13- to 15-year-olds, and 21 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds report using OTC pain medications at least several times a week.

Despite how widespread it is, their usage behavior is not flawless: one-quarter of teen OTC pain medication users reported having taken the next dose sooner than directed, expecting more frequent usage to result in better relief. Also alarming to the consumer group, is the finding that many teens taking the medications often do so without awareness of the products’ active ingredients. Only one in four (27%) teens said they knew what the active ingredient is in their most-often used OTC pain medication. This number is lower than among adults, 56% of adults saying they knew the active ingredient in their most often used OTC pain medication.

“If you aren’t aware of exactly what’s in the product you’re taking – whether it’s a pain reliever, cough suppressant, fever reducer, sinus medication, or something else, you’re putting yourself at risk for doubling-up on the same active ingredient and exposing your body to the potential harm caused by that overdosing,” said Greenberg. “Many consumers self-treating pain, cold or flu symptoms may turn to more than one product, often multi-ingredient, without realizing that they’re putting themselves at potential risk of stomach or liver problems.”

“The opportunity to educate teens about proper OTC pain medication use exists when they are young and have the potential to form better habits than their adult counterparts,” said Rebecca Burkholder, NCL Vice President for Health Policy. “As teens age and enter adulthood, they are using OTC pain medications more frequently and with increasingly less adult supervision. While we were pleased to see that the majority of teens are consulting a parent or guardian about such medication use, the goal of Take With Care is to instill good habits across the board.”

Survey Highlights

Use without confidence

Although the majority of teens self report having used OTC pain medications recently, overall, teens lack knowledge about OTC pain medications. In addition, there is little awareness of the active ingredients in their pain medications and they lack familiarity with acetaminophen.

  • Nearly two-thirds of teens (64%) have used OTC pain medications in the past six months. However, nearly three-quarters (73%) of teen OTC pain medications do not know or are not sure of the main active ingredient in the OTC pain medication they take most frequently. For example, fewer than one-fifth of teens (16%) are very or fairly familiar with the active ingredient acetaminophen. One-third of teens (33%) do not believe acetaminophen is sold under the brand Tylenol™, a concern to advocates given that Tylenol is one of the most well-known brands containing acetaminophen.

Dangers of mixing products

  • Despite the fact that nearly half of teens indicate some uncertainty about the safety of using two products that contain acetaminophen at the same time, some teen OTC pain medication users are using OTC pain medications and other medications concurrently, a practice advocates and government health experts strongly caution against.
  • Nearly half of teens (48%) are unsure as to whether it is safe to take two products containing acetaminophen at the same time.
  • Nearly half of teens (44%) are unsure if it is okay to take OTC PMs while taking an OTC product for cold or sinus conditions, and 18 percent of teen OTC PM users have taken an OTC PMs with an OTC for cold or flu.
  • While use of prescription painkillers among teens is low (10%), nearly all teen respondents were unable to correctly identify APAP as the prescription abbreviation for acetaminophen. As their adult counterparts demonstrated a tendency to use prescription and OTC painkillers concurrently (44% had reported doing so), advocates are strongly concerned about teens’ ability to identify what they are taking in order to avoid overdose.

Overuse

Teens admit they are using OTC PMs other than directed on the label.

  • One-quarter (24%) of teen OTC PM users report they have taken the next dose sooner than directed; 15% report they have taken more pills at a single time or more than the number of doses per day as directed on the label (7%).
  • Nearly one third (32%) of teens think that it is either not possible (9%) or are not sure (23%) that one can  overdose on OTC

Parental influence

Most young people rely most heavily on parental guidance when it comes to making health decisions including taking OTC PMs, which, on the surface seems wise, but could pose risks, considering the poor self-reported habits of some of the adults surveyed.

