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Consumer News Archive:

20071226

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Iowa - Manufacturing - Jobs - Family - Health-Care - Environment - Human Rights - US - China - Corporations - Iraq - Military - Indiana - Idaho - Illinois - Homes - Consumers - 2008 Election - "Behind the Edwards Surge: Right Message at the Right Time." ... "To a far greater extent than [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates Barack] Obama or [Hillary] Clinton, [John] Edwards has struck at the heart of issues that should matter most in the race to replace not just [Republican President] George W. Bush, but the Bush agenda of corporate giveaways, job-crushing free trade deals, war profiteering in Iraq, and subprime mortgage profiteering in Indiana, Idaho, Illinois and, yes, Iowa." ... "Edwards summed up his increasingly aggressive and powerful anti-corporate themes with a declaration: "What makes America America is at stake: jobs, the middle class, health care, preserving the environment in the world for future generations."" ... ""But all those things are at risk. And why are they at risk? Because of corporate power and corporate greed in Washington, D.C. And we have to take them on. You can't make a deal with them. You can't hope that they're going to go away. You have to actually be willing to fight. And I want every caucus-goer to know I've been fighting these people and winning my entire life. And if we do this together, rise up together, we can actually make absolutely certain, starting here in Iowa, that we make this country better than we left it."" ... "Edwards got to know workers in Iowa. He stood with them in their struggles." ... "Turning a broad question about human rights toward the specific issue of trade policy, the former senator said that human rights, human needs and human values "should be central to our trade policy."" ... ""But," he added, "if you look at what's happened with American trade policy, look at what America got: Big corporations made a lot of money, are continuing to make a lot of money in China. But what did America get in return? We got millions of dangerous Chinese toys. We lost millions of jobs." ... ""And right here in Iowa, the Maytag plant in Newton [Iowa] closed. A guy named Doug Bishop, who I got to know very well, had worked in that plant, and his family had worked in that plant literally for generations. And his job is now gone. The same thing, by the way, happened in the plant that my father worked in when I was growing up. It is so important that we stop allowing these corporate powers and corporate profits to run America's policy, whether it's trade policy, how we engage with China. This is not good for America. It's not good for American jobs. And it's not good for working people in this country."" ... "That's an issue Edwards has taken far, far more seriously than his opponents in what is now a three-way race in Iowa. And that seriousness has benefitted the former senator." -By John Nichols -TheNation
Consumer - Money - History - "U.S. Home Prices Fell 6.1% in October, Index Shows (Update2)." ... "Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in October by the most in at least six years, a private survey showed today." ... "Property values fell 6.1 percent from October 2006, more than forecast, after dropping 4.9 percent in September, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. The decrease was the biggest since the group started keeping year-over-year records in 2001. The index has fallen every month this year." ... "Prices will probably remain under pressure as the jump in foreclosures puts even more homes on the market just as stricter lending rules make it harder for buyers to find financing. Declining values make it harder for owners to tap home equity for extra cash, posing a risk to consumer spending." -By Joe Richter and Courtney Schlisserman -Bloomberg

