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News Release | WashPIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

New Guide Helps Consumers Get Great Deals on Refurbished Electronics

This holiday season, consumers can pay even less than they would on Black Friday for electronics, if they buy them used and refurbished. “Fixed for the Holidays” helps consumers purchase used items with confidence -- detailing what to buy, how to recognize a good deal and where to shop.

News Release | WashPIRG Foundation | Public Health, Antibiotics, Food

McDonald’s Takes Step to Protect Public Health

Today, McDonald’s released a new policy to restrict medically important antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. As the largest beef purchaser in the United States, McDonald’s new commitment could spark an industry-wide change to help keep antibiotics effective.

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

New car seats made without toxic flame-retardant chemicals

Car seats are supposed to keep our youngest children safe. But though they may protect infants and toddlers during accidents, car seats have a history of containing toxic flame-retardant chemicals.

That’s finally changing.

Today, a coalition of groups including U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Ecology Center’s “Healthy Stuff” program released test results on car seats in a new report, Hidden Hazards:Flame Retardants and PFAS in Children’s Car Seats. The authors collaborated with researchers from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

EU NGOs Blast Google Locational Data Collection as US Groups Blast FTC on Privacy | Ed Mierzwinski

Today, 7 member groups of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) asked each of their national Data Protection Authorities to investigate Google Android's smartphone locational data collection practices following an investigative report by the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) finding that Google may be in violation of the new European GDPR privacy law. All the groups are members of the U.S. PIRG-backed TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue, which itself followed up on the report and EU actions with a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Meanwhile, as the Senate prepared for an afternoon FTC oversight hearing today where Facebook may be a focus, we joined leading groups in a separate letter to complain to the FTC about its biased staff report that adopts unsubstantiated industry claims in defense of an FTC call to the administration for weak baseline privacy choices.

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

Popular toys contain toxics and other hazards

This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. U.S. PIRG’s 33rd annual Trouble in Toyland report found toxic amounts of boron, which can cause nausea, vomiting and other health issues, in slime products as well as fining that Amazon failed to appropriately label choking hazards.

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News Release | WashPIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

New Guide Helps Consumers Get Great Deals on Refurbished Electronics

This holiday season, consumers can pay even less than they would on Black Friday for electronics, if they buy them used and refurbished. “Fixed for the Holidays” helps consumers purchase used items with confidence -- detailing what to buy, how to recognize a good deal and where to shop.

News Release | WashPIRG Foundation | Public Health, Antibiotics, Food

McDonald’s Takes Step to Protect Public Health

Today, McDonald’s released a new policy to restrict medically important antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. As the largest beef purchaser in the United States, McDonald’s new commitment could spark an industry-wide change to help keep antibiotics effective.

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

New car seats made without toxic flame-retardant chemicals

Car seats are supposed to keep our youngest children safe. But though they may protect infants and toddlers during accidents, car seats have a history of containing toxic flame-retardant chemicals.

That’s finally changing.

Today, a coalition of groups including U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Ecology Center’s “Healthy Stuff” program released test results on car seats in a new report, Hidden Hazards:Flame Retardants and PFAS in Children’s Car Seats. The authors collaborated with researchers from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame.

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

Popular toys contain toxics and other hazards

This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. U.S. PIRG’s 33rd annual Trouble in Toyland report found toxic amounts of boron, which can cause nausea, vomiting and other health issues, in slime products as well as fining that Amazon failed to appropriately label choking hazards.

News Release | WashPIRG Foundation | Public Health, Antibiotics

Chain Reaction report urges burger restaurants to beef up policies to eliminate routine use of antibiotics

Two growing burger chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi, stand out from the herd when it comes to serving beef raised without the routine use of antibiotics in the burger industry. They were the only restaurants to earn an “A” on the fourth annual Chain Reaction scorecard released today by six major consumer and environmental organizations. The vast majority of hamburger chains — 22 of the top 25, including giants such as McDonald’s — got an “F” grade because they lack established policies restricting antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.

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Result | Antibiotics

Victory! KFC Goes Antibiotic-Free

On April 7, 2017, KFC U.S. announced that by the end of 2018, all chicken purchased by the company will be raised without antibiotics important to human medicine. A coalition of consumer and public health groups, including WashPIRG (Public Interest Research Group), had urged the company to act on the issue.

