Here's a place all set up for you to email your Congressional reps about stronger food safety laws,
funding the FDA, and labeling cloned products. This is the take action branch of Consumer
Reports and needs your help. It's easy to use and generates emails by the hundreds of thousands,
and needs yours.


https://secure.consumersunion.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1875
Food safety laws a recipe for disaster!

Ever had food poisoning? You’re not alone in your misery. 76 million of us get sick each year from foodborne illness. But it’s more than intestinal distress. At least 5,000 people die, often an agonizing and painful death.

Recent headlines report deaths from tainted spinach, peanut butter and beef. Yet the FDA inspects food processing plants in the U.S. only once every five to 10 years. And despite the increase of food shipped from China and elsewhere, less than 1 percent of imports are inspected.

The FDA also doesn’t require a label on food telling you it comes from a clone. Clones suffer numerous deformities, and most sicken and die before adulthood. We should know if our food products are cloned so we can make an informed choice.

Let’s end this recipe for disaster. Bills are being introduced now in Congress that could truly reform our weak food safety laws. And leaders are vowing to pass legislation in the coming weeks.

Email your lawmakers now! We need your voice the powerful industry lobby is already lining up to oppose significant reforms.


https://secure.consumersunion.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1689
Demand Safe Imported Food!

Shrimp and catfish--if that makes you think of Louisiana, think again. We import 80% of the fish we eat, much of it from fish farms in China.

In 2007, manufacturers recalled millions of toys made in China because of their toxic lead paint or other safety problems. The trouble doesn't stop with toys.

The FDA detained all shrimp, catfish and three other kinds of fish from China due to banned toxic chemicals, and recalled 150 brands of pet food that used imported ingredients after cats and dogs died from melamine contamination. We've recalled imported melons, only to find most had already been consumed.

It is not enough to recall the toxic food and products that are already in our children’s hands or stomachs; we need to prevent them from ever being sold! Congress is finally paying attention--act now for safer food!

All Consumers Union/Consumer Reports National Campaigns:
http://cu.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=ActNow#federal

National Actions:   
             Health:

Shine a light on drug company gifts to doctors 
Your doctor will write you an average of seven prescriptions this year. Those prescriptions mean big money to drug companies that's why they'll spend more than $25 billion marketing their products to doctors. 
Tell us which drugs work best 
When you're diagnosed with a disease, you want to know which treatments work best. But drug companies pay for most research, so we don't really know the best drugs at the best price. Tell Congress to support unbiased, independent drug studies. 
Give Seniors, Taxpayers a Break on Drug Costs 
Tell your members of Congress to give seniors and taxpayers a break and support legislation that would simplify the Medicare drug program and make it more affordable. 
Don't Play Politics with Our Kids' Health 
Children shouldn't be made to suffer for politics. But that is what's happening right now in Washington, as the President wants to block efforts to continue and improve a federal program that makes sure more lower-income children have health insurance. 

Help Congress Stop MRSA! 
Ask for Congressional co-sponsors to S2278, HR4214, and HR1174. 


             Money:

Credit card rip-offs: Enough is enough! 
Bank of America just announced big rate increases for good customers. Don't let the big banks try to make up their losses by jacking up rates and fees for responsible card holders. Tell your lawmaker to stop the "gotcha"s now! 
First a mortgage crisis; could credit cards be next? 
We've seen the havoc caused by mortgage lenders playing fast and loose with the rules foreclosures, wrecked neighborhoods, homeless families. 
Help Secure Your SSN: Act Now! 
H.R. 3046 would stop the widespread and unnecessary sale, purchase and displaying of Social Security Numbers by government and businesses that has made consumers more vulnerable to identity theft. 
We want strong financial privacy now! 
The data privacy debate is cooking up in the Senate. Tell your Senator to support only the strongest financial privacy protection legislation! 


             Food:

Food safety laws -- a recipe for disaster! 
Ever had food poisoning? You're not alone in your misery 76 million of us get sick each year from foodborne illness. But it's more than intestinal distress. At least 5,000 people die, often an agonizing and painful death. 
Tell us where's the beef! 
After the recent recall of more than 140 million pounds of beef, the public should know which supermarkets, restaurants, schools and other institutions may be selling it. Stop the secrecy and tell us, where's the beef! 
Demand Safe Imported Food! 
Enough is enough! Tell Congress we are sick of putting ourselves, our children and our pets at risk from hazardous imported food. 
Tell the USDA: tell us where our food comes from! 
With a national spotlight on imported foods that could harm ourselves, our children or our pets, it is time to let the USDA know that you support mandatory country-of-origin labeling for our food! 
Tell your Representative to Oppose Section 123 in the Farm Bill! 
Tell your Representative to Oppose Section 123 in the Farm Bill! 
Contaminated spinach, peanut butter, pet food....what next? 
Our fragmented, underfunded food safety system has so many gaps, there are more holes than safety net. Since 2003, FDA has cut staff and reduced import inspections. Tell Congress to stop starving the FDA food program. 
Label our meat from animal clones! 
Support a federal law to ensure that meat and dairy from cloned animals is labeled so you can choose whether or not to buy it. 


