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Back-to-school: Have your school sign up for Safety Alerts
Back-to-school: Have your school sign up for Safety Alerts Far too often, recalls and safety alerts don?t reach the consumers that need them the most. There?s typically only a 10 to 30 percent consumer response rate to recalls. That puts a lot of consumers who may never have received the information in harm?s way. Children are particularly vulnerable to risk of injury, illness, or death from unsafe foods and products. Busy parents are bombarded with information and often don?t hear about vital safety issues and recalls. So Consumers Union set out to find a way to get safety into the homes of parents with school-age children. We?ve created a unique coalition of government agencies, parent organizations, and school administrators to disseminate recalls and safety alert information to parents and caregivers. The National School Safety Coalition, currently comprised of 21 members, puts the word out through www.clickcheckandprotect.org. Read more and comment Included is safety and recall information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission for unsafe products, and the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture for tainted foods. You?ll also find internet safety and personal information from the Federal Trade Commission and, in the near future, health information from the Centers for Disease Control. We?ve worked together with the National Parent Teacher Association and the National School Boards Association to form this coalition and developed innovative methods for getting safety information directly to parents through their children?s schools. This program will go a long way towards warning families about unsafe products and foods. Make sure both you and your school subscribe to this free website www.clickcheckandprotect.org. Ask your PTA, school board, and school administrators to include it in newsletters and school websites so the information can be passed down to all parents and their children.?Don Mays National School Safety Coalition: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.CDC.gov U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission www.CPSC.gov U.S. Federal Trade Commission www.FTC.gov American Association of School Administrators www.AASA.org American School Counselor Association www.schoolcounselor.org American School Health Association www.ashaweb.org California School Boards Association www.CSBA.org Consumers Union of U.S. www.ConsumersUnion.org Council of Chief State School Officers www.CCSSO.org Council of Great City Schools www.CGCS.org National Alliance of Black School Educators www.NABSE.org National Association for the Education of Young Children www.NAEYC.org National Association for Elementary School Principals www.NAESP.org National Association of School Nurses www.NASN.org National Education Association Health Information Network www.NEAHIN.org National Organizations for Youth Safety www.NOYS.org National Parent Teacher Association www.PTA.org National School Boards Association www.NSBA.org National School Public Relations Association www.NSPRA.org New York State Parent Teacher Association www.NYSPTA.org New York State School Boards Association www.NYSSBA.org Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Oil ad from the mad '60s brags about glacier-melting ability
Oil ad from the mad '60s brags about glacier-melting ability Here?s an ad from the 1960s that Mad Men?s Don Draper might have dreamt up, before dashing off to a three-martini lunch. In it, the oil company Humble (which would later become Exxon) boasts that, ?This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies?if converted into heat?could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second!"Times have changed, as evidenced by Exxon?s latest ad campaign touting its research into greenhouse gas-reducing algae. But an investigation into U.S. energy policy in the October 2010 issue of Consumer Reports finds there?s still plenty of room for improvement. Check back next week?when the issue will be online and on newsstands?for the full details.?Daniel DiClericoImage courtesy of Sociological Images Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Consumers Union advocates for rear seat-belt reminder systems
Consumers Union advocates for rear seat-belt reminder systems When it comes to getting recalcitrant drivers and front-seat passengers to use seat belts, there's nothing quite as effective as that irritating dinging that just won't go away until they buckle up.But there's no federal requirement for seat-belt notification systems in the back seats of vehicles, where children usually ride. Consumers Union and some other safety groups want that to change. Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety recently filed a petition seeking revision of federal regulations to require automobile manufacturers to install seat-belt reminder systems for designated rear seating positions in light-passenger vehicles. Consumers Union (CU), parent organization to Consumer Reports, believes that seat-belt reminder systems are most effective when equipped with continuous, repetitive auditory signals. Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows a strong positive correlation between perceived effectiveness and annoyance. In other words, the more annoying the seat-belt reminder, the more likely drivers and passengers are to buckle up?if for no other reason than to get the dang thing to be quiet. And a sound is far more effective than a light on the dashboard.Consumers Union wrote the following in comments to NHTSA in support of the petition: "A small visual signal on the console can be easily ignored. An audible signal alerts all occupants of the vehicle that certain passengers have not secured their belts... We believe that putting the onus on the driver to observe the visual signal and then determine how many passengers are seated in the rear of the vehicle greatly decreases the effectiveness of the seat-belt reminder system."CU also wants NHTSA to require that any rear seat-belt reminder system notify the driver of seat belt non-use not only at the beginning of a trip, but also during the course of a trip. This feature may reduce the risk of injury to children by alerting the adult driver that the child's seat belt has become unbuckled."An audible signal would also be much more effective in this situation, as drivers operating a moving vehicle may not immediately notice a visual alert on the console," wrote CU. As a result, we support a rear seat-belt reminder system that incorporates both visual and audible warnings.Think of it all as a backup system for those legendary eyes that moms have in the back of their heads.?Bob WilliamsRelated articles:Buckle up: Study shows child booster seat laws effective at reducing injuriesNote to Hannah Montana: Seat belts are necessary not an accessory Readers react to Hannah Montana seat belt flap?and so does Miley's family Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Thirsty potted plant exacts fiery revenge on Arkansas homeowner
Thirsty potted plant exacts fiery revenge on Arkansas homeowner You can't make this stuff up. State Farm recently concluded that a fire that caused $20,000 damage to an Arkansas home was caused by a dead plant. Or in insurance-speak: ?The fire was caused by self-heating through decomposition of organic materials contained within a plastic flowerpot.? Translation: Spontaneous combustion.The homeowner told the Associated Press that the flowerpot had contained dead, decomposing flowers and potting soil that his wife had planted in the summer of 2009. ?She had intended on repotting (the flowers),? he said. Sadly, they sat on the porch, unwanted and unwatered, and eventually died.What happened next was even sadder. On July 25, the plant burst into flames, burned a hole in the deck and spread to the vinyl siding. The heat caused a sidelight window next to the front door to break. But that wasn't the end of it. The air conditioning was running and the house filled with smoke. Fortunately, the homeowner?s father-in-law was able to put out the fire with a garden hose before it spread further.In the end, according to the AP, the family had to repaint the entire interior of the 2,200-square-foot home and replace the carpeting. Outside they replaced the window, the vinyl siding and the wooden decking. Lesson learned: Water the plants and consider buying a fire extinguisher. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Rep. Nita Lowey visits Consumers Union to push food-safety bill
Rep. Nita Lowey visits Consumers Union to push food-safety bill Rep. Nita Lowey with Consumers Union's JimGuest (right) and Michael Hansen (left). Earlier today, U.S. Congresswoman Nita Lowey stopped by Consumers Union?s headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y., to talk about the need for reform of our food-safety laws. Lowey represents New York?s Westchester and Rockland counties in the U.S. House of Representatives. She met with CU?s food-safety experts and spoke with reporters to urge the U.S. Senate to pass a long-pending bill that would overhaul the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect our food supply. Read more and comment CU President Jim Guest and Senior Scientist Michael Hansen joined Representative Lowey in a call for the U.S. Senate to pass the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510). A companion bill (H.R. 2749) was passed in the House of Representatives more than a year ago. In the long wait for the Senate to follow suit, there have been 60 recalls of contaminated foods, most recently a recall of more than 500 million eggs from two Iowa farms. "The proposed food-safety legislation is the first major update of our food safety laws since 1938," said Lowey. "We must focus on prevention to stop outbreaks before they occur." Lowey pointed out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 76 million Americans who suffer from food-borne illness each year. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would, among other things, require the FDA to conduct inspections of food-production facilities, give them mandatory recall authority for unsafe foods, and give them more enforcement powers, including the ability to levy civil penalties against wrongdoers. Hansen gave examples of how the proposed law could have stemmed the large egg recall, which has been associated with sickening almost 1,500 people with Salmonella Enteritidis poisoning. Once the FDA was allowed to inspect the Wright County Egg farms, they found multiple violations of food safety standards, most of which are truly disgusting. What this egg recall has done?like the peanut products, cookie dough, spinach, and countless other recalls before it?has focused everyone?s attention on the urgent need for better authorities and funding for the FDA to prevent these kinds of dangerous foods from getting on the marketplace before anyone gets sick. Congresswoman Lowey urged the Senate to pass the bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act as soon as it returns in mid-September. "Consumers have a right to expect that their food supply is safe," said Lowey. "It is outrageous that the FDA is so severely lacking in the basic authority it needs to protect the public from contaminated food products." We couldn?t agree more. For more information on Consumers Union?s food-safety initiative and to see what you can do to help, visit CU's NotInMyFood.org. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Samsung Galaxy Tab: More details revealed on iPad competitor
Samsung Galaxy Tab: More details revealed on iPad competitor The Galaxy Tab as seen in Samsung's video.Photo: Samsung Samsung today released new details about the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the first viable iPad competitor we know of. (For basics on the device, see our blog, Samsung Galaxy Tab: The first serious iPad competitor from last week). Here's the new information: The tablet weighs about 13 ounces. Its TFT-LCD display's resolution is 1024 x 600 and measures 7 inches. That makes it 7 ounces lighter than the iPad and its display quite a bit smaller than the iPad's 10 inches. Powered by a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, the Galaxy Tab will connect via 3G, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. You'll be able choose from models with 16 or 32GB of built-in memory; an external slot can accept up to 32GB of removable memory. Samsung claims the Galaxy Tab's battery will last 7 hours playing movies. With a camera on the front (1.3MP), you'll be able to do videoconferencing. The rear camera is 3MP, with auto focus and LED flash. A gyroscope sensor, geo-magnetic sensor, and accelerometer add location, direction, and motion capabilities. Samsung didn't list a dedicated USB port as part of the Galaxy Tab's connectivity. Presumably, USB connections are made via the 30-pin connector. The tablet will also play HD videos, supporting a variety of multimedia formats. Access to films and video will be available, Samsung says, through the company's "Media Hub" and to music via its "Music Hub." Samsung says its e-reader app, Readers Hub, will provide access to reference materials as well as classics and bestsellers. The company says that the Galaxy Tab will be launched in the US "in coming months." ?Donna Tapellini Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Scientists close to understanding gravity ? again
Scientists close to understanding gravity ? again What, you thought Newton cracked this one already? Physicists at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) say they may have a way to measure the effects of gravity at very short distances, say 1/1,000 the diameter of a human hair. ?There are lots of competing theories about whether gravity behaves differently at such close range,? says NIST physicist Andrew Geraci. It?s not entirely clear how this information might be used. But, adds Geraci, ?progress in the scientific community comes not just from individual experiments, but from new ideas.? And so we thought you?d want to know. ?Daniel DiClerico Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
"Organic" label on fish would mislead under proposed standards
"Organic" label on fish would mislead under proposed standards A group of more than 40 organizations, including our publisher, Consumers Union, came out hard against a set of proposed standards for organic Canadian seafood this week. The proposals would allow an organic label to be slapped on fish that comes from farms that use antibiotics and feed their fish up to 30 percent nonorganic food?including fish from the wild that could easily contain mercury and PCBs, according to a letter from the groups. ?Consumers deserve clear assurance that their choice of organic products supports a safer and more sustainable environment,? says Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., technical policy director at Consumers Union. ?Fish labeled as 'organic' that are not fed 100 percent organic feed, that come from polluting open-net pen systems, or that are contaminated with PCBs fall significantly short of expectations for organic products.? Similar proposed organic standards for U.S. farmed fish have also been issued and are awaiting final review and rulemaking from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. standards being recommended would also fall far short of the standards set for other organicly-raised animals?unless the USDA revises the proposals before finalizing them?according to Consumers Union and many of the organizations that signed the letter to the Canadian government. Americans expect better standards for organic fish. A poll from the Consumer Reports National Research Center in 2008 found that 93 percent of Americans agreed that organic fish should be produced with 100 percent organic feed, as other organically raised animals are. And 90 percent of Americans believed that organic fish farms should be required to recover waste and not pollute the environment. Whether consumers choose Canadian or American seafood, they should be able to trust that an organic label means something. Right now "organic" means very little when applied to seafood. ?Kevin McCarthy, associate editor Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Courts rule on legality of planting GPS trackers on suspects' cars without a warrant
