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The bikes that last 4 months | Nathan Proctor

How to spot an unfixable bike designed for the dump

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

Medical professionals urge McDonald’s to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain

More than 125 medical professionals organized by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund sent a letter to McDonald’s Thursday urging the company to meet its 2018 commitment to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. The coalition delivered the letter at the start of World Antibiotic Awareness Week to stress the urgency of taking action to stop overusing our life-saving medicines in agriculture. Otherwise, the drugs may no longer heal sick people. 

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New holiday cooking safety guide offers tips on how to avoid unhealthy air pollution from gas stoves

The holiday season often entails spending a lot of hours in the kitchen cooking. As millions of Americans prepare holiday meals to share with their families, a new guide from PIRG’s research partner PIRG Education Fund offers tips on how to minimize unhealthy air pollution from cooking with gas in your home.

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News Release | Solid Waste

STATEMENT: Apple concedes to Right to Repair movement, reverses ban on selling parts to consumers

Apple reversed its longstanding policy against selling spare parts, providing repair instructions, and making repair software tools available to customers.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Healthier Holiday

This guide describes the potential health risks of cooking with gas and provides tips on how to mitigate those risks and keep your family safe during the holidays. 

> Keep Reading

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

Medical professionals urge McDonald’s to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain

More than 125 medical professionals organized by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund sent a letter to McDonald’s Thursday urging the company to meet its 2018 commitment to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. The coalition delivered the letter at the start of World Antibiotic Awareness Week to stress the urgency of taking action to stop overusing our life-saving medicines in agriculture. Otherwise, the drugs may no longer heal sick people. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New holiday cooking safety guide offers tips on how to avoid unhealthy air pollution from gas stoves

The holiday season often entails spending a lot of hours in the kitchen cooking. As millions of Americans prepare holiday meals to share with their families, a new guide from PIRG’s research partner PIRG Education Fund offers tips on how to minimize unhealthy air pollution from cooking with gas in your home.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Solid Waste

STATEMENT: Apple concedes to Right to Repair movement, reverses ban on selling parts to consumers

Apple reversed its longstanding policy against selling spare parts, providing repair instructions, and making repair software tools available to customers.

> Keep Reading
News Release | US PIRG Education Fund

36th annual Trouble in Toyland report exposes risks of counterfeit and other dangerous toys

Even though legitimate toymakers deserve kudos for making many of their products safer over the years, too often, Americans end up buying dangerous toys for children for the holidays.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Think globally, act locally: new electric vehicle toolkit for local governments

To successfully address the challenges under discussion at the U.N. climate change conference COP26, the United States needs to clean up its top source of global warming emissions: transportation. Transitioning to electric vehicles needs to be a key part of any plan. As Congress debates major EV infrastructure investment, a new report by Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group shows that state and local governments can pave the way for cleaner transportation.

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Result | Food

Researching How Tax Dollars Become Twinkies

U.S. PIRG research found that since 1995, $17 billion in agricultural subsidies have gone to corn syrup and other junk food ingredients. That’s enough to buy 2.8 billion Twinkies, and vastly more than has gone to apples and other fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Healthier Holiday

This guide describes the potential health risks of cooking with gas and provides tips on how to mitigate those risks and keep your family safe during the holidays. 

> Keep Reading
Report | US PIRG Education Fund

Trouble in Toyland 2021: Counterfeit toys evade safety rules, endanger children

As millions of Americans purchase toys before the year ends, they can take comfort in the improvement of toy safety in recent years thanks to hard work from consumer advocates, elected officials, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the industry itself. 

But, even with the advances in toy safety, dangerous toys still can and do end up on the market, largely because of counterfeits and recalled toys still available.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

A local toolkit to encourage EV adoption

Local governments have an important role to play in making clean transportation a reality. Every day, local governments make decisions about municipal purchasing, the use of public streets and parking garages, planning and zoning, and other issues that can either make it easier or more difficult for their residents to own an EV. By using a set of key tools to encourage EV adoption, local governments can help clean up the air in their communities and take meaningful action against global warming. 

