Consumer group welcomes ‘Food Scores’ rating tool – National Consumers League

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October 28, 2014

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

Washington, DC- Today the National Consumers League (NCL) commends new consumer food education database recently released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The tool, called “Food Scores,” awards packaged food products ratings on a 1-to-10 scale that takes into consideration nutrients, ingredients and processing  as well as identifying how the food measures up on a variety of criteria such as organic certification, the use of antibiotics in livestock, animal welfare, and exposure to pesticides. With more than 80,000 packaged foods in its database, the tool can serve as a source for providing consumers with quick, clear answers to their questions about what is in—and behind—the foods they purchase.

“Food Scores is a tool for consumers looking to learn as much as they can about a product in one place,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL. “Educating consumers about which foods measure up and which are actually filled with fat, sugar, and sodium is a vital step in promoting healthier eating and ending the obesity crisis.”

The Food Scores database is a combination of information gleaned from manufacturer labeling and Environmental Working Group’s own research. In addition to the overall score, the database provides three more detailed scales addressing nutrition, ingredient, and processing concerns. It also provides the Nutrition Facts panel, ingredient list, and any certifications or seals the product bares.

With the release of the database, EWG hopes to point out the prevalence of excessive sugar in products consumers wouldn’t suspect such as salad dressings, yogurt, and granola bars. Advocates expect the database to also apply pressure on industrial food makers to stop adding unnecessary ingredients out of convenience. Food Scores is currently an online tool but will be made available as a mobile app.

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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.

Americans toss 40 percent of food produced, while 50 million go hungry; New report raises concerns about food waste in U.S. – National Consumers League

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October 24, 2014

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

Washington, DC- A new report published to coincide with Food Day reveals that America is one of the worst food waste offenders, tossing 35 million tons of food each year, and offers solutions for retailers and consumers. Released by the National Consumers League, the report finds that, worldwide, a quarter to a third of all food goes to waste, and in America, the figures are more stark: 40 percent of our food remains uneaten, and the numbers are trending upwards.

“We hope this report sounds the alarm. America needs to grapple with this issue and begin to take steps to change the national mindset on food and food waste. Like the United Kingdom, which has embarked on a national strategy to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2020, Americans need to be mindful of our buying and consuming habits. We are throwing away 40 percent of the food we produce, while nearly 50 million Americans struggle to put food on the table,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL. “It is a shame that we as American consumers waste so much food while millions of families are food insecure. It’s a disconnect that needs to be addressed. ”

NCL’s new report, Wasted: Solutions to the American Food Waste Problem, is an examination of the financial, ethical, and environmental concerns associated with food waste, and offers solutions to address the challenge. The report highlights how certain retailer practices encourage consumers’ overbuying and highlights the crucial role industry, environmental, and consumer groups working together could play in reducing food waste and decreasing its substantial environmental and landfill consequences.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans threw out 35 million tons of food in 2012, 50 percent more than in 1990. American families toss out an estimated 25 percent of the food they purchase, costing between $1,350 and $2,275 for a family of four each year. At the same time in the United States, 14 percent of households struggle to put food on the table. Raising consciousness about the importance of food as a commodity could lead to more responsible habits, according to the consumer advocacy group.

“Food waste has ethical, financial, and environmental implications. Wasting food, when one in nine people on earth suffers from chronic hunger, is wrong,” said Kelsey Albright, NCL food policy fellow and the lead author of the report. “As Americans’ relationship with food trends further from the farm and closer to the grocery store isles, knowledge about origin, preparation, and storage is lost, and our appreciation of food and incentives to conserve this precious resource have diminished.”

NCL’s Food Waste report demonstrates that many consumers are aware wasting food is a problem, but consistently underestimate their contribution to it. Few people realize the environmental effects of growing, transporting, and ultimately throwing out food. The amount of oil needed to feed each person every year is 400 gallons. Additional oil is used when transporting uneaten food as trash. When food begins decomposing in garbage dumps, methane, the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States, is released.  

