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Blog Post | Consumer Tips

In the path of Hurricane Ida? You can take steps to protect your finances now | Teresa Murray

Hurricane Ida is projected to make landfall in Louisana late Sunday. Residents can start thinking now about how to protect themselves from opportunists and scam artists.

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Blog Post | Transportation

Biden administration's proposed Clean Car standards are a step toward cleaner air | Aaron Colonnese

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Blog Post | Consumer Tips

T-Mobile Data Breach: Tips to protect yourself | Teresa Murray

The hackers say they have personal data on 100 million people. Long before this breach, you should have assumed some or all of your personal information was compromised

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Consumer Advocates Urge Court to Block Use of Findings of Unlawful Trump-Era CFPB Taskforce

Democracy Forward, the attorneys for U.S. PIRG, the National Association of Consumer Advocates and Professor Kathleen Engel, filed a motion for summary judgement Friday in U.S. Court in our lawsuit against the Trump-era CFPB's so-called Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Tips, COVID-19

STATEMENT: Nursing home vaccine mandate will save lives

"We applaud the move to get more nursing home staff vaccinated. This will save lives."

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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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News Release | U.S. PIRG

Panelists offer insights on how to pay for cleaning up toxic waste ‘Superfund’ sites

U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and the Center for Health, Environment & Justice hosted a webinar panel discussion on Thursday to discuss the findings from U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s recently published “Superfund Underfunded: How taxpayers have been left with a toxic financial burden” report. The expert speakers highlighted the dangers posed by toxic waste “Superfund” sites, how climate change will make those sites more dangerous as well as U.S. PIRG’s new Make Polluters Pay campaign to speed up Superfund cleanups and alleviate costs for taxpayers.

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News Release | US PIRG

Statement: FDA plans to reduce toxic metal in baby food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday it will adopt a plan aimed at reducing toxic substances in food for babies and toddlers.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Democracy

Statement: House passes timely, important democracy reform legislation

The House of Representatives passed a package of democracy reform legislation (H.R. 1) on Wednesday night that features important proposals to improve the health of America’s democracy. The bill would increase participation in the voting process and disclosures on secret political spending as well as reform redistricting practices. It would also create a small donor empowerment system for federal elections, which would help combat the overwhelming influence of big money in politics.

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Report | MontPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2015

Every year, state governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars through contracts for goods and services, subsidies to encourage economic development, and other expenditures. Accountability and public scrutiny are necessary to ensure that the public can trust that state funds are spent as well as possible. 

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Report | MontPIRG | 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 | MontPIRG | 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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Report | MontPIRG and Demos | Democracy

The Dominance of Big Money in the 2014 Congressional Elections

In 2014, large donors accounted for the vast majority of all individual federal election contributions this cycle, just as they have in previous elections. Seven of every 10 individual contribution dollars to the federal candidates, parties, PACs and Super PACs that were active in the 2013-2014 election cycle came from donors who gave $200 or more. Candidates alone got 84 percent of their individual contributions from large donors.

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Report | MontPIRG and Consumers Union | Public Health

Prescription For Change

Our September 2014 survey of physicians paints a grim picture of the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant infections. The overwhelming majority of surveyed doctors reported that one or more of their patients had been diagnosed with a presumed or confirmed case of a multi-drug resistant bacterial infection in the past twelve months. They also expressed concern about the use of antibiotics in livestock production facilities on healthy animals in order to promote growth and prevent disease.

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Blog Post

Another longtail of COVID-19: medical debt | Patricia Kelmar

How the pandemic has worsened the medical debt crisis

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Tough product safety rules will help babies sleep more safely | Henry Hintermeister

"No parent should ever have to endure the tragedy of losing a child."

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Blog Post | Antibiotics

Wendy's takes action to stop antibiotic overuse | Matt Wellington

Wendy's, the third largest burger chain in the country, committed to prohibiting the routine use of medically important antibotics in its meat supply chains by the end of 2030. 

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Blog Post | Consumer Tips, Consumer Protection

Waking up to the dangers of inclined infant sleepers | Teresa Murray

If you’re stunned that safety standards for inclined sleepers weren’t required before, get this: The new rules don’t take effect for a year. That’s one of the problems in the world of infant sleep.

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Blog Post

Pills and PlayStations: Conniving for higher prices through product hopping | Patricia Kelmar

How drug companies keep prices high through tricky marketing and sales tactics

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Blog Post

In reversal, judge rejects Monsanto's request to overturn landmark case linking man's cancer to Roundup

The high-profile legal case linking a man’s terminal cancer to Roundup has taken another twist.

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Blog Post | Solid Waste

Fixing your device just got easier: Right to repair movement scores major win

Repairing your electronic device just got a little easier thanks to a seemingly unexpected source: The Library of Congress.

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Blog Post

Electric buses are the future. Here's how to pay for them.

Dirty, unhealthy and expensive, diesel buses embody transportation's past. Electric buses are the future.

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Blog Post

'There is absolutely no excuse for this': Your Experian credit freeze could have been unfrozen by anyone

Imagine locking your front door only to discover that your security company dropped by moments later and left your key on top of your welcome mat.

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Blog Post

Walmart To Phase Out Paint Strippers Linked To Dozens Of Deaths

In the absence of government action on deadly paint strippers, retailers are stepping up to protect consumers.

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Blog Post

Resources I used to prepare my advance directive

Advance directives are legal instructions that include a living will (different from a regular will) and a health care proxy. In them, you state what treatments you do or don’t want at the end of your life and who you want making health care decisions for you if you can’t. 

News Release | U.S. PIRG

STATEMENT: U.S. PIRG applauds HHS proposed rules on arbitration guidelines in No Surprises Act

Blog Post

It's time for McDonald's to keep its promise and help save our antibiotics

Blog Post

How to spot fake online reviews

With the overwhelming number of reviews found both on website listings and social media, we pulled together the best tips to spot fake reviews when shopping online.

News Release | US PIRG Education Fund

Consumer guide: tips to help consumers avoid cars damaged by flood water

The current shortage of used cars on the market -- and correlated increased prices -- could make consumers more desperate and vulnerable to falling for a bad deal.

Antibiotics

It's time for McDonald's to keep its promise and help save our antibiotics

Back in 2018, PIRG helped convince McDonald's to make a plan for cutting down on the overuse of medically important antibiotics (a practice that makes antibiotic-resistant diseases more common) in its beef supply chain. McDonald's said it would set reduction targets by the end of 2020 — but the fast food giant still has yet to follow through.

 

Solid Waste

Trash in America

The United States produces too much waste. Find out more about what’s in our trash, where it goes — and what we should do with it.

 

Public Health

Somehow, asbestos is still legally allowed in products in the U.S. This bill would change that.

PIRG is urging Congress to pass the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the manufacturing, processing or distribution of asbestos and any products that contain it.

 

Public Health

EPA moves to strengthen clean water protections

The EPA has announced it will update standards for controlling two major sources of water pollution: meat processing plants, and manufacturing facilities that leach toxic PFAS "forever chemicals." PIRG was part of a nationwide organizing effort to submit nearly 30,000 public comments urging the EPA to act quickly against PFAS contamination.

 
  • 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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