20071218

Fed - Money - Politics - Investigate - Law - History - People's - Homes - Consumer- California - New York - Wyo - "Fed Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread." ... "Until the boom in subprime mortgages turned into a national nightmare this summer, the few people who tried to warn federal banking officials might as well have been talking to themselves." ... "Edward M. Gramlich, a Federal Reserve governor who died in September, warned nearly seven years ago that a fast-growing new breed of lenders was luring many people into risky mortgages they could not afford." ... "But when Mr. Gramlich privately urged Fed examiners to investigate mortgage lenders affiliated with national banks, he was rebuffed by Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman." ... "In 2001, a senior Treasury official, Sheila C. Bair, tried to persuade subprime lenders to adopt a code of “best practices” and to let outside monitors verify their compliance. None of the lenders would agree to the monitors, and many rejected the code itself. Even those who did adopt those practices, Ms. Bair recalled recently, soon let them slip." ... "And leaders of a housing advocacy group in California, meeting with Mr. Greenspan in 2004, warned that deception was increasing and unscrupulous practices were spreading." ... "John C. Gamboa and Robert L. Gnaizda of the Greenlining Institute implored Mr. Greenspan to use his bully pulpit and press for a voluntary code of conduct." ... "“He never gave us a good reason, but he didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Gnaizda said last week. “He just wasn’t interested.”" ... "“The Federal Reserve could have stopped this problem dead in its tracks,” said Martin Eakes, chief executive of the center [Center for Responsible Lending]. “If the Fed had done its job, we would not have had the abusive lending and we would not have a [home] foreclosure crisis in virtually every community across America.”" ... "Mr. Greenspan and other Fed officials repeatedly dismissed warnings about a speculative bubble in housing prices. In December 2004, the New York Fed issued a report bluntly declaring that “no bubble exists.” Mr. Greenspan predicted several times — incorrectly, it turned out — that housing declines would be local but almost certainly not nationwide." ... " “Why are the most risky loan products sold to the least sophisticated borrowers?” Mr. Gramlich asked in a speech he prepared last August for the Fed’s symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo[Wyoming]. “The question answers itself — the least sophisticated borrowers are probably duped into taking these products.”" (1, 2, 3) -By Edmund L. Andrews with contributions by Gretchen Morgenson -NYTimes

20071216

Secret - Surveillance - Terrorism - Crime - Telecommunications - Companies - Government - Legislation - Politics - Intelligence - Drug - Consumer - Wireless - Technology - United States - Global - Space - Colorado - New Jersey - "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry." ... "For months, the [Republican President] Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program." ... "But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime." ... "The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure." ... "To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed." ... "In a separate N.S.A. [National Security Agency] project, executives at a Denver [Colorado] phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them." ... "The federal government’s reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." ... "[An ATT engineer is claiming in a lawsuit that as early as February 2001,] “What he saw,” said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs along with Carl Mayer, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the [Republican] Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”" (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Scott Shane -NYTimes

20071204

Consumer - Health - Safety - Food - Agriculture - Country - Peoples - Labor - Law - Money - Politics - Language - West Virginia - "Democrats Use Fine Print to Stymie Bush's Deregulation Agenda." ... "It is a single sentence, on page 147 of the annual appropriations bill funding the [Republican President Bush] White House, listed under the title ``Additional General Provisions.''" ... "The 18-word clause eliminates the money to pay for political appointees in each federal agency whose jobs are to approve any new regulations. By cutting the money for the positions, Congress would effectively repeal President George W. Bush's 11-month old initiative." ... "Democrats, writing the budget for the first time since Bush took office, are using their power over the purse to thwart Bush's campaign to loosen federal regulations. Lawmakers have added fine print to must-pass appropriations bills that sets new policy goals and increases funding for regulators such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission." ... "``It is critically important when we are facing beef recalls, toy recalls, mine collapses and workplace infringements that Congress provide the necessary resources to the relevant agencies for them to do the jobs they are required to do,'' said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, 90, a West Virginia Democrat." ... "Lawmakers also want agencies to file periodic reports to Congress charting their progress toward a host of Democratic policy goals, such as developing workplace ergonomic guidelines for a dozen industries, requiring country-of-origin labels on meat products and regulating a flavoring chemical that has been linked to lung disease." -By Brian Faler -Bloomberg