“While there is waste at every stage in the American supply chain, the good news is that consumers are responsible for the largest percentage of food waste, and they have the power to make a difference,” said Greenberg. “Our report emphasizes consumers’ need for information about food storage and expiration dates and encourages retailers to promote better consumer choices.”

TIPS FOR CONSUMERS TO REDUCE WASTE

  1. Plan out meals in advance and use a list when grocery shopping to prevent overbuying.  Always inventory the fridge and pantry before heading to the grocery store.
  2. Properly store and preserve food, preparing or freezing what can’t be used before it goes bad. Learn classic preservation methods like canning and drying produce.
  3. Know how to properly read and interpret expiration/sell-by and use-by dates. Rely on senses to determine whether food has spoiled or is still edible.
  4. Make smaller portions for dinner at home and always take home – and actually eat –leftovers from restaurants.
  5. Get creative and repurpose foods that may go bad soon. For example, stale bread can be turned into croutons and breadcrumbs; apples into applesauce or baked goods.
  6. Compost scraps of food that cannot be eaten.

“This report outlines why addressing food waste should be the next big environmental movement in this country,” said Elizabeth Bennett, the founder of Fruitcycle, a social enterprise that makes healthy snacks from fruit that would otherwise go to waste. “The massive scope of the issue means that there is tremendous opportunity for consumers, farmers, retailers, and other businesses to work together to create solutions.”

NCL’s report was released in conjunction with Food Day, a nationwide celebration for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.

To read the new report, visit nclnet.org/foodwaste.

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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.

NCL congratulates Satyarthi on Nobel Peace Prize – National Consumers League

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October 10, 2014

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

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) congratulates Kailash Satyarthi, a great friend and 1995 recipient of the NCL Trumpeter Award, for today’s announcement that he has received the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Satyarthi is the world’s leading champion in the fight to end global child labor and is credited with freeing tens of thousands of children from child labor in India.

Satyarthi shares the honor with Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever Nobel Prize recipient at 17 years old, a Pakistani teenager who bravely fought threats on her life and endured a gunshot wound to the head in her quest for access to education for girls across the Middle East.

Since NCL’s founding in 1899, the League has worked to end the scourge of child labor both domestically and abroad. Twenty-five years ago NCL founded—and has since co-chaired—the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), a group of 34 advocacy organizations dedicated to reducing the number of children trapped working in factories, mines, and agriculture around the globe. The CLC has worked closely with Satyarthi for the last two decades; in 2012, the CLC assisted him with the planning of an international child labor in agriculture conference that helped highlight the predominant child labor sector.

The following statement can be attributed to Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL and co-chair of the CLC:

“Today, the world’s leading champion in the fight to end child labor was rightfully recognized by the international community. Today, 168 million children continue to toil in the worst of conditions: as domestic workers at very young ages, in artisanal mines, picking trash in dumps, carrying bricks, and diving for fish in dangerous waters.  Because of the work of Kailash and others, the number of child laborers has decreased by 70 million over the last decade.  Still, far too many children’s lives are cut short under the yoke of these oppressive conditions. This Nobel Prize recognition will focus the world’s attention once again on the scourge of child labor. Advocates like Kailash Satyarthi, who has committed his life to ensuring that children have access to education and a safe and healthy childhood, have helped raise awareness and helped to pull millions of children out of child labor and given these children new opportunity and hope.”

Satyarthi’s organization, Bachpan Bachao Andolan or Save the Childhood Movement, is attributed with rescuing 83,000 children from servitude in India since 1981.

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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.

NCL to honor AFL-CIO’s Trumka, Jobs with Justice’s Granich with annual awards – National Consumers League

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October 6, 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 and worker advocacy organization, will honor Richard L. Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, on Wednesday, October 8, in Washington, DC. The event will bring together a diverse group of representatives from nonprofit organizations, labor unions, consumer organizations, and industry to celebrate a busy year of victories for consumer and worker advocates. Lara Granich, Director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, will receive this year’s Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award.