    • Two-thirds (66%) of teens report their parent(s) influence them the most when it comes to making decisions about their health.
    • More than two-thirds (69%) of teen OTC PM users consult with their parent(s) before taking the OTC PM.
    • In general, a relatively small but significant number of teens say they would take OTC medicines without first consulting with a parent (22% say they never or rarely consult a parent) and only 39% say they always check with a parent. Older teens are less likely to consult a parent than younger teens.Only 4% of teens have consulted a healthcare professional always or often about information that was unclear to them on an OTC drug package.
    • 66% of teens say they are most influenced by parents in terms to decision about their health. 12% say other people (like friends, siblings, teachers) and 11% say doctors are the “most” influential.

Following (or not) the labels

Most teens say they read the directions on a new OTC PM, but other elements are read less often. Teens admit to not reading the labels every time they take the medications.

  • Two-thirds of teens (63%) say they “always or often” read the directions the first time they take an OTC medication.
  • Only one in four (28%) teens say they read the active ingredients the first time they take an OTC product, 44% say they never / rarely read this information
  • Roughly half of teens (48 percent) say they always/often read the label information on warning and side effects

About the Survey

NCL commissioned this survey with an unrestricted educational grant from McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

This Knowledge of and Behavior Around Acetaminophen Use Survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of the National Consumers League between May 29. 2009 and June 11, 2009 among 536 youth, aged 13 to 17 and 1,731 adults aged 18 and older, with an oversample of 200 English-speaking Hispanic adults.

Complete survey results, fact sheets for consumers, and other resources are available at www.nclnet.org.

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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.

About Harris Interactive®
Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Serving clients in more than 196 countries and territories through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients—stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.theharrispoll.com.

During the shutdown, House bill for selective relief of FDA is short sighted – National Consumers League

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92_ayannaBy Ayanna Johnson, Health Policy Associate The government shutdown continues to negatively impact the health and safety of Americans. Vital government agencies like the NIH, FDA, CDC, EPA, and others are operating with a much-reduced staff, endangering the public, not to mention the families of government workers who may not be able to pay their mortgage or bills. But don’t worry, Congress to the rescue!

On October 3, the House GOP introduced H.J. Res 77, the Food and Drug Administration Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014, which passed four days later H.J. Res 77 singles out the Food and Drug Administration for funding during the partial government shutdown. This bill aims to provide funding to FDA to continue normal operations, but fails to provide the necessary funding for the other equally important government agencies. The republican approach of passing piecemeal legislation to address one small aspect of the government shutdown at a time does not adequately solve the problem.  As *President Obama stated during his Tuesday press conference, these bills help agencies with high visibility but neglect others. With other patient and health advocates, NCL signed on to a letter to Speaker John Boehner and Leader Nancy Pelosi expressing concern with this proposed legislation. While we do believe FDA to be an essential government agency, we cannot support this approach by the House GOP. Click on the link below for the full letter. Health coalition opposed to H.J. Res 77

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

Do big changes lie ahead for nonprofit organizations? – National Consumers League

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A message from our development team. America’s nonprofit organizations, including the National Consumers League, are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Current tax law permits NCL and all 501(c)(3), meaning tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations to advocate for policy changes, provided that advocacy doesn’t supplant their charitable purpose. We’re prohibited from endorsing candidates for public office.

Despite occasional missteps, these laws and regulations have worked pretty well. There were howls of protest, however, when word leaked out that the IRS was making a clumsy attempt to identify Tea Party-related organizations that might not qualify for tax-exempt status. Now comes a report from the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations (CAPRO), established by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, that recommends eliminating the ban on political speech by charities like NCL and religious organizations, including churches. Preachers could endorse political candidates from the pulpit, in other words. Diana Aviv, head of Independent Sector, the largest association of national nonprofit organizations, spoke out forcefully against the CAPRO recommendations, and the Bright Lines Project (BLP), spearheaded by the Center for Effective Government, is developing its own recommendations to clarify what charitable organizations may do and say in nonpartisan (meaning, mainly, non-electoral) activities. It’s a safe bet that freeing evangelical preachers to endorse candidates on Sunday morning will not be on the BLP’s recommendations list.  

Avoid food-drug interactions – National Consumers League

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What you eat and drink can affect the way your medicines work. NCL has teamed up with the FDA to update its popular guide about avoiding dangerous food and medicine combinations, and it’s now available to the public!