20071203

Noteworthy - Housing - Consumers - Employed - People - Fla - "Foreclosure gridlock threatens economy: Millions 'in limbo' face possible default as adjustable mortgages reset." ... "Like a lot of Americans, Anne Violette is having trouble with her mortgage." ... "Violette, a self-employed photographer, moved to Delray Beach, Fla. [Florida], in 2004 and bought a home with a 30-year fixed-rate loan. A year later, she said, a friend in the mortgage industry sold her on the idea of refinancing with an adjustable-rate mortgage that saved her hundreds of dollars a month." ... "Violette said her problems began when she learned that the rate on her loan could nearly double, despite assurances that it would not rise more than a half-percent a year for the first three years. Eventually her monthly payments rose by $900, and she was unable to keep up. She began making calls to the lender, moving from one department to another, to see if she could work out a payment plan." ... "“They say, 'I’m sorry, but we can’t restructure your loan until you’re caught up,'” she said. “But I keep saying, ‘I can never be caught up until you restructure my loan.'”" ... "After more phone calls, Violette found a bank representative who agreed to help modify her mortgage. That was in August. The bank had her house appraised, but then she got a letter from another bank saying they had taken over her loan. In October, she called the first bank to find out where things stood and learned that the title company she used when she bought the house is out of business and that her loan is "in limbo," she said." ... "As consumers watch home prices slump and their equity melt away, some economists fear the housing recession could spill over to the broader economy." ... "25Over the next four years, some $1.5 trillion in mortgages are scheduled to reset, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By John W. Schoen -MSNBC

20071130

Business - Government - Politics - 2008 Election - Family - Health - Safety - Environment - Air - Water - Soil - Labor - Animal - Farmers - Energy - Transportation - Automakers - Consumer - History - "Business Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor." ... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration, poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration. But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ... "Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of air, water and soil." (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes

20071120

Rudolph W Giuliani - John McCain - Fred Thompson - Money - Politics - Consumer - New York - Arizona - Tennessee - 2008 Election - "A gap in GOP candidates' healthcare proposals: Giuliani, McCain and Thompson are offering plans to help the uninsured -- but their aversion to regulations would mean that many of their fellow cancer survivors would be left out." ... "When [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the spring of 2000, one thing he did not have to worry about was a lack of medical insurance." ... "Today, the former New York mayor joins two other cancer survivors in seeking the [2008 Election] Republican presidential nomination: Arizona [Senator] Sen. John McCain has been treated for melanoma, the most serious type of skin malignancy, and former Tennessee [Senator] Sen. Fred Thompson had lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system." ... "All three have offered proposals with the stated aim of helping the 47 million people in the U.S. who have no health insurance, including those with preexisting medical conditions." ... "But under the plans all three have put forward, cancer survivors such as themselves could not be sure of getting coverage -- especially if they were not already covered by a government or job-related plan and had to seek insurance as individuals." ... ""Unless it's in a state that has very strong consumer protections, they would likely be denied coverage," said economist Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, who has reviewed the candidates' proposals. "People with preexisting conditions would not be able to get coverage or would not be able to afford it."" (1, 2) -By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar -LAtimes

20071109

Secret - Women - Health - Money - People - Accounting - Consumer - Law - "Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders." ... "One of the [California] state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved." ... "Woodland Hills [California]-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed." ... "The revelation that the health plan had cancellation goals and bonuses comes amid a storm of controversy over the industry-wide but long-hidden practice of rescinding coverage after expensive medical treatments have been authorized." ... "These cancellations have been the recent focus of intense scrutiny by lawmakers, state regulators and consumer advocates. Although these "rescissions" are only a small portion of the companies' overall business, they typically leave sick patients with crushing medical bills and no way to obtain needed treatment." ... "The bonuses were disclosed at an arbitration hearing in a lawsuit brought by Patsy Bates, a Gardena [California] hairdresser whose coverage was rescinded by Health Net in the middle of chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer." ... "Health Net had sought to keep the documents secret even after it was forced to produce them for the hearing, arguing that they contained proprietary information and could embarrass the company." (1, 2) -By Lisa Girion -LAtimes

20071107

Children - Safety - Science - US - Australia - Canada - China - Manufacture - Industry - Christmas - "'Date rape' drug scare in popular toy: Chinese-made craft beads pulled from shelves in U.S. and Australia." ... "A toy that has been hyped on top-10 lists for the Christmas season has been pulled from the shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found it contains a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested." ... "Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the Chinese-made craft beads, called Aqua Dots in the U.S. and Bindeez in Australia." ... "Aqua Dots, distributed by Toronto[Canada]-based Spin Master Toys, appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys." ... "Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. The compound -- made from common and easily available ingredients -- can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death." ... "The toys' manufacturer, Australia-based Moose Enterprises, said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province." -AP via -SeattlePI

