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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health, Consumer Protection

Honey Smacks still on shelves 2 months after salmonella recall

Some stores are still stocking Honey Smacks more than two months after a massive recall due to Salmonella contamination that now has poisoned 130 individuals in 36 states, according to  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The latest FDA update includes 30 more sick people from three previously unaffected states:  Delaware, Maine and Minnesota.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

New Report: How to Protect Consumers 1 Year After Equifax Breach

One year after announcing the worst data breach in history, Equifax has yet to pay a price or provide consumers with the information and tools they need to adequately protect themselves. A new report by U.S. PIRG Education Fund provides a recap of actions against Equifax over the last year, new materials to help consumers understand how to best protect themselves, and a case for why both oversight and financial consequences are needed to prevent future large-scale breaches.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Equifax Breach: One Year Later

A year ago tomorrow, Equifax announced that hackers had breached its system and accessed the data of nearly 150 million U.S. consumers. To mark the anniversary of that notorious announcement, we are releasing a report containing suggestions on how state and federal authorities and consumers can safeguard personal information.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG

New study links untested strain of E. coli in chicken to human illness, USDA Needs to Act

A new report from the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health shows that a strain of E. coli in poultry that is rarely tested for could be linked to people contracting urinary tract infections. This gap requires a reevaluation of what strains require investigation to catch dangerous pathogens, according to experts and advocacy group U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG).

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Recall: Toys Still Found with Lead Paint Decade After Virtual Ban

On Wednesday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more than 30,000 units of BSN Sports rubber critter toys because of lead contamination. Despite Congress enacting stronger protections for toys and other children’s products 10 years ago this month due to a rash of China-manufactured lead contaminated toys, some toys with lead paint contamination are still reaching store shelves and getting into kids’ hands.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

Johnson & Johnson commits to disclose fragrance ingredients in baby products by August 1

J&J said it intends to disclose 100 percent of the ingredients in its babycare products next month.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

New Video Series: Physicians Call for the Meat Industry to Stop Misusing Antibiotics

 

Physicians are sounding the alarm about antibiotic resistance in the new video series from the Health Professional Action Network, a project of U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Overusing antibiotics to produce meat breeds drug resistant bacteria, which can travel off the farm and infect people with potentially-deadly illnesses. The launch of the first video coincides with the July 4th holiday, the day of the year when Americans grill the most.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Agreement between 8 States & Equifax is a Good First Step

Our statement on news of an agreement between eight states’s banking regulators and Equifax to fix the credit bureaus’ data security flaws.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Groups File in Support of Maryland Pesticide Restrictions

Ten organizations filed an Amicus brief this week in support of a 2015 landmark Montgomery County, Maryland ordinance that restricts the use of toxic pesticides on public and private land within the county.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Antibiotics

U.S. PIRG statement on Pizza Hut's commitment to cutting antibiotics important to human medicine from chicken supply

 

 

Pizza Hut, the second largest pizza chain in the United States, announced today that it will phase out chicken raised with antibiotics important to human medicine in U.S. locations by 2022. This announcement builds on the company’s previous commitment, which applied only to chicken used for pizza toppings.

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Report | US PIRG Education Fund & CDD

Online Lead Generation

This report explains the online lead generator industry. It is part of our joint project with the Center for Digital Democracy called "Data and Consumer Protection: Ensuring a Fair and Equitable Financial Marketplace."

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Picking Up The Tab 2015: Small Businesses Pay the Price for Offshore Tax Havens

Every year, corporations and wealthy individuals use complicated gimmicks to shift U.S. earnings to subsidiaries in offshore tax havens – countries with minimal or no taxes – in order to reduce their federal and state income tax liabilities by billions of dollars. While tax haven abusers benefit from America’s markets, public infrastructure, educated workforce, security and rule of law – all supported in one way or another by tax dollars – they continue to avoid paying for these benefits.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2015

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

The Innovative Transportation Index

This report reviews the availability of 11 technology-enabled transportation services – including online ridesourcing, carsharing, ridesharing, taxi hailing, static and real-time transit information, multi-modal apps, and virtual transit ticketing – in 70 U.S. cities. It finds that residents of 19 cities, with a combined population of nearly 28 million people, have access to eight or more of these services, with other cities catching up rapidly.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2014

Among the toys surveyed this year, we found numerous choking hazards and five toys with concentrations of toxics exceeding federal standards. In addition to reporting on potentially hazardous products found in stores in 2014, this installment of the report describes the potential hazards in toys and children’s products.

