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.

Rescuing Science from Politics: Regulation and the Distortion of Scientific Research

Published in July 2006, Rescuing Science from Politics debuted chapters by the nation's leading academics in law, science, and philosophy who explore ways that the law can be abused by special interests to intrude on the way scientists conduct research. The book begins by establishing non-controversial principles of good scientific practice. These principles then serve as the benchmark against which each chapter author compares how science is misused in a specific regulatory setting and assist in isolating problems in the integration of science by the regulatory process.

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Author(s): Wendy Wagner, Rena Steinzor
Bullies Along the Potomac

Bullies Along the Potomac, op-ed by Nina Mendelson

Type: Op-Eds (July 5, 2006)
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Author(s): Nina Mendelson
The Hidden Lesson of the Vioxx Fiasco: Reviving a Hollow FDA

The Hidden Lesson of the Vioxx Fiasco: Reviving a Hollow FDA, by Rena Steinzor and Margaret Clune, White Paper 514, October 2005.

Type: Reports (Oct. 12, 2005)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor, Margaret Giblin
Overcoming Environmental Data Gaps: Why What EPA Doesn't Know about Toxic Chemicals Can Hurt

Overcoming Environmental Data Gaps: Why What EPA Doesn't Know about Toxic Chemicals Can Hurt, by Rena Steinzor, Katherine Baer, and Matt Shudtz, White Paper 510, August 2005.

Type: Reports (July 13, 2005)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor, Matt Shudtz
The Truth about Torts: An Insurance Crisis, Not a Lawsuit Crisis

The Truth about Torts: An Insurance Crisis, Not a Lawsuit Crisis, by Thomas O. McGarity, Douglas A. Kysar, and Karen Sokol, White Paper 509, June 2005.

Type: Reports (June 15, 2005)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity, Douglas Kysar, Karen Sokol
MTBE and the Need for Effective Tort Law

MTBE and the Need for Effective Tort Law, by Thomas McGarity, White Paper 506, March 2005.

Type: Reports (March 6, 2005)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
A New Progressive Agenda for Public Health and the Environment

Writing for the Center for American Progress website, Christopher Schroeder and Rena Steinzor, co-editors of CPR's book, A New Progressive Agenda for Public Health and the Environment, offer a summary of the work, which features contributions from 20 CPR Member Scholars.

Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 5, 2005)
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Author(s): Christopher Schroeder, Rena Steinzor

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