20071102

Nancy Nord - Children - Safety - Politics - Government - Consumer - Law - Enforcement - Manufacturer - Travel - Money - China - Spain - US - San Francisco - California - New Orleans - Louisiana - SC - "Industries Paid for Top Regulators' Travel: Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups." ... "The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards." ... "The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco [California], New Orleans [Louisiana] and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "Consumer groups and lawmakers intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall dangerous products." ... "Government-wide travel regulations state that officials from agencies such as the CPSC should not accept money for travel from nonfederal sources if the payments "would cause a reasonable person . . . to question the integrity of agency programs or operations."" ... ""This is a blatant violation of the ethics code," said Craig Holman, an expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen." ... "The records show that Nord and Stratton repeatedly accepted gift travel for events from industries subject to CPSC enforcement." (1, 2, 3) -By Elizabeth Williamson -WashingtonPost

20071101

Nancy Nord - US - China - Manufacturers - Children - Safety - Politics - Government - Consumer - Law - Enforcement - Illinois - "Toy risk isn't a game." ... "Worried about all those potentially hazardous toys coming in from China? Here's how worried your Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C., is: It has only one full-time employee testing toys." ... "That ridiculous number is apparently OK with the agency's acting chairwoman Nancy Nord, who has riled legislators and consumer groups by campaigning against a Senate bill that would increase the consumer agency's federal funding so it can rebuild the agency's dramatically downsized staff." ... "Heads are rolling in China over bad toys, bad food, bad medicine and bad tires (admittedly, the crackdowns are more about protecting exports than protecting consumers). But even as consumer worries escalate in this country following the recall of more than 20 million toys this year, Nord prefers a hands-off approach to keep manufacturers happy. For her, the consumer protection reform act --unanimously approved by a Senate committee yesterday -- is "unnecessary."" ... ""It's appalling that as someone who works with parents who have lost children, she would turn down added resources or powers to protect children," Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a Chicago[Illinois]-based group, told us. "What's needed is an aggressive protector of consumer rights."" -SunTimes.com

20071030

Nancy A Nord - Children - Safety - Consumer - Law - Enforcement - US - China - Manufacturing - Business - Halloween - California - "US House speaker wants product safety chief to go." ... "The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Tuesday for the nation's chief product safety regulator to resign, following a wave of recalls this year of millions of lead-tainted toys made in China." ... "As the [Republican President] White House and business groups criticized legislation meant to beef up safety oversight, House Speaker [California Democratic Representative] Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats urged the ouster of Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord." ... "The safety agency, criticized at a September hearing for having just one employee testing toys, has come under intense scrutiny amid the flurry of recalls." ... "In early October alone, recalls ranged from Cub Scout badges to play blocks and Halloween candy buckets." ... ""Any commission chair who ... says we don't need any more authority or any more resources to do our job does not understand the gravity of the situation," Pelosi said." (1, 2, 3) -By Kevin Drawbaugh and Diane Bartz with contributions by Julie Vorman -Reuters
Nancy A Nord - Children - Safety - Politics - Manufacturing - Industry - Consumer - Law - Enforcement - Government - "Strengthening of Consumer Agency Opposed by Its Boss." ... "The top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency that polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools." ... "On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff." ... "Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws." ... "The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels of almost 200 times the safety ceiling." ... "Ms. Nord’s opposition to key elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the [Republican President] Bush administration." ... "She opposed making it easier to bring criminal prosecutions of companies that knowingly sell defective products and also criticized a measure that would make it easier for the commission to publicly disclose reports of faulty products." -By Stephen Labaton -NYTimes

