Did you know cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with one in every three deaths caused by heart disease or stroke—2,200 American deaths each day? With heart health in the spotlight in February for American Heart Month, consumer health advocates are saying there’s never been a better time for individuals to recognize the leading cause of death in America and give the gift of education, prevention, and treatment to their loved ones this Valentine’s Day.

This Valentine’s Day, NCL and its Script Your Future campaign are calling on consumers to bypass the box of chocolates or bouquet of flowers in favor of the much more meaningful gift of a pledge to a healthier future, achieved through the close monitoring of chronic conditions, taking medications as directed, and engaging in productive two-way dialogue with health care professionals.

Script Your Future is challenging consumers to give the gift of a healthier future to their special someone this year. Script Your Future offers many ways to help loved ones stay on top of their new commitment to health and well-being:

1. Take the pledge to take medication as directed as a first step to a healthier life in 2012. Take the pledge for yourself, or create one for your Valentine here.
2. Download a medication wallet card to help keep track of medication(s) and get useful questions and conversation starters for your health care professional. Sit down with your Valentine and fill out the wallet card with your medicines, dosages, and refill dates together.
3. Sign up for free text message medication reminders at ScriptYourFuture.org. You set the start date, time, and frequency of dosages.
4. Commit to engage in conversations about medication with health care professionals during doctor visits and at the pharmacy. Talk to your Valentine about your health concerns, and take advantage of sample questions for health care professionals, and videos and fact sheets on common chronic conditions at ScriptYourFuture.org.

By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety & Nutrition Fellow

Here at NCL we believe that consumers have a basic right to know what is in their food.  Knowing what’s in your food means you can make informed choices about what to eat and what to avoid, a right that is fundamental. Unfortunately, this still isn’t possible in some cases.

Enter genetically engineered (GE) foods. Some see GE foods as “frankenfoods,” a dangerous scientific development that can put our health at risk.  Others see GE foods as the only answer to feeding a growing world population.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue, most people agree about one thing; People have the right to decide whether or not they eat GE foods.

NCL agrees with the 93% of American consumers who say that they want genetically engineered foods to be labeled. The right to choose what you and your family put in your bodies is a basic one. Without labels, it’s impossible to avoid genetically engineered foods unless you eat only organic foods, which not every family wants or can afford to do. Labels would allow consumers to make informed choices about whether or not to feed their family a certain food.  Nearly 50 countries, including the European Union, Australia, Brazil, and China, already have law mandating the labeling of GE foods.

NCL has joined with more than 450 other organizations as part of the Just Label It campaign to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to mandate the labeling of GE foods. The campaign has issued a petition urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require that all genetically engineered foods be clearly labeled. So far, more than 600,000 people have signed on to the petition.

If you believe that consumers have the right to both know what is in their food and choose what they consume, add your signature to the Just Label It petition and urge the FDA to mandate labeling of GE foods!

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Ironically the state of Indiana, whose legislators just adopted a so called “right-to-work” (should be called “right to work for less”)  law, is hosting the Super Bowl tomorrow. It’s ironic because, not so long ago, NFL owners were threatening to lock out the football players. Owners wanted more games from the players and less sharing of the profits. Months ago, I attended a press conference hosted by the NFL players union, which argued forcefully on behalf of the players and was ultimately able to win rights and protections for players. The union made it possible not only for players to preserve rights but also made it possible for management and labor to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement and keep the season moving forward. So the season ensued, and now millions of football fans will be able to watch Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

What’s a right-to-work law anyway? Well, unions are legally required to equally represent all employees covered by a contract, whether or not they pay a cent in union fees.  That representation includes contract negotiations and arbitration over grievances (in fact, unions sometimes go out of their way to pursue cases on behalf of critics, lest they file charges against the union).  Barring unions from requiring employees to pay fees for these costs is an effective way to defund them and that is what right-to-work laws are intended to do.

I personally would have liked to see the NFL players union refuse to play in Indiana after it enacted this odious, anti-worker law. It could have been a great teaching moment, i.e., what is a right-to-work law and why is it anti-worker? In fairness, the National Football League Players’ Association did express strong objections to the law, but refusing to play would have really made Americans stand up and notice.

Right-to-work laws now exist in 23 states. According to the Economic Policy Institute, right-to-work laws don’t do what proponents say they do: help create jobs and raise wages. Instead, right-to-work laws reduce wages by an average of $1,500 a year, lower the likelihood that union and non-union employees receive health care coverage or pensions through their jobs, and have no positive impact on job growth in states that adopt them.

Indiana’s law new law is a sad development and aggressively anti-union. If only the millions of football fans knew what an important role the NFL players union played in negotiating a settlement on behalf of the workers – the football teams in this case – and got the players back on the field so we can all enjoy the Super Bowl Sunday night.

While the unseasonably warm weather we are experiencing in may parts of the country is bound to have many Americans checking their calendars to be sure what season we’re in, it bears mentioning that tomorrow, February 3^rd, is National Wear Red Day in support of women’s heart health!

National Wear Red Day, coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Office on Women’s Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and others, is designed to draw attention to the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women. Wear Red Day calls on heart health advocates and patients to wear a favorite red dress, red shirt, red tie, or Red Dress Pin to lend support to the cause and offer women “a personal and urgent wakeup” call about their risk of heart disease.

Wear Red Day is part of the Heart Truth campaign, which is this year celebrating its decade-long commitment to women’s heart health. The campaign reminds Americans that heart disease is preventable. Americans can lower their risk of heart disease by as much as 82 percent just by living a healthy lifestyle: eating right, staying physical active, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking.

We here at NCL are also very concerned about heart health and the many other chronic conditions facing Americans. To encourage the health of all Americans and to help patients have regular conversations with their health care practitioner and take all medications as directed, NCL launched a campaign of its own called Script Your Future. Script Your Future is designed to raise awareness among consumers and their family caregivers about the importance of taking medication as prescribed as a vital first step toward better health outcomes. The campaign website offers free tools such as free text message medication reminders, sample questions to ask health care professionals, lists and charts to keep track of medicines, fact sheets on targeted common conditions, and more.

So visit www.ScriptYourFutre.org for more information and don’t forget to show your support of women’s heart health by wearing your favorite red gear tomorrow!

Happy Earned Income Tax Credit Day!

The EITC is a very helpful way for low-moderate income working Americans to get extra money on their taxes. EITC is a financial boost for working people in a recovering economy. Unfortunately, not all Americans who qualify take advantage, but it’s getting better — last year four of five eligible people claimed and got their EITC!

The IRS says: You earned it. Now file, claim it and get it. It’s easier than ever to find out whether you qualify.

Low-income consumers can also take advantage of the IRS FreeFile service to avoid the high costs of tax preparation software or the risk of using a fly-by-night tax preparer.

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