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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Solid Waste

Students host hundreds of local actions for Youth Earth Week

BOSTON - The Student PIRGs, a student environmental organizing group, is partnering with local organizations, student governments and elected officials to host in-person and virtual actions to celebrate Youth Earth Week, a national effort of more than 250 actions around the country to protect the environment, from April 19 to 23.

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Blog Post | Transportation

'Build Back Better' plan would transform America's aging infrastructure | Henry Hintermeister

The United States is in need of an infrastructure overhaul.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

The costs of the digital divide are higher than ever. Repair can help. | Alex DeBellis

Millions of Americans stand on the wrong side of the digital divide. It’s time we fix that.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Illegal warranty voiding highlights need for FTC action | Alex DeBellis

When consumers don’t have time to wait for authorized repair, they shouldn’t be faulted for finding alternatives.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Plastic waste solutions hiding in plain sight: Recycled content requirements | Haley Clinton

This blog is the second in a series examining policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis that are proven and replicable. This section covers recycled content requirements.

> Keep Reading

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Solid Waste

Students host hundreds of local actions for Youth Earth Week

BOSTON - The Student PIRGs, a student environmental organizing group, is partnering with local organizations, student governments and elected officials to host in-person and virtual actions to celebrate Youth Earth Week, a national effort of more than 250 actions around the country to protect the environment, from April 19 to 23.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New survey: 43 major appliance companies void warranties for independent repair, despite consumer protection laws

A new survey from U.S. PIRG Education Fund finds all 43 appliance manufacturers we surveyed would consider voiding the warranty if a device had “unauthorized” repair, despite a 2018 warning from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | COVID-19

Statement: As CDC director says, it’s not time to lift restrictions

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have jumped back upward as several governors across the country are lifting restrictions that curb the spread of the virus.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Solid Waste

Comprehensive bill calls for U.S. to move beyond plastic

WASHINGTON -- As plastic pollution becomes an increasingly dire problem, elected officials in both chambers of Congress introduced legislation Thursday to address the issue. On Capitol Hill today, Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA) unveiled the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021, a bill to improve the health of our people and our planet.


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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

PIRGs Join 300+ Groups To Urge Congress To Rescind "Fake Lender Rule"

The state PIRGs and  U.S. PIRG joined 300+ consumer, faith and civil rights groups urging Congress to rescind a "fake lender" midnight regulation, which would allow predatory lending, even in 18 states and the District of Columbia where usury caps protect over 110 million consumers. 

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Result | Democracy

Delivering one million petitions to President Obama on dark money

U.S. PIRG joined a broad coalition to deliver one million petitions from Americans, including U.S. PIRG members and supporters, calling on President Obama to shine a light on dark money, or secret political spending.

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Result | Consumer Protection

30 years of toy safety

For the past thirty years, our sister organization U.S. PIRG Education Fund has taken a close look at the safety of toys sold in stores. Their reports have led to more than 150 regulatory actions. In November 2015, they released our 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

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Result | Democracy

Giving more Americans a greater voice in our elections

In our democracy, the size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, we helped win reforms in Maine and Seattle to ensure that more Americans have a greater say in our elections. Seattle’s Initiative-122 empowers small donors with “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the cap on contributions. In Maine, the state’s Clean Elections Act was improved by strengthening campaign finance disclosure laws and offering qualifying candidates increased public funding.

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Result | Public Health

Convincing McDonald’s and Subway to protect public health

In 2015, bolstered by the support of more than 100,000 members and supporters, we convinced both McDonald’s and Subway to take action to protect public health. In March, just two days after we delivered more than 30,000 petitions to McDonald’s headquarters, the company announced that they would stop serving chicken raised on medically-important antibiotics. And in October, after more than 100,000 called on the chain to take action, Subway announced a similar policy for all the meat they serve.

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Result | Higher Ed

Protecting students from unfair bank fees

We helped win protections for students from unfair fees associated with campus bank accounts. The new rules, released by the U.S. Department of Education, ban some of the worst and most predatory fees that students encounter from banks.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Warranties in the Void II

An updated survey of warranties from 43 companies finding all tell customers they void warranties for independent repair. The continued problem of warranties wearing thin underscores the need for action on Right to Repair.

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Report | US PIRG Education Fund | COVID-19

Nursing home safety during COVID: Staff shortages

For most of last year, more than 200,000 people at any given time were in nursing homes that themselves acknowledged they were suffering from staff shortages.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Blueprint for America

Americans agree: Our nation’s infrastructure needs work. This report provides the blueprint that should form the basis of an infrastructure plan that will make America stronger today and lay the foundation for a brighter future. 

