Consumer Protection
Influencers Are Paid to Shape Your Diet
In an era where social media wields unprecedented influence, a new trend has emerged within the world of health and wellness. Registered dietitians, esteemed for their expertise in nutrition, have increasingly become the faces of product endorsements on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. As trusted figures, they disseminate information about food and beverages, often…
Read MoreHow Much Did You Really Pay for Your Puppy?
An interesting article in the Washington Post recently highlighted the high interest rates consumers are being surprised with after bringing home a puppy. Families who fell in love with dogs at certain pet stores were shocked to find out, after signing loan paperwork, that a $5,000 puppy would eventually cost $19,000 or more in the…
Read MoreConsumer Protection for Student Loan Borrowers
Second only to mortgage debt, student loan debt is the second highest consumer debt category, and it’s even higher than both credit card debt and car loans according to Forbes.com. About 44 million borrowers collectively owe more than $1.52 trillion in student debt in the United States across all demographics and age groups. The Federal…
Read MoreAre African Americans Being Excluded from Clinical Trials?
An expose published in Stat magazine with data from ProPublica reveals the dearth of African American patients in clinical trials for breakthrough cancer drugs. However, it is not just clinical trials for cancer drugs which seem to exclude black patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) conducted a…
Read MoreAmerican Express and Orbitz the Latest Companies to Expose Consumer Data
Word spread on March 21, 2018 of another data breach. This time the information came from American Express. Apparently, those who use American Express Travel may have had their data stolen due to a data breach at Orbitz. According to an email sent to American Express members, transactions made using the Orbitz platform between January 1,…
Read MoreFacebook and Cambridge Analytica: Just Another Data Breach
There has been much in the news lately about Cambridge Analytica utilizing data from Facebook without consumer authorization. Despite the political upheaval around this, and the consequences it may or may not have had on the election in 2016, this is nothing more than a simple data breach case. Data breach occurs when users provide…
Read MoreNew York Hospital Agrees to a $2.2 Million Penalty for Filming Patients without Authorization
Imagine how traumatizing it might be to watching a TV show filmed in an emergency room, only to realize that the footage you are watching is of your husband’s death from the year before? This actually happened to Anita Chanko in 2012. The hospital that allowed the film crew from the ABC network program “NY…
Read MoreMedStar’s Medical Meltdown
MedStar Health is continuing to recover after a malicious rasomware virus attack on Monday, March 28, 2016, stormed their servers, leaving many patients unable to receive treatment and medication. Many patients received a message indicating that their appointments needed to be rescheduled due to the facility’s inability to access records online or check their emails. A MedStar official stated that the incident had…
Read MoreConsumer Protection Report Finds Toxic Chemicals in Child Safety Seats
Nonprofit consumer advocacy group The Ecology Center released a report in early June that revealed that nearly 73% of child safety seats tested contained hazardous, toxic chemicals. Many of these toxic chemicals such as halogenated and non-halogenated organophosphates which are found in the flame retardants used on the fabric covers for the seats, as reported…
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