“The Trumpeter Award is NCL’s highest honor, given to leaders who have dedicated their lives to improving the rights of consumers and workers. President Trumka fully embodies these values, as his career-long commitment to America’s families have had a measurable impact on conditions for our workforce,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “We are proud of NCL’s historical and modern-day ties to the labor community and look forward to working together to increase workplace protections for all Americans.”

Since 2009, Trumka has been president of AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in America. Throughout his career as a labor leader, first with the United Mine Workers of America, and since 1995 with AFL-CIO, Trumka has dedicated himself to fighting for fair and honest labor practices for American workers. He created investment programs for the labor movement, urged the creation of, and now chairs, the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, and was instrumental in developing tactics to rally the support of international labor on behalf of U.S. workers struggling for workplace justice against multinational conglomerates.

The first recipient of the Trumpeter Award, in 1973, was Senator Ted Kennedy. Previous honorees include Labor Secretaries Hilda Solis, Robert Reich, and Alexis Herman, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Senators Carl Levin and Paul Wellstone, Delores Huerta of the United Farm Workers, and many others. Last year Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner at the Federal Communication Commission, received the honor.

Lara Granich, Director of Missouri Jobs with Justice will receive this year’s Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, named for NCL’s early leader and awarded to grassroots consumer advocates. In her time at Missouri Jobs with Justice, Granich has helped lead successful campaigns to increase the minimum wage, defend affirmative action, and support workers organizing unions and bargaining for better lives at work. She also co-chairs the Jobs with Justice National Board.

The event will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by NCL leadership and the honorees, as well as:

  • Cecil E. Roberts, International President, Untied Mine Workers of America
  • Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Commissioner, Federal trade Commission
  • Sarita Gupta, Executive Director, Jobs with Justice

Event details
What: National Consumers League’s 2014 Trumpeter Awards 

When: Wednesday, October 8, 2014
7 p.m. Dinner and Presentation of Awards

Where: Grand Hyatt Washington,1000 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
Questions or to RSVP: Call National Consumers League, (202) 835-3323

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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.

Chase breach underscores cost of Congressional inaction on data security – National Consumers League

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October 3, 2014

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

Washington, DC – News of yet another massive data breach — this time at JPMorgan Chase — underscores the urgent need for data security reforms in Congress, according to the National Consumers League. Affecting 76 million households and 7 million small businesses, the Chase breach comes on the heels of other mega-breaches this year at Home Depot, Jimmy Johns, eBay, and Community Health Services.

“These data breaches are occurring with frightening regularity, and striking some of the country’s biggest companies. It is clear that our cyber security systems are unable to stay one step ahead of these bad guys,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director. “It is time that our elected officials sit down with businesses and law enforcement to develop a comprehensive plan for protecting Americans’ personal information from cyber thieves.”

This summer NCL launched its #DataInsecurity Project to raise awareness about the impact of data breaches on consumer confidence in the marketplace. NCL is calling on Congress to pass a strong national data breach notification law, require businesses that hold consumers’ data to abide by data security standards, and give the Federal Trade Commission and states greater authority to hold companies that fail to protect consumers’ personal information accountable.

“Seventy-six million households at Chase, 56 million cards at Home Depot, 145 million accounts at eBay — enough is enough,” said John Breyault, NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud  “With each new breach, consumers’ trust in the marketplace is eroded. We must not accept the massive theft of consumers’ personal information as the ‘new normal.’ These breaches should serve as a wake-up call to Congress that we need reform now.”

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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.

NCL statement on FCC vote to end Sports Blackout Rule – National Consumers League

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September 30, 2014

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

Washington, DC – The National Consumer’s League today applauded the Federal Communications Commission for its unanimous vote to repeal the Sports Blackout Rule. In 2011, NCL joined four other public interest groups, led by the Sports Fans Coalition, in petitioning the FCC to repeal the Rule. Today’s FCC vote is the direct result of that petition and the coalition’s advocacy efforts.

