Sugar contents in popular cereals not so sweet

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Hats off to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for its unmasking of the atrocious amounts of sugar that cereal makers are putting into their products. EWG found that servings of three cereals—Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Post Golden Crisp, and Wheaties Fuel—contain more sugar than a Hostess Twinkie! Another 44 contain more sugar than three Chips Ahoy cookies. Sugar is more than a third of cereal by weight in more than 36 types.

This is particularly galling since the industry came down like gangbusters on a mere voluntary series of guidelines proffered by four federal agencies (FTC, CDC, USDA, and FDA) in a report that suggested reducing levels of sugar in cereal would be a healthy move by the manufacturers. The guidelines are, in fact, pretty moderate. They would allow 13 grams of added sugar per 50 grams of cereal, amounting to one-quarter of the sugar by weight. Two in three of the cereals EWG tested exceed that level. The cereal industry hired lobbyists galore, and the authors of the report were forced to revise it.

Industry’s response to the EWG report? Once again, manufacturers cry that the report is unfair because only two of the 10 worst cereals are marketed to children. So their argument is that eight of the 10 are marketed to adults—2/3 of whom are overweight as it is? (Obesity rates have doubled for children age 2-11 and more than tripled for teens 12-19.) By industry reckoning, I guess its okay to throw the whole bowl of sugar into cereal as long as it’s being marketed to those of us who should know better. No, we Americans need to be weaned from our expectation that everything we eat needs to be extra sweet or extra salty (see NCL’s recent comments on FDA’s proposal for sodium reductions). Excessive amounts of sugar and salt contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke and industry clearly won’t reduce those levels on its own.

Thanks to EWG for its report, and shame on the cereal industry for pandering—indeed helping to create—the American sugar addiction. I hope this study serves as a further wake up call to an industry needs to reform its ways.

Food stamp program crucial in times of need

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It’s a mark of the terrible economy that more people are using food stamps, but the good news is that more than half of those newly benefiting are children. NCL’s founders would have said “hurrah” that the program is available at really tough economic times just like these, especially for kids.

When you look at the numbers—46.3 million people received food stamps—they represent a huge percentage of Americans: one in six, with a jump in the food stamp rolls of 8 percent over the past year. The Obama Administration says the program is more efficient than previously since benefits are provided electronically to recipients.

The Administration has cracked down on abuses, as it should. Benefits like these should be reserved for those who truly need them. We should have no patience for those who use a federal program to put money in their own pockets—including retailers who sell the prohibited cigarettes or alcohol using food stamps and take a commission for themselves. The Administration should throw the book at these folks, and they have—disqualifying 8,300 retailers from taking food stamps. And those who sell the food stamp benefits in exchange for cash on Craigslist should lose their access to the program permanently.

But these abuses shouldn’t diminish the critical importance of the program, which puts food on the plates of millions of the Americans in greatest need. Indeed, the food stamp program is one of the most successful of any of our government benefits. Our friends at the Food Action and Research Center, who work with hungry families and kids, note that “in the midst of one of the worst recessions this country has ever seen, food stamps kept very large numbers of families from going hungry. The program performed as it was intended to—it expanded to meet rising need, and the increased benefits helped millions afford enough nutrition for their households.”

Florence Kelley and Frances Perkins would be saddened by the fragile financial state of so many families, but they would be cheering the availability of this essential safety net for the poor.

So what’s the answer to the sodium problem?

By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety & Nutrition Fellow

The verdict is in: Americans consume far too much salt. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommend no more than 2300 mg of sodium per day. For nearly 50% of us, including those over 50, African Americans and those with chronic health conditions such as kidney disease or diabetes, the recommended amount is even lower, at 1500 mg per day. In reality, the average American consumes around 3400 mg per day, well above recommended levels. This heavy consumption can have consequences.  Excessive sodium consumption has been shown to increase blood pressure which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Clearly, the solution is to reduce the amount of sodium we consumer,  a move which can reverse these health consequences.  To accomplish this, the FDA should step in and regulate how much sodium is allowed in foods. Currently, sodium is classified as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). Removal of GRAS status would allow the FDA to set more limits on the amount of salt allowed in food. (Read NCL’s recent comments to the FDA regarding sodium’s GRAS status here.)

