Consumers Union launches a holiday campaign against unsafe products!

Some might say that the global economy has ushered in an era of corporate irresponsibility. Daily, we discover that certain corporations are distributing goods that pose a clear and present danger to our safety.

Many of us are also wondering if certain politicans have let us down on this matter.

After all, how could only 15 inspectors be assigned to oversee 200 million containers of goods being shipped into the country every year?

Consumers Union, who is the non profit right arm of Consumer Reports has launched a major campaign to let Congress know the public is sick and tired of corporate irresponsibility in the global economy.

With Black Friday and holiday season upon us, they are focusing on dangerous products being passed on to our children with a campaign called, "Not in my cart."

You can see that this campaign is all about in a parody about this matter. To view the parody, click on the picture below:



Also included in the video is information, where to let Congress know how you feel about this!

To sum up what the parody is about, Consumers Union writes:

We hope you enjoyed our parody, but the truth is that our system for keeping food and products safe is in serious need of repair.

This year, more than 25 million toys have been recalled, many for dangerous lead paint.

80% of toys are made in China.

The agency responsible for the safety of more than 15,000 products has only 15 inspectors at ports nationwide.

The FDA inspects only about 1% of imported food.

Despite the severely underfunded staff of FDA Inspectors, Consumers Union has made it a little easier to keep track of all the recalls, here.

The sheer number of them is enough to scare just about anyone!

The new red menace, global commerce from China

You would think that we would have learned by now that products from China can be DANGEROUS for a variety of reasons.

Most recently -- our pets were poisoned and millions of dollars of products were pulled off shelves -- after it was discovered that pet food imported from China contained poisonous substances.

Washington Post article on this, here.

The FDA is NOW warning that they are putting antifreeze in oral hygiene products.

I guess poisioning our pets wasn't enough?

From the FDA alert:

FDA has identified the following brands of toothpaste from China that contain DEG and are included in the import alert: Cooldent Fluoride; Cooldent Spearmint; Cooldent ICE; Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste; Superdent Toothpaste; Clean Rite Toothpaste; Oralmax Extreme; Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor; Bright Max Peppermint Flavor; ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste; DentaPro; DentaKleen; and DentaKleen Junior. Manufacturers of these products are: Goldcredit International Enterprises Limited; Goldcredit International Trading Company Limited; and Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company Limited. The products typically are sold at low-cost, “bargain” retail outlets.

In case, you have used any of these products, the FDA recommends that you advise them in this manner:

Consumers can report adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of these products to FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program:www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm

(800) 332-1088

FDA news release concerning this, here.

My question is, given all this, maybe we should ban all commerce from China! The cheap prices aren't worth it. Perhaps, a little consumer mistrust, along with goverment sanctions might rectify this situation?

Other problems caused by free trade with China are counterfeit goods (including medicine), rogue websites (Internet fraud) and their army of hackers stealing everything from money to industrial and military secrets.

If you would like to read about other issues, I've written about, which are caused by "free commerce" with China, link here.

buySAFE takes on the issue of counterfeit (knock off) merchandise

buySAFE bonds sellers after verifying they are reputable and honest. They also contribute their time to protecting the average person in the sometimes murky waters of e-commerce. Recently, buySAFE has been taking on the (huge) issue of counterfeit merchandise.

Consumers are protected when they buy from a merchant bearing the buySAFE seal. Not a very bad deal for the consumer! Bonding isn't free, but many merchants experience higher sales volumes after being accepted by buySAFE. Trust can drive a lot of sales! buySAFE is also a viable means for a merchant to protect their assets.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners noted in their last report to the nation that small businesses suffer "disproportionate fraud losses," when they are victimized by fraud. Large merchants can afford experts to deal with their fraud problems, however the cost is hiring experts can be restrictive for smaller merchants.

Of the numerous fraud issues found on auction sites, complaints about counterfeit goods rank pretty high. People buy items believing they are the "real deal," only to discover the item is a (knock-off) counterfeit.

Companies, who sell respected and trusted brands, are impacted by a loss of sales and consumer trust in their products, also. Some of them have already filed civil litigation against eBay because of the amount of knock-off (counterfeit) merchandise being sold on the site.