             Media & Telecommunications:

Stop the anti-competitive practices! 
Most cell phone providers lock you into one or two year contracts with a hefty early termination fee, allowing little leeway for moving, job change, or just plain poor service that may call for wanting a new cell phone provider. Are you fed up? 
Tell Senate to Stop FCC's Gift to Big Media 
The FCC will move swiftly to give big media what it wants--the power to further consolidate local media outlets into huge mega-media companies. But the Senate can stop it, with your help 
End FCC biases and cover-ups! 
Tell the FCC to stop media consolidation! Urge Congress and the FCC to ensure that we have reasonable media rules that ensure diversity, localism and competition. 
Have you ever been in this situation? 
Most cell phone providers lock you into one or two year contracts with a hefty early termination fee, allowing little leeway for moving, job change, or just plain poor service that may call for wanting a new cell phone provider. Are you fed up? 
Fight for Better Local Media! 
Do you want new community radio stations in your neighborhoods? By reading this note you can help us expand low power FM radio for schools, community groups, churches and local neighborhoods in your state. 
Fight flawed FCC's study! 
The FCC recently release of a biased and fundamentally flawed study in favor of lifting the longstanding ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership. Act now! 
Take your cell phone with you! 
Tell the Federal Communications Commission that you want to save money and keep your cell phone when switching companies. 
Help fight media bias and power! 
Tell the FCC to stop media consolidation! Be part of the official record, and urge the FCC and Congress to ensure that we have reasonable media rules that ensure diversity, localism and competition. 
Reuse your cell phone and reduce toxic waste! 
Tell the Federal Communications Commission that you want to protect the environment, save money and keep your cell phone when switching companies. 


             Other:

Fix the causes--stop the crisis! 
Tell lawmakers to help Americans in crisis and fix the underlying weaknesses in our mortgage market that created the crisis in the first place. 
Kiss credit card "gotcha"s goodbye! 
Bank of America just announced big rate increases for good customers. Don't let the big banks try to make up their losses by jacking up rates and fees for responsible card holders. Tell your lawmaker to stop the "gotcha"s now! 
Call your Senator for a YES vote on CPSC reform! 
With a House bill already passed, your Senator can make products safer by voting YES on the Consumer Product Safety Reform Act, coming to the Senate floor next week. This reform is long over due. Take a moment to help get it done! 
Tell Congress to finish the job! 
Both the Senate and the House passed a new law to make products safer--but now the bill languishes in an obscure committee to reconcile the differences. Tell your lawmaker to help send a strong bill to the President now! 
Senate: Start the New Year with Real Reform 
Tell your Senators to start 2008 with a strong YES for real car and product safety. 
Don't play politics with our kids' health! 
Children shouldn't be made to suffer for politics. But that is what's happening right now in Washington, DC, as the President just vetoed efforts to continue and improve a federal program that makes sure more lower-income children have health insurance. 
Safe for the holiday! 
The biggest shopping season of the year starts next month, but manufacturers continue to recall toxic toys from store shelves. How did so many dangerous imports end up in our stores? We need stronger standards and enforcement now! 
Tell Congress--don't block my email! 
You elected them! They represent you! Yet some lawmakers don't want to hear from you anymore and have set up technology to block your messages! They say your messages are spam. 
Put our kid's safety first! 
You may have seen recent TV coverage of the tragic death of a young boy, killed in a backover accident. The Peck family is not alone in grief. Help make the cars and trucks we all drive safer for our children. 
Tell your Senator to support safer cars! 
Help prevent vehicle backovers, power window strangulations, and cars from rolling when accidentally shifted into gear. 
Tired of sticker shock at the gas pump? 
Automakers know how to make more efficient cars and SUVs--lowering your gasoline bill--but some have not implemented these changes and American fuel efficiency standards are out of date. Tell Congress to increase standards and reduce gasoline costs!