You are here

Home > Issues >

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 THE PUBLIC

Arizona 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 years, the state PIRGs’ Trouble In Toyland report has surveyed store shelves and identified choking hazards, noise hazards and other dangers. To date, our report has led to at least 150 recalls and other actions to get dangerous toys off store shelves. Click the link to read our report.

BIGGER BANKS BIGGER FEES

In April, the state PIRGs released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half of branches 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.

Get the reports

Issue updates

News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Fisher Price Announce Recall of 11 Million Dangerous Toys

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Health Canada and Fisher Price announced the recall of 11 million childrens’ products. The products include tricycles that pose a risk of injury because of protruding key, toy car sets and infant toys with detachable small parts that pose choking hazards, and high chairs that pose a risk of laceration injury.

> Keep Reading
Report | Arizona PIRG | Consumer Protection

Recipe for Disaster

The recall of more than 500 million eggs from two Iowa egg farms is the largest but not the last of 85 recalls that have taken place in the year since food safety reform moved to the U.S. Senate. The Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group studied recalls of foods over a 13-month period due to contamination by Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and other bacteria.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Arizona PIRG | Financial Reform

Landmark Consumer Protections in Wall Street Reform Package Approved In U.S. Senate-House Conference Committee

Responding to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a U.S. Senate-House conference committee today approved strong legislation to rein in Wall Street and protect consumers, investors and taxpayers from further financial meltdowns. The legislation is expected to be approved and sent to the President in the very near future.

> Keep Reading
Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Delivering on the Promise

The recently passed federal health care reform law will make significant changes in how health insurance and health care work for consumers, businesses, and local and state governments, as well as how insurers and providers operate. But whether Americans experience improved care, lower costs and greater access depends largely on what happens next.

> Keep Reading
Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Delivering on the Promise

The recently passed federal health care reform law will make significant changes in how health insurance and health care work for consumers, businesses, and local and state governments, as well as how insurers and providers operate. But whether Americans experience improved care, lower costs and greater access depends largely on what happens next.

> Keep Reading

Pages

News Release | Arizona PIRG | Financial Reform

NEW CREDIT SAFETY AGENCY PROPOSED FOR CONSUMERS

More than fifty diverse organizations, including the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG), supported legislation introduced today by key Members of Congress to create a new federal agency to ensure the safety, fairness and sustainability of credit and payment products. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | Arizona PIRG | Consumer Protection

Arizona PIRG Alerts Shoppers to Hidden Toy Hazards

Hazardous toys are still sold in stores across the country, despite a new law overhauling the nation’s product safety watchdog agency, according to the State PIRG’s 23rd annual toy safety survey released today by the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG). The group also warned that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is taking actions to delay one of the new law’s toxic toy protections indefinitely.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Arizona PIRG | Consumer Protection

Proposition 200 is No Reform to Payday Lending

Payday lenders hope that in packaging Proposition 200 as industry ‘reform’ Arizonans will vote to permanently legalize triple-digit interest rates and greater access to borrower bank accounts.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Arizona PIRG | Consumer Protection

Consumer Groups Applaud U.S. House Passage of Strong Product Safety Bill

Today, consumer, public interest and scientific groups applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for passing strong product safety reform legislation that would overhaul the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  The bi-partisan Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will make consumer products safer by requiring that toys and infant products be tested before they are sold, and by banning lead and phthalates in toys.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Arizona PIRG | Consumer Protection

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Data Show Safety Recalls Increased 22 Percent Over Last Year

The number of recalls of toys and children’s products is up 22% over the first half of last year, despite industry promises last year to solve the problems that made 2007 the “year of the recall,” according to an analysis of Consumer Product Safety Commission data by the nation’s leading consumer groups. The groups urged Congress to complete a “strong CPSC Reform Act” before the August recess.

> Keep Reading

Pages

View AllRSS Feed

Tools & Resources

TOY SAFETY TIPS ON-THE-GO

From toxic chemicals to choking hazards to dangerous magnets, see what dangerous toys to watch out for while you shop.

TOYSAFETY.MOBI

CONSUMER ALERTS

Join our network and stay up to date on our campaigns, get important consumer updates and take action on critical issues.

support us

Your donation supports Arizona PIRG's work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.

Donate Today