Even though auction sites offer seller rating systems, these ratings are often compromised when seller accounts are hijacked (taken over). eBay and PayPal (by most accounts) are recognized as the two most phished brands out there.

The intent of most of these Phishing schemes is to obtain personal/financial information to steal money (and or) take over legitimate accounts.

This can also happen when malware (crimeware) is inserted into an unprotected system and personal/financial details are stolen, normally using key logging software. Sadly enough, the criminal element has found it pretty easy to remain anonymous on auction sites, and few of them seem to get caught.

Whenever the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG) releases a new report, both of these activities seem to set a new record that surpasses the previous one.

Recently, eBay seems to be taking the fraud problem a lot more seriously, but someone using the name of "Vladuz" is intent on proving their systems are easily compromised. A good place to keep up on the Vladuz saga is firemeg.com.

Although a good information source, I'm not certain that bashing Meg is the solution to fraud on auction sites.

Being the largest auction site, eBay is targeted by fraud all the time because of their popularity.

Fraud has already migrated to other auction sites, but they will always target the most popular.

The reason for this is simple (and it's only business for them) - there are more victims to harvest in popular places.

The term "Vlad" was based on a Romanian historical figure, Vlad Tepes, who inspired the novel, Dracula. In recent times, the term has come to signify fraudsters from Romania, who are well established and organized in the world of auction fraud.

Besides, protecting merchants and consumers, buySAFE makes a lot of contributions to addressing fraud issues on auction sites. Most recently, Jeff Grass (buySAFE CEO) has posted a lot of educational information on his blog about the counterfeit problem, here.

Jeff also appeared on the Today show, when they did a piece on counterfeit goods.You can view a clip of the show, here.

And the Today show isn't the only place that considers buy Safe’s views on the counterfeit problem important. The French government recently included buySAFE as part of a U.S. delegation (including government experts) to discuss the problem of counterfeit goods.

The INTERNATION ANTICOUNTERFEITING COALITION (a non-profit) sums up the problem when they state:

Counterfeiting is big business.It is estimated that counterfeiting is a $600 billion a year problem. In fact, it's a problem that has grown over 10,000 percent in the past two decades, in part fueled by CONSUMER DEMAND.

The real truth is people who purchase counterfeit merchandise risk funding nefarious activities, contributing to unemployment, creating budget deficits and compromising the future of this country in the global economy.

IACC site, here.

Part of the reason the activity has grown 10,000 percent is probably due to the explosion in e-commerce, especially on auction sites.

buySAFE seems to be doing a little more than just selling a product. In fact, they seem to be exercising some corporate responsibility by educating the public on fraud trends in the rapidly growing world of e-commerce.

Consumers can become a member of their Smart Buyer's Club, which leads you to a lot of good deals (safe to buy), here. Club members accumulate points, which can be redeemed for goods, or services (listed on the site).

Anyone claiming to be a buySAFE merchant can be verified, which can be done on the site, also.

Buying drugs on the Internet could be hazardous to your health

I normally write about Internet fraud, which is enabled (a lot) by spam e-mails attacking our in-boxes on a daily basis.

A lot of these spam e-mails are trying to sell drugs.

The FDA is now warning all of us that buying these drugs from questionable sources could be hazardous to your health.

This makes this issue more serious than losing a little money!

From their press release on the matter:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become aware that a number of Americans who placed orders for specific drug products over the Internet (Ambien, Xanax, Lexapro, and Ativan), instead received a product that, according to preliminary analysis, contains haloperidol, a powerful anti-psychotic drug.

Reports show several consumers in the United States have sought emergency medical treatment for symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, muscle spasms and muscle stiffness after ingesting the suspect product. Haloperidol can cause muscle stiffness and spasms, agitation, and sedation.

Therefore, the agency is reissuing its warning to consumers about the possible dangers of buying prescription drugs online. FDA urges consumers to review the FDA Web site for information before buying medication over the Internet.

FDA press release, here.

My advice is to anyone, who cares to listen, is get your prescriptions from your own doctor and fill them at your local pharmacy.

The FDA has a lot more material on how to avoid problems, such as this one, on their main website, here.