Setting more healthy sodium limits would lead to the next step: product reformulation.  This process is essential because Americans get a staggering 77% of their sodium from prepackaged and restaurant foods. This means that simply lightening up on the saltshaker will not result in significant decreases in sodium for most Americans. In order for consumers to be able to easily reduce the amount of sodium in their diets, it is essential that manufacturers make products that have lower sodium levels.

Reducing sodium can seem like a daunting task. Enter Jessica Goldman, whose Web site, “Sodium Girl,” gives cooking tips for those looking to eat a reduced sodium diet. By reducing her sodium intake to between 500 and 1000 mg per day, Goldman, who has lupus, has been able to come off dialysis and is no longer on the kidney transplant list.  Her website provides helpful recipes and tips for others who want to follow a low sodium diet.

Jessica Goldman has shown that sodium reduction is more than possible. Reformulation and government regulation will make it even easier, allowing Americans to make healthier choices that will reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke, a goal we can all agree is worth achieving.

What’s next for mine safety standards?

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The sad aftermath of the tragic and terrible explosion that killed 29 miners in April 2010 at the Upper Big Branch Mine (UBB) in West Virginia came down recently in the form of a  $209 million fine. Federal prosecutors settled with Alpha Natural Resources – the company that bought Massey Energy, the owner of the mine at the time of the explosion.  UBB was the worst mine disaster in 40 years and the fine is 40 times the size of any previous one. But, of course, nothing can bring back the 29 miners–they had families, were part of their community, they worked grueling jobs each and every day, and they were fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and sons.

Dean Jones, one of the miners who died, had warned the company of the dangerous conditions before the disaster and was told to get back to work or he and the other miners would be fired. The owners refused to allow the United Mine Workers to organize UBB, thus removing any leverage the workers had to negotiate for safer conditions.

Under the settlement, Alpha will pay $1.5 million each to of the 29 families; the company has also agreed to spend at least $80 million on prevention reforms that will help to avert another disaster, including better air monitors in their mines and new devices to prevent suffocation.

The same week federal prosecutors announced the fine, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released a 1,000+ page report that described UBB as lacking the basic modern safety measures: coal dust and poor ventilation is what caused this explosion, the same conditions that killed coal miners 100 years ago. The UBB mine’s ventilation system wasn’t working properly, causing a build up of flammable coal dust and the hazardous conditions that lead to the explosion. $34 million of the fine is for Massey’s violations of safety requirements.

Don Blankenship, the arrogant former Massey Energy owner who was sent packing after the disaster, was notorious for flouting safety requirements. Massey kept two sets of books – one for regulators, and one for internal purposes. Blankenship was preoccupied with how much money the mines were making, sometimes checking production every few hours, and always at the expense of safety.

This historic $290 million fine and report certainly brings some closure to the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. The question is – will safety in the mines finally become a true priority, will mine owners finally see the value in having their workforce represented by the United Mine Workers which puts safety and health at the top of its demands, and will the lives of coal miners begin to be truly valued after this sad chapter in coal mining and labor history? We certainly hope so, but only time will tell.

 

Give union-made this holiday

By Michell K. McIntyre, NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft

As we’re all scrambling to finish our holiday shopping, we tend to grab things convenient and easy. However, we should put some thought into the companies that we buy from. Are they good to their employees? Are they using child labor in the production of their goods?

