Not in My Food.org : Know what you're eating
Product Safety
Consumers Union Documents
- BPA Factsheet
What is BPA? BPA is short for bisphenol A, a chemical found in the linings of cans and in many plastic products, including sports bottles, food-storage containers and baby bottles. BPA helps make plastics strong while staying lightweight, and is also used as a coating inside metal food cans. Why the concern? Unlike other chemicals, Continue Reading
- Getting BPA out of our food and drink products
What is BPA? BPA is short for bisphenol A, a chemical found in the linings of cans and in many plastic products, including sports bottles, food-storage containers and baby bottles. BPA helps make plastics strong while staying lightweight, and is also used as a coating inside metal food cans. Why the concern? Unlike other chemicals, Continue Reading
Press Releases
- Consumer Product Database Turns One
New analysis shows database is working as intended
- CU: Add auto safety protections to transportation bill
Congress has a great opportunity to help make cars safer and save lives on our highways
- Consumers Union Statement on Department of Transportation Decision to Delay Rear-Visibility Rule
CU disappointed the government did not take final action to address the problem
- New guidelines for automakers will help lower risks of in-vehicle distractions
First-ever guidelines unveiled to limit distractions for in-vehicle electronic devices
- Consumer Reports and Consumers Union Honored with CPSC Award for Advancing Product Safety, Helping Save Lives
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission honored Consumer Reports and its policy and advocacy division Consumers Union with a special award in recognition of “exceptional contributions to consumer product safety.”
- Consumer Groups Applaud CPSC Vote for Independent Safety Testing of Toys, Children’s Products
Third-party testing was a key provision of a law passed to crack down on unsafe children’s products
- CU heralds historic passage of BPA ban in California
The historic passage protects children from baby bottles and sippy cups containing BPA
- Consumers Union Commends CA State Assembly for Passing BPA Ban; Urges Governor Brown to Sign Into Law
Five year effort finally results in BPA ban bill being sent to California governor
- CU Commends CA Senate for Passing BPA Ban; Urges Swift Final Vote in Assembly
California one step closer to a law banning the chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups.
- Congress passes the consumer product safety bill
The bill preserves the independent safety testing of toys and other children’s products
Blog Posts
- CU refutes meat industry claims about antibiotics campaign
Consumers Union this week fired back to a letter sent by meat producers to several members of Congress that called into question the accuracy of many facts laid out in our Meat On Drugs report regarding the industry’s use of antibiotics in livestock production. Released in June, ‘Meat On Drugs’ calls on meat producers to Continue Reading
- How safe are the chemicals in your shampoo, toothpaste?
Each day you and your family interact with dozens of chemicals – in your shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and household cleaners. But did you know that our laws don’t require most of these chemicals to be tested safe? Some 70,000 chemicals are used in consumer products, but only 200 have been safety tested by the Environmental Continue Reading
- Have you checked out SaferProducts.gov?
Despite a company’s best intentions, faulty and dangerous products still hit marketplace shelves. Even seemingly innocuous goods you could never imagine causing harm may turn out to pose inadvertent hazards to you and your family. Where to turn if you have the misfortune of encountering a product like this? www.SaferProducts.gov This website is a clearinghouse Continue Reading
- Were your holiday gifts naughty or nice? Report any unsafe products.
The decorations are down and the tree is long gone, but how are your holiday gifts and toys holding up? If you received any products that turned out to pose safety hazards, report them to www.SaferProducts.gov. Thousands of people have logged complaints of unsafe products on this website launched last year by the U.S. Consumer Continue Reading
- Is your holiday Made in the USA?
Are you part of the 1-in-3 people who haven’t started their holiday shopping yet? Or maybe you still have a few more gifts to cross off your list? Then it’s not too late for you to pick up a few presents made right here in the U.S. of A. Consider the impact, says ABC News, Continue Reading
- A Victory for Safer Toys & Cribs
Toys and other children’s products should be tested for safety before they reach store shelves and kids’ hands, according to a vote Wednesday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to implement new safety testing rules. “People might assume independent safety tests were already required for toys. But the reality is, too often, dangerous toys aren’t Continue Reading
- New website helps consumers search for & report dangerous products – and you will want to see this
Window curtains with chemical odors that consumers say cause nausea and headaches. Dishwashers that are reported to smoke and catch on fire. Bursting toy balls that parents say cause chemical burns in their children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) product safety database at www.saferproducts.gov contains these and other reports from consumers of products Continue Reading
- Changes to toy safety bill’s “rough edges” but key protections remain
A bill amending legislation that set new toy safety and lead standards has now cleared both the House and the Senate. The newly-passed bipartisan bill presents a measured response, and “preserves the core of the CPSIA” said Ami Gadhia in Consumers Union’s press release. The legislation amended the bipartisan Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) Continue Reading
- “A safer generation of cribs” hit the market
Parents have a lot of things to worry about when it comes to keeping their kids safe, but sleeping in a crib shouldn’t be one of them. Today, new rules go into effect that should have babies and their parents resting easier. In a move hailed by consumer groups as long overdue, cribs sold in Continue Reading
- Rolling back toy safety standards is illogical and dangerous
“Another week, another recall of Chinese-made toys.” It was 2007, the year of relentless toy recalls, that inspired this complaint from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Lead paint, dangerous parts, loose magnets and choking hazards were just a few of the culprits that had stores scrambling to pull toys from shelves as the news covered stories Continue Reading
News Articles
- How to Force Ethics on the Food Industry Source: New York Times (Saturday March 16, 2013)
- Pink Slime Maker Sues ABC News For $1.2 Billion: Lawsuit Accuses Network Of Defamation Source: Huffington Post (Thursday September 13, 2012)
- Has 'organic' been oversized? Source: New York Times (Saturday July 7, 2012)
- Button batteries are becoming a serious threat to children Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Sunday September 18, 2011)
- Council bans sale of crib bumper pads in Chicago Source: Chicago Tribune (Friday September 9, 2011)
- New crib standards may mean junking the old crib Source: Washington Post (Wednesday June 29, 2011)
Beginning this week, new safety standards make it illegal to make, sell — or re-sell— drop-side cribs and many other cribs currently in use.