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News Release | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Dangerous secrets: Popular cosmetics brands fail to disclose ingredients

Boston -- Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. The MASSPIRG Education Fund released USPIRG Education Fund’s scorecard report Wednesday that found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers. The report, entitled Looking Inward 2021: Where popular personal care brands stand on ingredient safety and disclosure, found the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Looking Inward 2021

Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. This report found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers and the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

How e-waste is creating a growing environmental and health crisis across the world Anne Marie Green Haley Clinton

We need policies like Right to Repair to address the dangerous flood of electronics waste

News Release | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Report: Getting off the hook of a predatory tow in Massachusetts

BOSTON -- Every year, millions of Americans have their cars towed without their consent from a private property or public street. Too often, the unknown rationale behind these tows and what to do next can leave drivers stranded and confused. While getting towed is a justified consequence of parking in the wrong place or for too long, most states don’t offer drivers the decency of basic consumer protections such as access to their wallets or medicine, or maximum rates for towing and storage. And that doesn’t even take into consideration those times when drivers believe they’re towed improperly.

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Getting Off The Hook of a Predatory Tow

Every year, millions of Americans have their cars towed without their consent from a private property or public street. Too often, the unknown rationale behind these tows and what to do next can leave drivers stranded and confused. While getting towed is a justified consequence of parking in the wrong place or for too long, most states don’t offer drivers the decency of basic consumer protections such as access to their wallets or medicine, or maximum rates for towing and storage. And that doesn’t even take into consideration those times when drivers believe they’re towed improperly.

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News Release | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Dangerous secrets: Popular cosmetics brands fail to disclose ingredients

Boston -- Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. The MASSPIRG Education Fund released USPIRG Education Fund’s scorecard report Wednesday that found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers. The report, entitled Looking Inward 2021: Where popular personal care brands stand on ingredient safety and disclosure, found the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

News Release | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Report: Getting off the hook of a predatory tow in Massachusetts

BOSTON -- Every year, millions of Americans have their cars towed without their consent from a private property or public street. Too often, the unknown rationale behind these tows and what to do next can leave drivers stranded and confused. While getting towed is a justified consequence of parking in the wrong place or for too long, most states don’t offer drivers the decency of basic consumer protections such as access to their wallets or medicine, or maximum rates for towing and storage. And that doesn’t even take into consideration those times when drivers believe they’re towed improperly.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Solid Waste

Students host hundreds of local actions for Youth Earth Week

BOSTON - The Student PIRGs, a student environmental organizing group, is partnering with local organizations, student governments and elected officials to host in-person and virtual actions to celebrate Youth Earth Week, a national effort of more than 250 actions around the country to protect the environment, from April 19 to 23.

News Release | US PIRG Education Fund | Public Health, Consumer Protection

Statement: New FDA plan to reduce toxic metal in baby food falls short

A month after announcing a weak plan to reduce heavy metals in baby food, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new plan Thursday aimed at making baby food safer over the next several years.

News Release | MASSPIRG | Consumer Tips

STATEMENT: CONSUMERS NEED TO GO ON DEFENSE AFTER FACEBOOK DATA BREACH

MENLO PARK, CA -- Facebook users need to be extra vigilant in the weeks and months ahead because identity thieves could use information from their accounts to try and commit fraud.

Reports emerged Saturday that a hacker published data from more than 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including 32 million Americans. The compromised data includes full names, phone numbers, Facebook IDs, birthdates, bios, locations and, in some cases, email addresses, according to Business Insider.

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Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Looking Inward 2021

Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. This report found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers and the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Getting Off The Hook of a Predatory Tow

Every year, millions of Americans have their cars towed without their consent from a private property or public street. Too often, the unknown rationale behind these tows and what to do next can leave drivers stranded and confused. While getting towed is a justified consequence of parking in the wrong place or for too long, most states don’t offer drivers the decency of basic consumer protections such as access to their wallets or medicine, or maximum rates for towing and storage. And that doesn’t even take into consideration those times when drivers believe they’re towed improperly.

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund

Transform Transportation

The Commonwealth's current transportation system has been designed, built and centered around the automobile, and it is a public health disaster. MASSPIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group’s latest report, Transform Transportation, identifies the numerous harmful health impacts caused by the Bay State's car-centric transportation system and provides a three-step roadmap toward a healthier, more sustainable approach to transportation infrastructure.

Report | MASSPIRG | COVID-19

Nursing Home Safety During Covid: Cases and Vaccines

Hundreds of U.S. nursing homes this year are reporting their very first cases of COVID-19 after avoiding any cases all of last year. That 437 nursing homes experienced their very first cases of COVID this year — while fending them off during the horror of 2020 — is among the clear indications that this pandemic isn’t over.

Report | U.S.PIRG Education Fund

Vital and Undervalued

As the pandemic has painfully reminded us, our entire society depends on caregivers yet we undervalue the vital contributions of unpaid family caregivers. It benefits all of us when it is possible for people to care for their loved ones who need care, so we should increase support for family caregivers.

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Blog Post | Solid Waste

How e-waste is creating a growing environmental and health crisis across the world Anne Marie Green Haley Clinton

We need policies like Right to Repair to address the dangerous flood of electronics waste

Blog Post

Dude, where’s my car? | Mark Morgenstein

Getting your vehicle towed can be a memorable experience -- not in a good way

Blog Post | COVID-19

COVID-19 tests and vaccines are free to consumers. End of story. | Patricia Kelmar

Some consumers continue to be billed for COVID tests and vaccines. So let's get the story straight here.

Blog Post | Consumer Tips

An underappreciated way to fight the opioid crisis AND keep our waterways clean | Patricia Kelmar

Saturday, April 24, is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

Blog Post

Plastic waste solutions hiding in plain sight: Recycled content requirements | Haley Clinton

This blog is the second in a series examining policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis that are proven and replicable. This section covers recycled content requirements.

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News Release | MASSPIRG Education Fund

Dangerous secrets: Popular cosmetics brands fail to disclose ingredients

Boston -- Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. The MASSPIRG Education Fund released USPIRG Education Fund’s scorecard report Wednesday that found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers. The report, entitled Looking Inward 2021: Where popular personal care brands stand on ingredient safety and disclosure, found the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

Blog Post

How e-waste is creating a growing environmental and health crisis across the world

We need policies like Right to Repair to address the dangerous flood of electronics waste

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund

Looking Inward 2021

Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. This report found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers and the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

Report | MASSPIRG Education Fund

Getting Off The Hook of a Predatory Tow

Every year, millions of Americans have their cars towed without their consent from a private property or public street. Too often, the unknown rationale behind these tows and what to do next can leave drivers stranded and confused. While getting towed is a justified consequence of parking in the wrong place or for too long, most states don’t offer drivers the decency of basic consumer protections such as access to their wallets or medicine, or maximum rates for towing and storage. And that doesn’t even take into consideration those times when drivers believe they’re towed improperly.

MASSPIRG Education Fund identified 14 common sense towing protections that should be available to consumers in every state.

Blog Post

Dude, where’s my car?

Getting your vehicle towed can be a memorable experience -- not in a good way

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
THE FIX IS IN

Our survey shows that independent shops are struggling to access parts, service information and repair software which is necessary to fix phones — which manufacturers won’t let these independent shops have.

OUR REPORT
FOOD RECALL FAILURE

Will your supermarket warn you about hazardous food? Our survey grades 26 of the largest grocery stores in the country to determine the efficacy of their policies and practices notifying consumers about food recalls.

OUR REPORT
CHAIN REACTION V

The overuse of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can cause life-threatening infections in people. Our report ranks restaurant chains on their policies relating to antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.

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