Our friends at American Rights at Work, along with the NFL Players Association, recently produced a holiday gift-giving guide for union-made products and services. The guide breaks down recipients into various categories: sports fans, do-it-yourselfers, holiday lovers, foodies, booklovers and word freaks, families with small children or the young at heart, bargain shoppers, jetsetters and entertainers. Once you locate your recipient’s proper category, you’ll find a helpful list of union-made gifts to fit their interests. Some of the unions highlighted in the guide include: USW, IAM, UFW, UFCW, ILWU and many others.

For the candy lovers in your life, be sure to check out the list of union-made sweets from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. Being a conscientious shopper never tasted so good.

And, if you’re in the market for a carpet or rug, please look for products with the GoodWeave label. GoodWeave, an organization dedicated to ending child labor in the carpet industry, certifies certain carpets and rugs as child labor-free. In an industry littered with child workers, GoodWeave takes a stand to stop child labor and give children in Nepal, India, and Afghanistan an opportunity to an education. So during this gift buying holiday season, please take the extra five or ten minutes to look into the companies you’re buying from.

Tuition hikes, college president salaries, and student debt. Oh my!

By NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg

One recent piece of news suggests that college students and their parents are getting rolled. College students are borrowing like never before, while finding it harder than ever to land jobs.

College seniors who graduated in 2009 owed an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6% from the year before, according to a report from the Project on Student Debt. At the same time, unemployment for recent college graduates jumped from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.7% in 2009—the highest annual rate on record.

In the meantime, the salaries of college presidents have soared to levels that are  – in a word – unconscionable. The Washington Post reported recently that three college presidents in the Washington area earn more than $1 million, and three more earn more than $750,000. Johns Hopkins president William Brody actually received a $3.8 million retirement package!  Kevin Manning of Stevenson University earned $1.5 million. The salary boom of these college presidents is in line with national trends: 36 college presidents nationwide earned $1 million or more in 2009.

Who pays for these outsized salaries? Sadly, college students and their parents. In the past decade, tuition for state students public four- year colleges and universities rose 54 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars — an average of 4.4 percent per year. Similarly, over the past decade, tuition for full-time students at private four-year colleges and universities rose 33 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars — an average of 2.9 percent per year.

I know many young people who have had to take out six figure loans to pay these high tuition costs; the ones who are lucky enough to have a job in today’s economy often don’t have a lot left over for student loans payments after covering their rent, food and utilities. There’s something just fundamentally wrong with the fact that today’s graduates are swimming in debt while college presidents are taking million dollar salaries out of the till.

I know, I know, there’s the familiar excuses – we have to pay this much for high quality presidents, they raise millions of dollars etc. I’m tired of these flaccid explanations – becoming a college President should be about dedication to the academy, to education, to learning and to turning out fine young men and women who have a strong academic—and hopefully liberal arts—grounding. Unfortunately, for people like William Brody of Johns Hopkins, greed has overtaken the higher principles. Being head of a college is now a path to lifelong riches and student and their families are paying the price. What a shame.

How American consumers can help stop the poisoning of children in Mali, Africa

By Reid Maki, Director of Social Responsibility and Fair Labor Standards

Did you happen to see Brian Williams’ news show Rock Center last week? It featured a chilling report about child gold miners in Mali, Africa. As many as 20,000 kids are estimated to work in Mali’s artisanal mines, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which released a report, “A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali.”

HRW, a member of the Child Labor Coalition, which is co-chaired by NCL, found that kids as young as six years old “dig mining shafts, work underground, pull up heavy weights of ore, and carry, crush and pan ore.” As if this backbreaking labor wasn’t bad enough, “many children also work with mercury, a toxic substance, to separate the gold from the ore.” Mercury, as HRW notes, attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.

“These children literally risk life and limb,” said Juliane Kippenberg, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They carry loads heavier than their own weight, climb into unstable shafts, and touch and inhale mercury, one of the most toxic substances on earth.”