The following statement is attributable to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

“Today’s unanimous, bipartisan vote to end the Sports Blackout Rule is a resounding victory for the millions of American consumers who enjoy professional football. In the face of unprecedented lobbying by the NFL and others, the FCC today decided to stand with sports fans everywhere and say ‘enough is enough.’ We applaud FCC Chairman Wheeler and the entire Commission for its work to bring an end to this anti-consumer Rule.”

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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.

NCL commends President’s actions to reduce antibiotic resistance – National Consumers League

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September 18, 2014

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

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the country’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, commends the President’s issuance of an Executive Order to combat antibiotic resistance. The order, signed Thursday, establishes a presidential Task Force for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which will be co-chaired by the Secretaries of Defense, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services (HHS). The Task Force is charged, with a deadline of February 2015, with creating a five-year National Action Plan to reduce antimicrobial resistance.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to Americans’ health, causing 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses each year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cost of illnesses caused by antimicrobial resistance are estimated to be over $50 billion, with $20 billion lost in health care costs and $35 billion lost in productivity due to hospitalizations and sick days. Antibiotic resistance stems from the overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals.

“Antibiotic resistance is not an issue consumers can afford to take lightly,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “The President’s efforts have come not a moment too soon. It is vital to Americans’ health that actions are taken to track and diminish the increasing amount of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing illness.”

In conjunction with the Executive Order, the administration also released a National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, and the Presidents’ Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is releasing a related report on Combating Antibiotic Resistance.

The Executive Order, the National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, and the PCAST report can be found here.

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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.

 

NCL statement on new University of Massachusetts Amherst sociology research examining corporate ratings – National Consumers League

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September 17, 2014

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

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), America’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today welcomes newly published research on corporate ratings awards conducted by sociologists Tom Juravich and Essie Ablavsky of the University of Massachusetts Labor Center.  In “The Corporate Rating Sham: The Case of T-Mobile,” Juravich and Ablavsky found that these awards are largely self-serving and neither objective nor scientific.  

“This exposé of these ubiquitous corporate awards is an important service to consumers.  Too often, firms tout their awards as symbols of performance excellence, and too often they are little more than marketing ploys,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director.

According to Juravich and Ablavsky’s findings, the majority of these corporate recognition contests are based on self-nomination and company self-reports with little independent verification of data.  Awards programs lack transparency in the selection and evaluation criteria.  Some of the awards firms also provide consulting services to the very companies they are rating, creating a built-in conflict of interest.

The new research highlights the case of T-Mobile, the fourth-largest mobile service provider in the United States, which claims to be the recipient of at least 47 “best of” awards from 2011 to 2013.  Yet, this is a company that has been a target of concern among Members of Congress, investors, and progressive organizations for its poor treatment of workers, ranging from overbearing and disrespectful management styles, to suppression of workers’ rights. 

“T-Mobile is a good demonstration of what is wrong with corporate recognition awards,” said Greenberg. “The company’s well-known problematic labor practices put these ‘best of’ awards in doubt. A company’s treatment of workers must be a key factor in any ratings process, and awards for quality must not be allowed to mask abusive workplace policies.” 

The full report, “The Corporate Rating Sham: The Case of T-Mobile,” can be viewed here.

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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.

NCL applauds Congress for steps to remove children from hazardous tobacco farming – National Consumers League

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September 17, 2014

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

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, applauds members of Congress who have recently taken action to end the scourge of children working in hazardous tobacco fields. Last week, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) began circulating a sign-on letter to House members asking the Department of Labor to take narrowly-focused regulatory action to protect children from dangerous tobacco fields, where child farmworkers regularly suffer nicotine poisoning, toxic pesticide exposure, and work at dangerous heights.

“They can’t legally purchase cigarettes, but we permit these children to work in tobacco fields and suffer acute nicotine poisoning,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL and co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which NCL helped found 25 years ago. “We urge Congress to take immediate action to protect America’s most vulnerable workers—children in tobacco fields.”