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Blog Post | Transportation

The future of driving

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Blog Post | Transportation

Owning Fewer Cars Isn’t Just For Millennials | Sean Doyle

New transportation options are making it easier for people to use transit more, own fewer cars, and even save money on transportation.

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Video Blog | Public Health, Food

Who's next to help save antibiotics?

Doctors, farmers, restaurant owners, and hundreds of thousands of people like you are all placing the same order: meat raised without routine antibiotics. Many fast food chains have stepped up to help stop the overuse of antibiotics. The question is, who will be next?

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Blog Post | Financial Reform

NYT Points Out Overdraft Fees Still A Problem | Ed Mierzwinski

A major article in today's New York Times, "Overdraft Practices Continue to Gut Bank Accounts and Haunt Customers," points out that while 2010 reforms put in place by the pre-CFPB regulators have helped, there's still work to be done to protect consumers from unfair overdraft practices. While years ago banks used "bounced check" fees to deter what was then seen as a negative behavior, more recently they have encouraged overdrafts by offering "standard overdraft protection" as if it is a feature, not a bug. They've made billions.

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Blog Post | Public Health, Food

For many, the post-antibiotic era is already here | Anya Vanecek

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News Release | US PIRG

New Report: More than two-thirds of states examined receive failing grades for efforts to reduce lead in school drinking water

A total of 22 states earned an “F” grade for their performance in eliminating lead from school drinking water, according to a new study by Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Of the 31 states tested, Illinois was the only one (along with the District of Columbia) to receive a mark above the C range.  These results come from the the second edition of the groups’ Get the Lead Out report, which grades state policies for protecting kids from exposure to this dangerous neurotoxin.

News Release | US PIRG

Federal jury rules Monsanto’s Roundup was a significant factor in man’s cancer

A federal jury in San Francisco today found that Monsanto’s best-selling weed killer, Roundup, was a significant factor in plaintiff Edward Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

News Release | US PIRG

Environment America and U.S. PIRG experts testify on Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

The EPA is proposing rollbacks to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, even though most industrial plants have already adopted the necessary technology under the regulation--meaning that even industry wants to keep the rule. This shift would also change how the agency uses cost benefit analysis. Advocates from U.S. PIRG and Environment America testified in opposition to the proposal.

News Release | US PIRG

Miami Bans Glyphosate, Main Active Ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup

The city of Miami passed a resolution banning the use of glyphosate herbicide on city property. Beginning immediately, the city will no longer allow the use of glyphosate, an herbicide brought to the market by Monsanto under the name Roundup. Glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and potential pollutant.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Blood pressure medication recalled for 75th time in 8 months

The presence of chemicals that likely cause cancer has prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to announce another recall of the blood pressure medication Valsartan. In response, U.S. PIRG Consumer Watchdog Adam Garber released the following statement. 

  • How safe is our food?
    Nationwide recalls ranging from romaine lettuce to millions of pounds of beef to Ritz and Goldfish crackers underscore that there’s a growing public health crisis we need to address.
    Find out
  • Why are health experts alarmed?
    More than 93% of doctors are concerned about the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, yet factory farms still use up to 70% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S.
    Learn Why
  • Reclaim our Democracy
    Our democracy is based on the principle of one person, one vote, but our research shows the increasing dominance of big money in our elections.
    Get the facts
  • PROTECT YOURSELF
    We've created consumer tips to help protect you from unfair bank fees, identity theft, loan rip-offs and more.
    Get The Tips

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