Many of the child workers and adult workers have no idea that Mercury is poisonous. The children described the horrible aches and pains that the work leaves them with; one child commented, “Everything hurts.” Apparently, the gold shafts collapse with some regularity. NBC reporter Richard Engel talked to miners who told him a shaft had collapsed the previous day, killing one miner. Many children are not paid wages for their labor. Some receive bags of dirt which may or may not have any gold dust in them. NBC found that many children work instead of going to school.

Unfortunately, American consumers who buy gold are unwittingly abetting the problem. The Malian gold passes through several middlemen and ends up in jewelry and other items around the world, including the U.S.

In Britain, a fair trade activist and jeweler named Greg Valerio  worked with the Fairtrade Foundation to help consumers be sure that the gold they are purchasing is free from child labor and the most egregious labor abuses. Valerio is now trying to replicate the system in the U.S. but he needs our help. The next time you go into a jewelry store, ask if the gold is “fair trade” gold and where it came from.

“One of the biggest problems we have now is that the consumer doesn’t go into a jewelry store and ask, ‘Can you trace this gold?’  If the consumer would do that, we would see a shift in the sector,” said Marc Choyt, a New Mexico jeweler who makes jewelry out of recycled precious metals.

“Absolutely dirty gold is making it into the United States and jewelers who don’t have a traceable supply chain can’t tell you where it’s coming from,” Choyt said.

For more information, check out HRW’s press release here.

Oh, what a difference a new administration can make!

By Michell K. McIntyre, Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft

With every new presidential administration comes a change in leadership, priorities, and budgets at various federal agencies.  For the Obama administration, significant changes were made to the Department of Labor (DOL) and protecting America’s workers from wage theft became a top priority. With former Congresswoman Hilda Solis at the helm, DOL has expanded its efforts to protect workers and the middle class from unethical and illegal labor practices.

The Wage and Hour Division of DOL has seen dramatic changes with the new administration – including the hiring of 300 new investigators to help ease the load of backed up cases the understaffed agency was swimming in. The new staff will significantly enhance the agency’s ability to enforce compliance laws while maintaining the current labor laws that have come under attack from big business, industry and those in Congress who seek to limit the Department’s enforcement reach.

DOL announced recently that they have collected more than $1 million for 295 New Jersey gas station workers for back wages on the non-compliance of the minimum wage, overtime and recording keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  More generally, after two years of major organizational and operational changes, the Wage & Hour Division has collected $224,844,870 in back wages for American workers in the fiscal year of 2011 (Sept. 1, 2010-Oct. 31, 2011) – the largest amount collected in a single fiscal year in the division’s history.  The Wage & Hour Division registered 27,112 complaints and obtained back pay for 275,472 workers who were victims of wage theft. These accomplishments speak for themselves and demonstrate that the division has become a stronger, more effective law enforcement agency and protector of America’s workers.

The nearly $225 million in back wages represent the hard earned pay that workers were cheated out of through wage theft, including: unpaid overtime, below minimum wage pay rates, being misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee, and not being paid for the time it takes to don and doff a uniform or protective gear. DOL’s crackdown on wage theft not only protects workers, but also helps cash strapped states and local governments who have been cheated out of income taxes and levels the playing field for ethical businesses who have been losing out to dishonest competitors who cheat their employees.

DOL is off to a great pace to combat the ever-growing problem of wage theft. American workers should start to feel safer voicing complaints, standing up for their rights at work, and demanding to get paid fairly. With the 300 new investigators fresh off a two-year training program, DOL will hopefully be able to surpass their historic results and protect more of America’s workforce.

NCL teams up to fight back against cramming

By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Did you know that your telephone number is also a credit card? Neither do most consumers, but that’s exactly how it can be used by unscrupulous scam artists intent on defrauding consumers.

To most consumers, the monthly telephone bill is a multi-page monstrosity chock-full of confusing terms and charges. Many simply throw their hands up and just pay their bills every month without examining the bill in detail. The increasing use of online bill pay makes it even less likely that many consumers will pay close attention to their bills. Scam artists depend on this frustration and are making a killing because of it through a fraud known as cramming.

