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 CONSUMERS

Ohio PIRG’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, Ohio PIRG’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, Ohio PIRG released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half 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

Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Trouble In Toyland

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 | Ohio PIRG | 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 an Ohio Public Interest Research Group’s 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading

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.

> Keep Reading
Report | Ohio PIRG | 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 (PIRG) survey of toy safety.  In this report, U.S. PIRG 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 | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Chemical Insecurity

Across the United States, thousands of industrial facilities use and store hazardous chemicals in large quantities that pose major risks to their neighbors. More than 100 of these facilities would each put at least one million people at risk of injury or death in the event of a chemical release.

> Keep Reading

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News Release | Ohio PIRG | 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 an Ohio Public Interest Research Group’s 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Report: Ohio a Flashpoint of Ongoing Foreclosure Crisis

Ohio will face continuing foreclosures totaling 282,190 from 2009 through 2012, but the key solution before Congress to prevent future financial crises faces an uncertain future due to lobbying by powerful special interests, according to a report released today by Ohio PIRG.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Parents Beware - Many Toys Still Toxic, Hazardous

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, Ohio Public Interest Research Group announced on Tuesday in its 24th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Courts Recognize Bank Secrecy Must End; Does Congress?

The big banks that limped into Washington a year ago now march all over Capitol Hill with their lobbyists, fighting the financial and tax reform legislation at every turn. But the banks’ big money doesn’t seem to influence the way some judges have been ruling lately.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

House Adopts Independent Ethics Oversight

The House of Representatives voted tonight to establish an independent Office of Congressional Ethics.

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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.

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

Trouble In Toyland

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 | Ohio PIRG | 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 (PIRG) survey of toy safety.  In this report, U.S. PIRG 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 | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Chemical Insecurity

Across the United States, thousands of industrial facilities use and store hazardous chemicals in large quantities that pose major risks to their neighbors. More than 100 of these facilities would each put at least one million people at risk of injury or death in the event of a chemical release.

> Keep Reading

Foreclosures, Failed Banks and Fees

While the financial crisis is global in scope, Ohio is one of its flashpoints. Ohio lives and families have been shattered and homes and neighborhoods shuttered due to unfair and predatory lending practices. The solution is to enact a strong federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency that reinstates federal law as a floor not a ceiling of protection and has as its primary responsibility the enforcement of consumer protection laws.

> Keep Reading
Report | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: 24th Annual Toy Safety Survey

The 2009 Trouble in Toyland report is the 24th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety.  This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards. 

> Keep Reading

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