Result | Health Care

Keeping our data secure

Many Washingtonians have found themselves at risk from data breaches, including those at Premera Blue Cross, TurboTax and the IRS. WashPIRG helped win a law that better protects Washington consumers’ privacy and helps us guard against data breaches.

Result | Democracy

Giving Washingtonians a greater say in our elections

The size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, WashPIRG helped Seattle voters pass a first-in-the-nation small donor empowerment program, Initiative-122: Honest Elections Seattle. The program gives Seattle voters “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the limit on contributions candidates can receive.

Result | Consumer Protection

Protecting Washingtonians from toxic chemicals

Despite a variety of safer alternatives, toxic flame retardants are still used in many products. Thanks to the support of members like you, WashPIRG helped pass a bill through both houses of the legislature to ban five toxic flame retardants in the state. It also gives the Washington Department of Health the authority to ban other harmful flame retardants used in furniture and children’s products.

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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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

A Citizen's Guide to Reducing Energy Waste

The future is here—but we’re living in the past.

Clean energy from the sun and wind can provide for our energy needs without the global consequences of pollution, yet we’re still producing and consuming virtually all of our energy in ways that do lasting damage to our environment, our health and our climate. To make matters worse, much of the dirty energy we produce goes to waste.

Report | WashPIRG Foundation | 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.

Report | WashPIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide

With this Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide, parents, teachers, and students can make more informed decisions while shopping for school supplies this Back to School season. We want to give parents and teachers the option to choose school supplies that do not contain toxic chemicals. This Shopping Guide should serve as a handy tool for finding products free of several types of toxic chemicals.

Report | WashPIRG Foundation | Transportation

Highway Boondoggles 4

America's infrastructure is in rough shape. Many of our roads, bridges, and transit systems are aging and in need of repair. Yet, year after year, state and local governments propose billions of dollars' worth of new and expanded highways that do little to reduce congestion or address real transportation challenges, while diverting scarce funding from repairs and 21st century priorities. This report profiles nine highway projects that epitomize the need for a fresh approach to transportation spending, including the proposed $1.5 billion North Spokane Corridor.

Report | WashPIRG Foundation | Public Health, Transportation

Electric Buses

A new report shows that a full transition to electric buses in Washington State could avoid an average of 89,567 tons of climate-altering pollution each year -- the equivalent of taking 17,291 cars off the road, and highlights King County’s leadership in transitioning to an all-electric bus fleet.

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Blog Post | Financial Reform

EU NGOs Blast Google Locational Data Collection as US Groups Blast FTC on Privacy | Ed Mierzwinski

Today, 7 member groups of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) asked each of their national Data Protection Authorities to investigate Google Android's smartphone locational data collection practices following an investigative report by the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) finding that Google may be in violation of the new European GDPR privacy law. All the groups are members of the U.S. PIRG-backed TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue, which itself followed up on the report and EU actions with a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Meanwhile, as the Senate prepared for an afternoon FTC oversight hearing today where Facebook may be a focus, we joined leading groups in a separate letter to complain to the FTC about its biased staff report that adopts unsubstantiated industry claims in defense of an FTC call to the administration for weak baseline privacy choices.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

2019 Fight Over Data Privacy Rights Heating Up Already | Ed Mierzwinski

Next year, a highly-anticipated privacy and data rights battle will occur in Congress. Powerful special interests from Google to Facebook are responding to the new European General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) by seeking to quash any similar effort to protect U.S. consumers while simultaneously seeking to preempt a new California privacy law before it takes effect in 2020. Will we continue as data collector products, not their customers, or will we gain control over our own financial DNA? The state PIRGs are in this one; guess which side we're on. Today we joined 34 leading groups in issuing shared Privacy Principles.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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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.

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HELP SAVE LIVES BY SAVING ANTIBIOTICS

Effective antibiotics are critical tools in live-saving procedures, from cancer treatment to caring for premature babies. Sign up to help stop the overuse of antibiotics.

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HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?

One year after the Equifax breach, a U.S. House committee is recommending weakening privacy standards.

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