Cramming occurs when scam artists get telephone companies to bill their subscribers for charges they never authorized. Often, the scammers simply obtain lists of telephone numbers, create fake consumer “authorizations” and begin billing thousands of consumers for bogus “services” like e-faxing, enhanced voice mail, technical support and identity theft protection, to name just a few of the more common ruses. The dollar amounts of these charges are typically small, and are designed to go unnoticed on consumers’ bills. Consumers, small businesses and government agencies often report that they have unknowingly paid these charges for months before discovering the scam.

While the charges on any particular bill may be small, when multiplied over thousands of bills, this scam nets fraudsters big bucks. An investigation by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee found that cramming could be costing Americans $2 billion per year. In one case, the Federal Trade Commission found that a single cramming operation netted more than $37 million over 6 years.

What’s worse, according to the Commerce Committee’s report, a significant portion of the $1 billion the nation’s telephone companies have earned from so-called third-party billing over the past decade is likely fraudulent.

The telecommunications industry has been aware of the problem of cramming for nearly two decades. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the industry – under pressure from consumer advocates and regulators – adopted a series of self-regulatory measures designed fix the problem. While these efforts showed some initial promise, the scammers have learned to circumvent these protections and are again making huge profits on the backs of consumers.

Yesterday, NCL joined with four other national and state consumer groups to say, “enough is enough.” In reply comments filed at the FCC (and in initial comments filed earlier this year), NCL urged the Commission to prohibit third-party billing on wireline telephone bills (with certain exceptions) and to enhance anti-cramming protections on wireless bills. NCL is not alone in this fight. Nearly 20 state Attorneys General, the Federal Trade Commission and various state regulatory agencies have called on the FCC to fix cramming once and for all by getting the third-party billing system under control.

The FCC will now consider the comments received in its proceeding as it weighs new rules designed to make it harder for crammers to get away with their scams. Going forward, NCL will continue to be vigilant to make sure that this scam is ended once and for all.

Caller ID spoofing threatening cell phone privacy

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Recently the New York Times reported on the explosion in spoofing caller ID’s by debt collectors or marketers. It turns out that anyone basically can get access to a consumer’s cell phone and spoof the caller ID number—pretend to be a friend, a relative, or a nonprofit like the Humane Society to get you to answer the call.

Ironically, after reading the Times story, I searched the paper’s Web site and found two sites that promise “legal spoofing” so that you can pretend to be someone else when make calls. Spoof Card sells credits—$4.95 is the cheapest—and anyone can buy the credits and use them to spoof any other number but their own.

The other site sounds more sinister, and its name is fitting. “Phone Gangster” makes the following claims and says its spoofing is legal in the USA and Canada:

Upon calling a person, you will get to choose what number you want to appear as. Best of all, there is no way the party can find out what phone number the call originated from because their phone records will display the altered number. Our service is not only fun and useful, but it is legal as well. We have tested and confirmed our caller id spoofing service works in the USA and Canada. Purchase an instant phone card from us today!

In September, the Federal Trade Commission received 140,000 complaints about pre-recorded robocalls, more than double the 61,000 complaints in the same month a year ago, the agency said.

Under the Truth in Caller ID Act, passed last year and enforced by the Federal Communications Commission, it is illegal to transmit inaccurate or misleading caller ID information “with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”

In addition to potentially violating the law, what’s wrong with being able to call someone using a phony caller ID? Because this would be a heyday for telemarketers, debt collectors, and scammers who already prey on consumers using landlines. Cell phones are the last bastion of privacy, where friends, family, and business associates—in other words, only those you choose to share your number with—get access to your cell phone. If that falls victim to spoofers, consumers will lose the trust they have in their cell phones and their cell phone providers.

Enforcement of the FCC and FTC protections are important, but state attorneys general offices should also stay involved, and no legislation should preempt their ability to protect consumers from the mischief of the explosion of fake caller IDs.