20071022

Noteworthy - Kids- Environmental - Safety - Human - Industrial - Science - Politics - Consumer - Manufacturer - Law - History - "Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies." ... "Michelle Hammond and Jeremiah Holland were intrigued when a friend at the Oakland Tribune asked them and their two young children to take part in a cutting-edge study to measure the industrial chemicals in their bodies." ... ""In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all; I was fascinated," Hammond, 37, recalled." ... "But that fascination soon changed to fear, as tests revealed that their children -- Rowan, then 18 months, and Mikaela, then 5 -- had chemical exposure levels up to seven times those of their parents." ... ""[Rowan's] been on this planet for 18 months, and he's loaded with a chemical I've never heard of," Holland, 37, said. "He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that's been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats."" ... "The technology to test for these flame retardants -- known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old." ... "Environmentalists call it "body burden" testing, an allusion to the chemical "burden," or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as "biomonitoring."" ... "Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand." ... ""We are the humans in a dangerous and unnatural experiment in the United States, and I think it's unconscionable," said Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City." ... "Trasande says that industrial toxins could be leading to more childhood disease and disorders." ... ""We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said. "Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."" ... "The Environmental Protection Agency does not require chemical manufacturers to conduct human toxicity studies before approving their chemicals for use in the market." -By Jordana Miller -CNN

20071007

Drug - Money - Sales - Politics - Elderly - Consumer - Health - Law - Audits - Michigan - "Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans." ... "Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the [Republican President] Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found." ... "The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores." ... "Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits." ... "The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint." ... "The audits document widespread violations of patients’ rights and consumer protection standards. Some violations could directly affect the health of patients — for example, by delaying access to urgently needed medications." ... "Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he had “verified countless stories of deceptive sales practices by insurance agents who prey upon the elderly and disabled to sell them expensive and inappropriate private Medicare plans.”" (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes

20070927

China - Made - Corp - US - Children - Health - Safety - Law - History - Politics - Ill - "600,000 toys join recall list: China-made knights, Thomas train pieces, jewelry contain lead." ... "In a year already notable for a record number of lead-based recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced seven separate recalls Wednesday of Chinese-manufactured toys and children's jewelry for containing unlawful levels of lead, including 200,000 more of the Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys sold by a Chicago-area [Illinois] company." ... "The seven recalls, totaling more than 600,000 units, bring the total lead-based recalls in 2007 to 50 -- more than double the most recalls in any single previous year in the agency's history." ... "Oak Brook-based [Illinois] RC2 Corp. said it was recalling five additional railway toys -- two vehicles and three accessories -- due to excessive levels of lead in the paint. The company recalled 1.5 million railway toys in June." ... "Congressional committees have held hearings in recent weeks on the influx of lead-tainted toys and children's products. Earlier this month, [Illinois Democratic Senator] Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, "More than 25 million Chinese-manufactured toys have been recalled this summer alone. That is a staggering number and an indictment of our toy safety system."" -By Maurice Possley -ChicagoTribune

20070920

Secret - Phone - E-Mail - Surveillance - Company - Consumer - Lawsuit - Politics - Terrorism - Government - Intelligence - San Francisco - California - "Case Dismissed? The secret lobbying campaign your phone company doesn't want you to know about." ... "The nation’s biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the [Republican President Bush] White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence community’s warrantless surveillance programs." ... "The campaign—which involves some of Washington's most prominent lobbying and law firms—has taken on new urgency in recent weeks because of fears that a U.S. appellate court in San Francisco [California] is poised to rule that the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed." ... "If that happens, the telecom companies say, they may be forced to terminate their cooperation with the U.S. intelligence community—or risk potentially crippling damage awards for allegedly turning over personal information about their customers to the government without a judicial warrant." ... "But critics say the language proposed by the White House—drafted in close cooperation with the industry officials—is so extraordinarily broad that it would provide retroactive immunity for all past telecom actions related to the surveillance program. Its practical effect, they argue, would be to shut down any independent judicial or state inquires into how the companies have assisted the government in eavesdropping on the telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks." ... "Among those coordinating the industry’s effort are two well-connected capital players who both worked for President George H.W. Bush: Verizon general counsel William Barr, who served as attorney general under 41, and AT&T senior executive vice president James Cicconi, who was the elder Bush's deputy chief of staff." ... "Working with them are a battery of major D.C. lobbyists and lawyers who are providing "strategic advice" to the companies on the issue, according to sources familiar with the campaign who asked not to be identified talking about it. Among the players, these sources said: powerhouse Republican lobbyists Charlie Black and Wayne Berman (who represent AT&T and Verizon, respectively), former GOP senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats (a lawyer at King & Spaulding who is representing Sprint), former Democratic Party strategist and one-time assistant secretary of State Tom Donilon (who represents Verizon), former deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick (whose law firm also represents Verizon) and Brad Berenson, a former assistant White House counsel under President George W. Bush who now represents AT&T." (1, 2, 3) -By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball -MSNBC /Newsweek

