NCL Bulletin, Vol. 60, No. 1, January/February

The National Consumers League Agenda for 1998

As the National Consumers League looks ahead to our centennial year in 1999, we have a growing appreciation of where this organization has been and where it is going. The issues we face today -- consumer fraud, child labor, an increasingly complicated marketplace -- aren't so different from the problems of a century ago. Our challenge is to address these evolving problems with creative approaches that keep pace, knowing that our own history shows us that no solution is guaranteed for the long run. In 1998 we are fighting for the consumers of today and tomorrow.

Have I Got a Deal for You!

Every day the League's National Fraud Information Center and Internet Fraud Watch programs receive hundreds of calls, e-mails and letters from consumers seeking advice and reporting possible fraud in connection with telemarketing or Internet promotions. While some scams have been around for years -- chain letters, for example -- new technologies are making it easier for crooks to reach potential victims. Chain letters can now be sent by e-mail to millions of people with a click of the mouse. A more old-fashioned technology, the telephone, is still abused by slick con artists to convince consumers to part with their money for what turn out to be bogus charities, health products and services, prize offers, loans, investments, business opportunities, etc. But now there are new ways to obtain consumers' money, including billing for services through their phone bills and various forms of electronic payment. We've extended the hours of the NFIC/IFW hotline to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and revamped the web site to create a special section for the Internet Fraud Watch and offer even more tips for avoiding telemarketing and Internet fraud. The League's award-winning "They Can't Hang Up" video and other materials are still available for use in educating older consumers and their families about telemarketing fraud. In 1998 NCL continues to combat fraud by:

• issuing a "State of Fraud" report to members of Congress and other opinion leaders, including new statistics about the ages of victims and identifying emerging trends;

• shifting hotline staff to help handle the growing number

• improving the system for transmitting information about telemarketing and Internet fraud to local, state and federal law enforcement authorities;

• seeking new sponsorship commitments from the private sector and government to sustain the NFIC/IFW programs; and

• expanding membership in the Alliance Against Fraud in Telemarketing, a coalition coordinated by the League to promote public awareness about telemarketing and Internet fraud, and producing new AAFT educational materials.

Leading Consumers Through Change

Change is good for consumers when it results in more choices, lower prices, better products and services, and easier ways of doing things. But unfair competition, fraudulent practices, and inadequate legal safeguards hurt both consumers and good businesses, and hamper innovative technologies. Knowledge is the key for consumers to make the best decisions as their options change and expand. There must also be real oversight and remedies for fraud and abuse. In 1998 the League continues to advocate for consumers' interests as the marketplace transforms in areas including utilities deregulation and privacy by:

• working with industry and government agencies to find ways to curb slamming, cramming and other telephone service abuses;

• educating consumers about making wise telecommunications choices and avoiding fraud through our newest publication, Survival Guide: You Make the Call, media outreach and other efforts;

• promoting fair privacy policies and working in cooperation with the public and private sectors to raise privacy aware-ness among those who have access to consumers' personal information;

• engaging in public policy debates and educational efforts regarding debit cards, electronic fund transfers and other new forms of payment;

• publishing a new newsletter, Community Credit Link, which features practical, objective information about credit-related issues and highlights activities by community groups and others who provide credit education;

• joining the discussions about how the problem of record bankruptcy rates should be resolved and helping to educate consumers about their options when they face financial crises;

• chairing a diverse coalition of consumer groups, businesses, labor unions and environmental organizations who want to make their voices heard as the electric industry becomes deregulated; and

• organizing a forum for community groups from across the country to learn and share their experiences with electric industry deregulation in the states. This is the third year the League is sponsoring this grassroots gathering in cooperation with the Electric Consumers' Alliance.

