Consumers Union

Campaigns & Projects

	Help Consumers Union Stop Hospital Infections! Most people don't expect to go into a hospital and come out even sicker because of an infection they caught as a patient, but 1 in 20 do. And each year, about 90,000 people die from hospital acquired infections - a leading cause of death in the U.S. The annual cost to our health care system is $5 billion. Congress is considering a bill that would let hospitals keep information about their infection rates and medical errors a secret. People should be able to find out whether their hospital is doing a good job of controlling dangerous infections. TAKE ACTION now to tell Congress to preserve state's rights to report on hospital infection rates.

	Escape Cell Hell - And Take Your Phone Number With You! Dropped calls. Dead zones. Poor service in general. If you’re like many cell phone users, these problems have led you to consider switching carriers. But of course, if you change carriers you would have to change your phone number too. That’s about to change. On November 24, after four years of industry delay, cell phone carriers will be required to let you take your phone number with you when you switch carriers. It’s called number portability and it’s a big deal because consumers will likely see lower prices and better service as companies try harder to attract - or keep - business.

	Keep Your Credit Safe. In just a few hours, a thief can steal your identity and destroy a credit record it's taken years to build. This can ruin your ability to get a loan, affect your insurance rates, and even hurt your chances of getting a job. One of the reasons identity theft has become so common is that your personal information is routinely passed around and sold by banks, insurance companies and credit card companies without your consent. ACT NOW - tell Congress to protect your credit and your financial privacy.

	Consumers Union believes that democracy works best when people are well-informed about their government and play an active role in the government's decisions. That's why we created the Take Action Center. Our goal is to keep you informed about consumer issues and what your federal and state governments are doing about them. The center gives you the chance to send your opinions directly to the policymakers.

	Consumers Union believes that media ownership rules are essential to a healthy democracy. They help make sure that the public receives a broad range of contrasting perspectives from the media, not just the opinions of a handful of media conglomerates.

	Ephedra has been associated with serious health problems, including hypertension, stroke, heart attack, seizure, cardiac arrhythmia, and over 80 deaths. Consumers Union is working on a number of fronts, nationwide, to raise awareness about the need for more stringent regulation of ephedra and of dietary supplements, in general. We have asked the FDA to ban the sale of ephedra and to require pre-market safety testing of dietary supplements.

	The Manufactured Housing Project of Consumers Union Southwest Regional Office provides information about manufactured housing (a.k.a. mobile homes) developed by Consumers Union for both consumers and policymakers, as well as links to other sites with useful manufactured housing information.

	The Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools project seeks to enroll California children in low- or no-cost health insurance programs through the schools. We also seek to retain children in these programs and promote their utilization of health services. We work with California school districts, nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs), and government agencies to enroll uninsured children into health insurance programs.

	The Consumer WebWatch mission is to investigate; inform; and improve the credibility of information published on the World Wide Web. Our goals are to build trust on the Web and provide consumer protection.

	At the Eco-Labels site you can learn more about products that are eco-labeled compared to those that are conventionally farmed or produced, keep track of labels recently added, compare labels quickly with a shorthand report card and print easily to use while shopping, sign up to register for specific news updates and much more!