The concern about children working on tobacco farms is growing. In May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented the dangers in a report, Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming, finding that of 141 child tobacco workers interviewed in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, three-quarters reported falling ill. Many of their symptoms—nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, and dizziness—are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning (also known as “Green Tobacco Sickness”).  Exemptions to U.S. child labor law allow children as young as 12—and in some cases even younger—to work long hours in tobacco fields.

“These children are among the nation’s most vulnerable, and we must do more to protect them,” said Rep. Cartwright in his “Dear Colleague” letter to fellow Members.

A bill, HR 5327, introduced by Rep. Cicilline this summer, would classify tobacco as “hazardous oppressive labor”, allowing the U.S. Department of Labor to ban it for those under 18. “It seems to me that exposing young people to those kinds of dangers is something we should prevent,” Cicilline said in an interview.

Also this summer, 17 senators sent a letter to several large tobacco companies asking them to voluntarily ban children from their fields.

The Kentucky-based Council on Burley Tobacco has also taken a public stand on this issue: “We do not condone the hiring of anyone under the age of 16 for work in tobacco anywhere in the world.”

In July, 53 groups signed onto a Child Labor Coalition letter urging the largest tobacco corporations to take voluntary action to ban children from tobacco fields. Last month, in another CLC letter, 50 organizations wrote to President Obama to urge greater protections for child tobacco workers.

“In America today, children who harvest tobacco must protect themselves from nicotine and pesticide residues by wearing plastic garbage bags with holes punched in them for their arms and heads. They are standing in drying barns at heights of 20 feet or more on unbelievably narrow rafters,” said Reid Maki, NCL’s director of child labor advocacy and the coordinator of the CLC. “Exposing children to deplorable working conditions is not in keeping with American values—we are so much better than this as a nation. We applaud Congress for taking steps to protect these vulnerable child workers.”

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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.

NCL letter to Rockefeller on ‘Local Choice’ proposal – National Consumers League

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September 11, 2014

The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV
Chairman
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
United States Senate
254 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20002

Re:      “Local Choice” and Communications Act Update

Dear Senator Rockefeller:

On behalf of the National Consumers League[1] (NCL), I am writing to give you our thoughts regarding your and Ranking Member Thune’s “Local Choice” proposal, should it be considered as part of an update to the Communications Act.

NCL has long supported federal policies that would end blackouts of programming stemming from retransmission consent negotiations between broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).[2] We also support additional choice and bill transparency for cable television subscribers.

In addition, we urge the Committee to seek solutions that achieve these goals while also preserving the viability of local broadcasters. Today – the 13th anniversary of September 11, 2001 — we are reminded of the critical role that local television broadcasters play in informing the public during times of crisis. Absent local broadcasters, consumers could be left without a crucial source of information when disasters strike. Enabling universal access to local broadcast stations is, we believe, an essential American value.

We understand that the “Local Choice” amendment to the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA) will not be considered during this Congress.[3]  We hope that these issues will be part of the discussions surrounding a possible update to the Communications Act. We urge you and your colleagues on the Commerce Committee to seek a solution that both preserves the important role that local broadcasting plays in communities across America while increasing cable bill transparency and ending blackouts.

Sincerely,

Sally Greenberg
Executive Director
National Consumers League

cc:        The Honorable John Thune, Ranking Member

[1] The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is the nation’s pioneering consumer organization.  Our non-profit 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.  

[2] National Consumers League. “Consumers are the ultimate losers in retransmission consent fights,” Press Release. August 6, 2013. Online: https://nclnet.org/consumers_are_ultimate_losers_in_retransmission_consent_fights

[3] Eggerton, John. “Sources: Local Choice Expected to Be Pulled from STAVRA,” Broadcasting & Cable. September 9, 2014. Online: https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/sources-local-choice-expected-be-pulled-stavra/133838