Courts rule on legality of planting GPS trackers on suspects' cars without a warrant GPS is everywhere. Now, according to a California court, it can also be used to track criminal suspects. In a case involving a marijuana grower, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has decided that police didn't violate the suspect's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure by sneaking his driveway and attaching a GPS tracking device to the bottom of his Jeep. (Court document pdf.)In a different case in Washington, D.C., an appeals court decision went the other way, ruling a lower court erred in admitting evidence acquired by the warrantless use of a GPS device to track that defendant's movements. The court overturned the conviction of one suspected conspirator. (Court ruling pdf.) While your movements on public roads have never been private (an unmarked police car could legally follow you, for example), the Information Age continues to present new challenges to privacy, especially when it comes to law enforcement, from Internet usage to GPS signals in cars and cell phones. Should law enforcement have access to GPS data? And is it fair to place trackers on vehicles without a warrant or permission if law enforcement has reasonable suspicions about criminal activity? Share your thoughts in the comments below.?Eric Evarts Next Steps GPS Buying Advice: Types of GPS | GPS Features | GPS Brands All GPS Ratings Subscribers can view and compare all GPS Ratings. Recommended GPS Look at the ones that we chose as the best of the best. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
New-car fuel-economy stickers promise abundant information and connectivity
New-car fuel-economy stickers promise abundant information and connectivity Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) put two basic proposals out to consumers for a vote. These car window stickers provide much more detailed information than today's Monroney stickers, giving consumers details on energy consumption and environmental impact. Behind those proposed fuel-economy grade labels are a lot of numbers, including: City and highway fuel economy ratings Long-term fuel costs Comparative ratings against all other cars Greenhouse gas emissions in grams per mile, as well as a comparisonagainst all other cars A bar comparing air pollution that is not included in the overall letter grade One proposal includes all this information, along with a letter grade that attempts to sum it all up into one ranking. The other one contains less information, boiling it all down to overall energy cost for five years. The array of information that goes into the new government ratings can be mind-boggling. Some might think they need a PhD in physics. But if it's presented too simply, something inevitably gets lost. The letter grades are not arbitrary, but mathematically derived from all the factors above. Therefore, the agencies are grappling with how much information to provide on the sticker, and how to provide deeper information for consumers who want it. (Tell the EPA which format you prefer and answer our informal poll below.) That's where both proposals use new technology to expand the sticker electronically. Both will list a website where consumers can look up deeper information for every car. But for certain smartphone users, the process is even easier. In one corner of each proposal is a black-and-white image called a QR Code ("QR" for quick response), similar to a bar code. The QR code allows a consumer to take a picture of the code with smartphone cameras, and the phone will automatically load the webpage with additional information. That seems pretty slick.One of the biggest challenges comes from presenting gasoline-equivalent energy consumption for electric cars, for which overall efficiency and pollution are determined more by where the electricity comes from than from the car. The agencies have no legal authority to gauge the efficiency of powerplants for vehicles. But using the website and location information can allow you to see the implications for choosing an electric car over a gasoline-powered one, for example. As electric vehicles become more widely available, that could be an important resource for potential customers. Which proposed fuel-economy label do you want to see on new cars in the future?survey software ?Eric Evarts The poll is not scientific. It reflects the opinions of only those Web users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Web users in general, nor the public as a whole. Consumers Union is not responsible for content, functionality or the opinions expressed therein. See our guide to fuel economy for advice on saving gasoline. Learn about future technologies in our guide to alternative fuels. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
