Protecting Consumers

PROTECTING CONSUMER SAFETY—Toys should not be toxic or dangerous for children to play with. Our food should not make us sick. The terms for banking and credit accounts should be clear and easy to understand.

LOOKING OUT FOR The Public

PIRGIM’s consumer program works to alert the public to hidden dangers and scams and to ban anti-consumer practices and unsafe products.

TROUBLE IN TOYLAND

For 26 years, PIRGIM’s Trouble In Toyland report has surveyed store shelves and identified choking hazards, noise hazards and other dangers. One year, our research led to the recall of a cloth children’s book that we found contained lead.

BIGGER BANKS BIGGER FEES

In April, PIRGIM released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half of branches obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all. We also found that despite widespread stories about the “death” of free checking, free and low-cost checking choices are still widely available, if consumers shop around.

Issue updates

Lansing State Journal: Health and safety regulations are no joking matter

"Out of context, some government regulations can certainly seem humorous. But the ability of government agencies to create health and safety regulations is a deadly serious matter."

> Keep Reading
Report | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: The 26th Annual Survey of Toy Safety

The 2011 Trouble in Toyland report is our 26th annual survey of toy safety. In this report, we provide safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for young children and provide examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

> Keep Reading
News Release | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Survey Finds Toxic or Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, according to the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan’s 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading

WWJ: Annual Toy Safety Report Highlights Hazards

Consumer advocates are out with a holiday season warning about some toys that could be dangerous to children.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees. 

> Keep Reading

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Lansing State Journal: Health and safety regulations are no joking matter

"Out of context, some government regulations can certainly seem humorous. But the ability of government agencies to create health and safety regulations is a deadly serious matter."

> Keep Reading
News Release | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Survey Finds Toxic or Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, according to the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan’s 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading

WWJ: Annual Toy Safety Report Highlights Hazards

Consumer advocates are out with a holiday season warning about some toys that could be dangerous to children.

> Keep Reading
News Release | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Parents Beware - Many Toys Still Toxic, Hazardous

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) announced today in its 25th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

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Macomb Daily: Trouble in Toyland Persists

Baby’s first train by Haba looks like fun with its colorful wooden boxcars that can be easily latched together by thin pegs. However, the wooden pegs can be easily swallowed, too. The pieces are only one centimeter longer than the choke test cylinder used to determine if a hazard warning should be put on a toy package

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Kids' Lunches Now Safer

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the USDA has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

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KIDS’ SCHOOL LUNCHES NOW SAFER

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the U.S.D.A. has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

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Keeping Our Families Safe From Dangerous Products

Corporations that violate our product safety laws will face stiff fines and penalties, and hazardous products will be removed from store shelves more quickly, under a landmark law championed by PIRGIM in 2008. Our members and staff helped overcome the last-minute opposition of the chemical industry. 

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Report | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: The 26th Annual Survey of Toy Safety

The 2011 Trouble in Toyland report is our 26th annual survey of toy safety. In this report, we provide safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for young children and provide examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees. 

> Keep Reading
Report | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: The 25th Annual Survey of Toy Safety

The 2010 Trouble in Toyland report is the 25th annual Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) survey of toy safety.  In this report, PIRGIM provides safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards. 

> Keep Reading
Report | PIRGIM | Consumer Protection

Recipe for Disaster

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R.2749) on July 30, 2009. However, the Senate’s version of the bill – the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) – has languished while waiting for time on the Senate’s floor schedule.

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Report | PIRGIM Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: The 24th Annual Survey of Toy Safety

The recall of 45 million toys and other children’s products in 2007 and continued recalls in 2008 reminded Americans that no government agency tests toys before they are put on the shelves.

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