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy

Food safety is a concern to all consumers especially in the wake of last year's outbreaks of food-borne illness and resulting recalls of contaminated products. As irradiation begins to be implemented as one approach to reducing these outbreaks, the League will continue to cast a critical eye on various alternatives aimed at improving the safety of our food supply. In 1998 NCL:

• supports a single food safety agency responsible for the inspection, monitoring, and regulation of all foods, imported and domestic, in the United States. Such an agency would replace the current fragmented and disjointed federal system;

• seeks passage of the Food Safety Enhancement and Enforcement Act, which would give the United States Department of Agriculture mandatory recall authority. The bill would also give USDA the ability to levy civil penalties on meat and poultry producers and processors, and to withdraw federal inspectors from these plants;

• advocates that consumers have a right to know what is in the product processed through Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) and that it is clearly labeled. NCL pressures USDA to enforce existing regulations and to clarify the law.

Making Patient Safety a Priority

The movement to make health care providers more responsive to individual consumer needs is gaining momentum with state legislatures and Congress beginning to mandate new standards of care last year and President Clinton proposing a patients' bill of rights in January. In this environment, consumers are increasingly called upon to be their own best advocate on issues such as ensuring access to specialists and obtaining objective information about different types of therapies. The League helps consumers confront these and other issues in 1998 by:

• serving on the board of directors of the National Patient Safety Foundation, which seeks to find better methods to deal with the very real problem of errors and mistakes in health care;

• conducting a comprehensive shopping mall intercept and national random sample survey to ask consumers about the information they receive regarding medicines -- what's useful, what's not, and what they need to know to make informed choices;

• sponsoring a second direct-to-consumer promotion round table, which will explore the implications of prescription drug advertising and promotional materials aimed toward consumers;

• developing new publications, including a brochure on headaches to help consumers distinguish between different types and how best to treat them;

• updating NCL's "Consumer Guide To..." series explaining health care options provided in varied settings such as hospices and health maintenance organizations; and

• monitoring the Food and Drug Administration's implementation of new labeling requirements for over-the-counter medications and educating consumers about how to get the most information from these new labels.

In the Workplace

Consumers share responsibility for the conditions under which products are manufactured, services are rendered, and food is harvested and processed. The League's influence in channeling that philosophy into consumer activism has significantly impacted our nation's response to sweatshops, child labor, occupational hazards and other workplace abuses.

The National Consumers League legacy in migrant labor places particular focus on improving the lives of children in farmworker families. By working with the Associated Press on a major child labor series, meeting with Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman and other government officials, and conducting public education at select sites around the country under an Agape Foundation grant, NCL is raising consumer awareness about the abuses faced by migrant children. In 1998, the League:

• co-chairs the Children in the Fields campaign, which seeks to expand last year's successes regarding child labor and sweatshops in non-food industries to include child labor in agriculture. NCL will promote strengthening federal child labor laws, maintain a consumer awareness and action campaign, and challenge major food companies to assume responsibility for ending child labor in the fields;

• works with government, industry, and advocates to monitor the emergence of child labor-free labels, ensure truthful claims on these labels and encourage their introduction on marketplace products and foods;

• partners for the third year with the U.S. Department of Labor to highlight traveling youth crews (door-to-door and street sales of candy and other consumer items) through public education directed at minors, parents, and consumers;

• tracks child labor laws and enforcement among state labor departments with our annual survey, which collects data for a report comparing and identifying state trends in the 1990s;

• coordinates and co-chairs the nine-year-old Child Labor Coalition, which is expected to exceed 60 member organizations in 1998. NCL and CLC members will host a conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in May to discuss child labor in the United States and encourage consumer activism to end child labor exploitation in the U.S. and abroad (see pages 7 and 8);

• co-chairs the Apparel Industry Partnership, a coalition of business, human rights, labor and religious organizations which will found an association to help end the exploitation of workers in the garment and footwear industry throughout the world; and

• assist in planning the first ever Global March Against Child Labor to raise awareness. Marches and activities will occur on five continents in 1998, including a U.S. march from southern California to Washington, D.C. in May.