Health advocates at the National Consumers League and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have produced “Avoid Food and Drug Interactions” an updated version of NCL’s most popular brochure “Food and Drug Interactions,” to serve as a guide to alert you to possible “food-drug interactions” and to help you learn what you can do to prevent them.

A food-drug interaction is a change in how a medicine works caused by food, caffeine, or alcohol.

A food-drug interaction can:

  • prevent a medicine from working the way it should
  • cause a side effect from a medicine to get worse or better
  • cause a new side effect

A medicine can also change the way your body uses a food. Any of these changes can be harmful.

NCL and the FDA have teamed up to alert consumers to the possibility that the medications they are taking could interact with foods, caffeine, and alcohol. With millions of Americans taking prescription or over-the-counter medications each day, the issue of interactions between medications and certain foods is of growing importance.

The updated brochure contains information on nine medical conditions, the types of medications used to treat the condition, and common interactions between the medications and food, caffeine, or alcohol. The medications include both common prescription and over-the-counter medicines. The conditions covered in the guide range from arthritis to osteoporosis, and the medications range from aspirin to lithium to warfarin. The interactions come from medicine labels that FDA has approved. And the guide uses the generic names of medicines, never brand names.

The guide has been published in plain language, and is re-formatted as a guide for consumers to learn more about and avoid interactions. It is important to always check the medication label for any information on interactions. Always ask your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional if you have any questions about using your medication with other medications; with vitamins, herbals, or other dietary supplements; or with food, caffeine, or alcohol.

To see what we’re talking about, you can view sample pages of the brochure online here. You can order the brochure by contacting NCL’s Publications Manager Theresa Smith by calling (202) 835-3323. Bulk order pricing is available at a discounted rate!

NCL’s Greenberg to be honored by Frances Perkins Center – National Consumers League

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October 3, 2013

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The Maine-based Frances Perkins Center, an organization that carries on the legacy of Frances Perkins, principal architect of the New Deal and first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, will honor National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg this week at its annual awards ceremony in Portland, Maine.

Frances Perkins paved the way for future generations of women as the first female appointed to a presidential cabinet position. Perkins served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor for Franklin Delano Roosevelt (and still the longest-sitting secretary of labor in U.S. history), a guest professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, a social worker, a factory inspector, a New York state commissioner of labor, a champion of the New Deal, and a close friend and advisor to FDR.

The Frances Perkins Steadfast Award: Sally Greenberg
Sally Greenberg joined the National Consumers League as Executive Director in 2007. Under Sally’s leadership, the League continues to fight the exploitation of children and teens in the workplace, and enforces the protections provided by maximum hours laws and minimum wage laws. The League runs a special project on Wage Theft, working for paid sick leave locally and nationally, and coordinates the Child Labor Coalition. Sally came to NCL from Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, where she served as Senior Product Safety Counsel for 10 years.

“I am truly honored to receive this award from the Frances Perkins Center, an organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of one of the 20th Century’s most influential social reformers,” said Greenberg. “Perkins’ early work for the National Consumers League, which introduced her to progressive political figures like NY Governor Al Smith, and later Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is a history the League is proud to share. Perkins is one of my great role models as the League continues to fight for progressive reforms.”

The award is named for Frances Perkins who, after college, ran NCL’s New York chapter, focusing on four areas: poor conditions in cellar bakeries, long hours and poor wages for children, child labor, and workplace fire hazards. Later in life, as Secretary of Labor, Perkins worked to pass unemployment insurance, Social Security, and the law setting wage and hour restrictions known as the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Today, the Frances Perkins Center’s Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative provides a progressive framework around the evolving role of government, depicting the ways in which government has fueled innovation, supported social justice, and improved quality of life in America.

What: REDISCOVERING GOVERNMENT: MAKING PEOPLE MATTER
When: October 4, 2013 | 3:30pm – 6:00pm
Where:  Wishcamper Center
Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine
34 Bedford St, Portland, ME

For more info: www.francesperkinscenter.org

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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.