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Putting Consumers First

U.S. PIRG Education Fund, the Student Borrower Protection Center and Consumer Action have released a report recommending that  CFPB should use the full extent of its authority to take immediate action to strengthen its consumer complaint tool, hold companies accountable for providing complete and timely responses to consumers, and leverage consumer complaints related to the pandemic to support oversight and regulatory action to protect consumers.

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

Food Recall Failure

Our research found the majority of grocery stores fail to warn the public about hazardous food recalls. While they collect significant information about Americans shopping habits to sell us more food, they aren't doing enough to use that information to protect the public health.

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Pages

Blog Post | Transportation

'Build Back Better' plan would transform America's aging infrastructure | Henry Hintermeister

The United States is in need of an infrastructure overhaul.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

The costs of the digital divide are higher than ever. Repair can help. | Alex DeBellis

Millions of Americans stand on the wrong side of the digital divide. It’s time we fix that.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Illegal warranty voiding highlights need for FTC action | Alex DeBellis

When consumers don’t have time to wait for authorized repair, they shouldn’t be faulted for finding alternatives.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Plastic waste solutions hiding in plain sight: Recycled content requirements | Haley Clinton

This blog is the second in a series examining policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis that are proven and replicable. This section covers recycled content requirements.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Public Health

Toxic waste cleanups are lagging. We need polluters to pay to clean up their messes. | Henry Hintermeister

> Keep Reading

Pages

Blog Post

House Oversight Committee finds Juul targeting kids

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi got right to the point as he opened a House committee's first hearing on the role of Juul in the teen vaping epidemic.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Antibiotics

Taco Bell the latest chain to reduce antibiotics in its meat supply

You might know Taco Bell for silly ads asking you to "think outside the bun." But the company is getting serious about at least one thing: reducing the overuse of antibiotics.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Public Health

Amazon: Take responsibility for unsafe products

Most of us expect that the products we buy in stores are safe to use. It turns out that's not always the case with Amazon. 

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Rather than require warning labels for Roundup, Trump administration moves to prohibit them

Does the public have a right to know that researchers for the World Health Organization say the widely used herbicide Roundup is a probable carcinogen?

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

In the wake of the Capital One data breach, Ed Mierzwinski and Adam Garber explain how to protect your credit

Were you affected by the Capital One breach, one of the largest thefts of data from any bank to date?

> Keep Reading

Pages

News Release | U.S. PIRG

Students host hundreds of local actions for Youth Earth Week

BOSTON - The Student PIRGs, a student environmental organizing group, is partnering with local organizations, student governments and elected officials to host in-person and virtual actions to celebrate Youth Earth Week, a national effort of more than 250 actions around the country to protect the environment, from April 19 to 23.

Blog Post

'Build Back Better' plan would transform America's aging infrastructure

The United States is in need of an infrastructure overhaul.

Blog Post

The costs of the digital divide are higher than ever. Repair can help.

Millions of Americans stand on the wrong side of the digital divide. It’s time we fix that.

Blog Post

Illegal warranty voiding highlights need for FTC action

When consumers don’t have time to wait for authorized repair, they shouldn’t be faulted for finding alternatives.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New survey: 43 major appliance companies void warranties for independent repair, despite consumer protection laws

A new survey from U.S. PIRG Education Fund finds all 43 appliance manufacturers we surveyed would consider voiding the warranty if a device had “unauthorized” repair, despite a 2018 warning from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Transportation

'Build Back Better' plan would transform America's infrastructure

President Biden's infrastructure package takes a fix-it-first approach toward repairing the nation's highways and bridges, and includes key provisions for expanding electric transportation, getting the lead out of drinking water, and strengthening the electric grid.

 

Solid Waste

Toxic waste cleanups are lagging. We need polluters to pay to clean up their messes.

The United States has a toxic waste problem. But as the financial burden for cleaning up that waste has shifted primarily to taxpayers, cleanups are lagging behind.

 

Solid Waste

Nation's strongest plastic waste bill returns to Congress

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act would install a national bottle bill, ban some of the worst single-use plastics, and shift more financial responsibility for collecting and processing plastic waste onto plastics producers.

 

Solid Waste

To boost the country's recycling rates, we need an accurate measurement

The Environmental Protection Agency set a goal of boosting the United States' recycling rate from 32 to 50 percent by 2030. We commend this target — but there are a few things we first need to fix about how the agency counts "recycling."

 
  • STOP THE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS
    The World Health Organization has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the top 10 global health threats. That's why reducing antibiotic overuse in food production is so important.
    TAKE ACTION
  • 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
  • WATCH OUT FOR UNSAFE TOYS
    Our “Trouble in Toyland” report found boron in slime, choking hazards without the proper warning labels, “connected” toys that pose a privacy risk and more.
    GET THE FACTS
  • HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?
    One year after Equifax announced the worst data breach in history, a U.S. House committee has recommended weakening data breach laws. Tell Congress to protect Americans, not Equifax.
    TAKE ACTION

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