20070912

US - Government - Consumer - Safety - Legislation - Money - China - Products - Children- Ill - Ark - Hawaii - "Senators Criticize Consumer Safety Agency After Spate of Toy Recalls." ... "Spurred by recent recalls of [childrens] toys from China, senators are calling for a boost in funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to help the agency deal with a flood of imports." ... "[Illinois Democratic Senator] Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee, said at a hearing Wednesday that the agency charged with protecting consumers “has been neglected and underfunded for years.”" ... "Lawmakers and witnesses criticized the state of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), detailing budget and staff cuts that have come as imports have increased drastically. The concerns went beyond [Republican President Bush] White House budget decisions to the agency’s leadership." ... "“I would like to see people at that agency take a much more aggressive view of protecting consumers, and I have been disappointed,” Durbin said after the hearing." ... "[Arkansas Democratic Senator] Mark Pryor, D-Ark., announced that he and [Hawaii Democratic Senator] Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, introduced legislation (S 2045) Wednesday to revamp the agency and increase its funding." ... "Pryor chairs that panel’s Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the agency." -By Victoria McGrane -CQ.com
Oil - Consumer - Money - Alaska - "Oil hits record over $80 on tight supply." ... "Crude oil prices vaulted to a record high $80 a barrel on Wednesday as dealers focused on tight inventories in top consumer the United States ahead of peak winter demand." ... "A rash of fires at BP's oil fields in Alaska's North Slope added to the record run, though BP said the accidents had minimal impact to production that was already being curtailed by routine maintenance." ... "Adjusted for inflation, prices are still below the $90-a-barrel peaks of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the start of the Iran-Iraq war the following year." (1, 2) -By Richard Valdmanis with contributions by Matthew Robinson in New York and Jane Merriman -Reuters

20070911

Secret - Federal - Health - Safety - Consumer - Law - Politics - Food - Drug - Traffic - Manufacturers - Companies - "Stealth Rules War Pits Lawyers Versus Companies." ... "Official Washington loves the word ``stealth.'' It connotes intrigue and secrecy, making the term well understood in a capital where spies and invisible fighter jets aren't all that's sneaking around." ... "At least that's how the nation's trial lawyers view the [Republican President] Bush administration's increasing use of federal health and safety regulations as a line of defense for manufacturers trying to fend off multimillion-dollar liability claims from consumers in state courts." ... "The fine print of a 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule on prescription labeling that preempts, or overrides, state laws is proving to be a powerful weapon in the courtroom at a time when Merck & Co. is fighting thousands of lawsuits from consumers claiming they were harmed by its drug Vioxx." ... "Since 2005, federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Homeland Security have issued more than a dozen rules that stress the primacy of federal law." ... "Plaintiff attorneys, who have been watching the trend with alarm, say eliminating the option of suing a company at the state level will result in weaker federal regulations, more cost to the government for consumers' medical bills, and a usurping of congressional authority." ... "The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow: ``Regulatory Preemption: Are Federal Agencies Usurping Congressional and State Authority?''" -By Cindy Skrzycki -Bloomberg

20070910

Safety - Politics -