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Trouble in the Air

More than one in six Americans, 58.4 million people, suffered through more than 100 days of elevated air pollution in 2020. Our report calls attention to the very real public health problems air pollution causes in both cities and rural areas across the country, such as asthma, heart issues, and premature death. It explains how global warming will make air pollution worse, and why tackling climate pollution has an impact on air quality. 

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Solid Waste

Trash in America

The United States produces too much waste. Find out more about what’s in our trash, where it goes — and what we should do with it.

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Blog Post

The bikes that last 4 months | Nathan Proctor

How to spot an unfixable bike designed for the dump

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

How I got my finances in order | Mike Litt

Even with the knowledge I’ve gained working as a consumer advocate for several years, getting my finances in order has been a work in progress. 

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Blog Post

Guide to non-traditional gifts: Make a meal or bake a goodie, and create a memory | Danielle Melgar

Who wouldn't be thrilled to receive a gift of a favorite food?

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Blog Post

What if food had QR codes? | Isabel Brown

The latest Salmonella outbreak illustrates how desperately our food safety system needs a major update. What if people could be notified in just seconds?

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Blog Post

Let’s not give the climate coal for Christmas this year | Taran Volckhausen

Unfortunately, a lot of these coal power plants will power factories making disposable, superfluous stuff such as cheap pens and rubber duckies. Come Christmas, millions of Americans will undoubtedly stuff stockings with these entirely forgettable things. 

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Blog Post

After U.S. PIRG Education Fund report, Wells Fargo eliminates some student debit card fees

After U.S. PIRG Education Fund reported on problems in its debit card practices, Wells Fargo took steps to eliminate some "surprise" fees on student cards.

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Blog Post

The bikes that last 4 months

How to spot an unfixable bike designed for the dump

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Medical professionals urge McDonald’s to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain

More than 125 medical professionals organized by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund sent a letter to McDonald’s Thursday urging the company to meet its 2018 commitment to reduce antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. The coalition delivered the letter at the start of World Antibiotic Awareness Week to stress the urgency of taking action to stop overusing our life-saving medicines in agriculture. Otherwise, the drugs may no longer heal sick people. 

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New holiday cooking safety guide offers tips on how to avoid unhealthy air pollution from gas stoves

The holiday season often entails spending a lot of hours in the kitchen cooking. As millions of Americans prepare holiday meals to share with their families, a new guide from PIRG’s research partner PIRG Education Fund offers tips on how to minimize unhealthy air pollution from cooking with gas in your home.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Healthier Holiday

This guide describes the potential health risks of cooking with gas and provides tips on how to mitigate those risks and keep your family safe during the holidays. 

News Release

STATEMENT: Apple concedes to Right to Repair movement, reverses ban on selling parts to consumers

Apple reversed its longstanding policy against selling spare parts, providing repair instructions, and making repair software tools available to customers.

Solid Waste

New federal bill calls for U.S. to move beyond plastic

On Feb. 11, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal introduced legislation that would phase out unnecessary single-use plastics, which commonly end up clogging our landfills and polluting our environment. It also provides funding for recycling and composting infrastructure, and would shift the financial burden of managing waste and recyclables from town and city governments to the manufacturers.

 
  • COVID-19 CONSUMER TIPS
    Avoid online scams, protect your credit and more. We have assembled a set of consumer tips and guides, and will add more in the days to come.
    OUR TIPS
  • TROUBLE IN TOYLAND
    Shopping for the holidays? Our annual toy safety report can help you spot the health hazards in the toy aisle and keep kids safe this holiday season.
    OUR REPORT
  • NURSING HOME SAFETY DURING COVID: PPE SHORTAGES
    Seven months into COVID-19 pandemic, 226,000 nursing home residents nationwide at risk.
    SEE THE REPORT
  • AUTO LOAN COMPLAINTS RISE
    Consumer complaints about auto purchasing, leasing and finance have spiked since the beginning of the pandemic.
    OUR REPORT

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U.S. PIRG Education Fund is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change.