Consumer Protection

Is our food safe? What about the drugs we take? The cars we drive and the products we buy? Are the banks, credit card companies and lenders dealing fairly with us? In each case, federal agencies are charged with making sure the answer is “yes.” But examples of unsafe products and unfair practices abound in the marketplace.

For years, General Motors hid from regulators evidence that an ignition switch the company used in its Cobalts, Opels, Pontiacs, and Saturns had such a hair trigger that a light brush by the driver’s hand or knee would shut down the engine, disabling air bags and power steering. The resulting loss of control caused at least 13 fatal accidents. GM's ability to avoid detection for so many years says as much about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's weak enforcement record as anything.

Other examples abound. From tainted peanut butter to toxic drywall, to lead-laden imported toys, such instances of unsafe food, drugs, automobiles and products are all too dangerous evidence of a failed system of regulation and enforcement. Often the failure is the result of neglect – a lack of political will to spend the money required to conduct meaningful research and enforcement. Sometimes the cause is ideological: a conviction that safeguards interfere unduly with industry profits. Either way, the result is that industry is spared the costs of being accountable for unsafe production practices, shifting those costs instead to consumers in the form of injuries, illness and worse.

Below, see what CPR Members Scholars and staff have had to say about it in reports, testimony, op-eds and more. Use the search box to narrow the list.

The Truth About Torts: Regulatory Preemption at the Federal Railroad Administration

The Truth About Torts: Regulatory Preemption at the Federal Railroad Administration, CPR White Paper 910

Type: Reports (Oct. 28, 2009)
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Author(s): Nina Mendelson, Bill Funk, Sidney Shapiro, Thomas McGarity, Jennifer Marshall, James Goodwin
CPR Perspective: Tort Reform: The Role of Litigation in Protecting Against Threats to Health, Safety and the Environment

CPR Perspective: 'Tort Reform: The Role of Litigation in Protecting Against Threats to Health, Safety and the Environment. CPR's Perspectives Series is a set of monographs by CPR Member Scholars on timely and important health, safety, and environmental topics. Each Perspective provides a thumbnail sketch of the competing arguments concerning a substantive or procedural principle for developing appropriate health, safety and environmental policies, and closes with the Member Scholar-author's proposed approach to the issue.

Type: Reports (Sept. 5, 2009)
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Author(s): Douglas Kysar
CPR Perspective: Medical Malpractice: Looking Behind the Tort Reformers' Myths

CPR Perspective: Medical Malpractice: Looking Behind the Tort Reformers' Myths, by Doug Kysar. CPR's Perspectives Series is a set of monographs by CPR Member Scholars on timely and important health, safety, and environmental topics. Each Perspective provides a thumbnail sketch of the competing arguments concerning a substantive or procedural principle for developing appropriate health, safety and environmental policies, and closes with the Member Scholar-author's proposed approach to the issue.

Type: Reports (Sept. 2, 2009)
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Author(s): Douglas Kysar
Thomas McGarity's Testimony on preemption of state tort laws in cases involving medical devices, before the Senate HELP Committee

Thomas McGarity's August 4, 2009, testimony on preemption of state tort laws in cases involving medical devices, before the Senate HELP Committee

Type: Legislative Testimony (Aug. 4, 2009)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
Safeguard lawsuits that potentially save lives

Safeguard lawsuits that potentially save lives

Type: Op-Eds (May 9, 2009)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
Editorial Memorandum on FDA and Preemption of State Tort Laws: Wyeth vs. Levine

Editorial Memorandum on FDA and Preemption of State Tort Laws: Wyeth vs. Levine, by Thomas McGarity

Type: Editorial Memos (May 6, 2009)
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Editorial memorandum on federally sanctioned false labeling of meat raised on chemicals and pesticides
Editorial memorandum on federally sanctioned false labeling of meat raised on chemicals and pesticides
Type: Editorial Memos (May 6, 2009)
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Editorial Memorandum on the Supreme Court Ruling Against Preemption in Wyeth vs. Levine
Editorial Memorandum on the Supreme Court Ruling Against Preemption in Wyeth vs. Levine, by Thomas McGarity and Nina Mendelson
Type: Editorial Memos (May 6, 2009)
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A Rare Win for Consumers

A Rare Win for Consumers, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Type: Op-Eds (March 6, 2009)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity

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