As we come into the home stretch of the online LifeSmarts competitions, LifeSmarts students are busy learning all they can using the practice quizzes, LifeSmarts U online lessons, and all the other resources to be found on the LifeSmarts Web site. Since competition opened in September students have already answered 1.5 million consumer questions online!

LifeSmarts is education for the real world, and it arms students with knowledge they begin implementing right away. Students say LifeSmarts has helped them:

• know what to do when my ATM card gets stolen
• budget and keep track of purchases with my debit card
• know the proper temperature to store certain foods
• know what to look for when I buy my next cell phone
• learn about my rights as a worker (and I got a raise!)
• provide reasons why my parents should seek a refund for a poor-quality product
• remember to turn my low beams on when it is foggy
• learn to read the fine print when using OTC drugs
• explain consumer rights to a friend whose phone service got slammed
• vigilantly guard my Social Security number
• recycle more

It is gratifying to see this generation of young consumers demonstrate their desire to learn as much as they can about important issues that will give them a leg-up in life. Hats off to you!

The election of Senator Kennedy’s successor has led to numerous discussions about the future of health reform, but advocates are encouraging Members of Congress—from both sides of the aisle—to keep their eyes on the prize.

“We need to put partisan concerns aside and work NOW to ensure that the system is reformed. The cost of doing nothing is unthinkable,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

Senator Kennedy, who lost his battle with cancer last summer, was a friend of consumers and workers; Senator Kennedy called upon the Obama Administration to reinstate the White House Office of Consumer Affairs and was a champion of workers, fighting tirelessly for minimum wage increases for working families and health care for all. In his honor and in the spirit and history of the League, NCL is committed to reforming a system to ensure that “everyone has access to affordable health care or the system will remain broken.”

For decades, NCL has been dedicated to achieving quality improvements to America’s health care system. In the 1930s, NCL’s Josephine Roche authored the first universal health care proposal and today, NCL is at the forefront of advocating for comprehensive health reform with legislation that is patient-centered and cost-efficient.

NCL encourages law makers on either side of the aisle to remember what this debate is about – improving the access to and quality of health care in America, for all Americans, addressing why we are overpaying for care that is not making us healthier.

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Last week I arrived in the United States, back from a trip to Hong Kong, which became a whirlwind tour of airports and hotels that – because of a tight schedule – I had to fit into 3.5 days. Why would I travel so far for such a short time? Because the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, together with the *Toy Industry of America (TIA), was holding a conference on toy safety, and TIA wanted very much to have an American consumer organization present at the meeting. Several of my former Consumers Union (CU) colleagues, who couldn’t make the trip, suggested to TIA that they invite me because of my past work on product safety and toy safety at CU.

NCL’s Sally Greenberg with Toys”R”Us CEO Gerald Storch at a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Hong Kong.As intense as the itinerary was, the trip turned out to be very worthwhile for several reasons. First, this is a time of enormous tumult in the toy industry world. It was only two years ago that a crisis erupted as lead levels in toys imported from China were found to be far beyond legal limits. One *4-year-old boy in Minnesota actually died from lead poisoning when he swallowed a lead-laden charm from a bracelet attached to a Reebok shoe. I was able to reflect on the role consumer groups had played in bringing to public attention the dangers of lead and other heavy metals in children’s toys.

Secondly, I was able to discuss the important role consumer groups can and should play in the setting of safety standards. We also tipped our hat to the TIA because it sought active consumer participation in reforming the way toys are tested by third-party companies before being allowed to be imported into the United States. The rules are complicated and took months to develop— with consumer input throughout the process—but TIA’s Toy Safety Certification Program was adopted as a result.

Lastly, I had the chance to interact with a number of leaders in the toy industry, including CEO of Toys“R”Us, Gerald Storch, who gave an inspiring and important speech, underscoring that he and Toys“R”Us, as retailers, represent the interests of consumers. He insists on ensuring, through independent testing, that toys imported into the hundreds of his company’s retail stores in the United States and abroad meet the highest standards for safety.

The enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2009 (CPSIA) is a watershed event for the safety of all consumer products and has changed the way the whole world looks at the regulation of lead and other heavy metals in toys. As I participated in this conference, I began to appreciate how important it was to have an American consumer perspective, especially given the passage of this landmark legislation last year.

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

It’s officially National Influenza Vaccination Week, a national observance established to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated against influenza into January and beyond. There was a lot of buzz last fall, leading into the holiday season, urging consumers to get vaccinated – especially those with chronic health conditions that put them at high risk of serious influenza-related complications.

One of the many goals for NIVW, which is sponsored by the federal government (www.flu.gov) and being supported by many other health groups, including the National Consumers League, is to engage at-risk audiences who haven’t yet received the vaccine, who may be hesitant about it, or unsure about where to get vaccinated.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “Getting a flu shot is the single best way to protect against the flu.” Yet many consumers — including pregnant women — are either hesitant to get a flu shot or have been unable to get vaccinated due to limited supplies. Last fall, NCL created a *Q&A to make sure expectant moms have the information they need to make good decisions about protecting their health—and the health of their babies—and know where to go to get the care they need.

If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, or aren’t sure whether you should, check out the resources at www.flu.gov to learn more about the vaccine, read a proclamation from the President, or *send an e-card to a loved one.

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

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

It’s almost too painful to talk about: a few days before Thanksgiving in a small Virginia town called Poquoson, Frank Gornik, 14, was removing storm debris for his uncle’s company. The boy, a freshman in high school, fed branches into a wood chipper. He used a shovel to help force the branches and that shovel was grabbed by the machine and—in an instant—*swallowed the boy and killed him.

Each year, 35-40 teens die similarly unimaginable deaths in workplace accidents—tractor rollovers, work-related car accidents, drownings in grain silos. Here at the National Consumers League, we try to monitor these deaths to prevent them from occurring. A decade ago, the number of working teens who died on the job was about double what it is today. The *Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, federal and state departments of labor, nonprofit organizations and employers worked together to help bring the number of deaths down, but we must keep working to reduce that number even further.

Sadly, although it was a freak accident, Gornik’s death was preventable. The boy was much too young to work with such deadly equipment. Over the years, state and federal officials have realized that teens lack the judgment and experience to operate some hazardous machinery and *require workers to be 18 to use them (although some exemptions are made for agriculture). Because of their ability to inflict massive and instantaneous damage, wood chippers are among the proscribed machines. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Labor refused to enact NIOSH-recommended changes to the “hazardous orders” regulations that would have improved teen worker safety protections. It is our understanding that under Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ leadership, the department is working to update those regulations and close some current exemptions that allow teens to perform dangerous work.

Although Gornik had his share of sadness— according to local newspaper reports, he lost both parents in a two-year stretch between 2005 and 2007—he was remembered by many fellow students for his ready smile and helpfulness. He was a very popular student who played sports and made the honor roll, and the Poquoson community continues to grieve his loss.

It’s hard to make any sense of an unspeakable tragedy like this, but the lessons learned from the accident that took Frank Gornik’s life might prevent similar deaths. Each year, NCL publishes a report—“The Five Worst Teen Jobs”—about dangerous job for teens, hoping that parents, employers, and young workers will carefully consider which jobs they take and what tasks they perform at work. It’s vital that employers learn state and federal child labor and safety laws, and it’s vital that young workers think about their own safety and know that they are able to say “no” to any job task that is dangerous or against the law.

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