About Editor

Posts by :

Public Citizen weighs in on last night’s State of the Union address

, , , , , , , , ,

Public Citizen president Robert Weissman watched President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address along with activists — well, almost. He live-tweeted during the speech, letting us know exactly how he weighed in on POTUS’ many talking points relating to Public Citizen issues. Here’s the collection (in descending order):

Too many defibrillator recalls, need stronger approval process

, ,

Dr. Michael Carome, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, testifies today before an FDA advisory committee regarding defibrillators.

Some highlights:

  • There have been 68 recalls of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) from January 2005-August 2010, 17 of which were serious enough to be Class I recalls, involving situations in which there is a reasonable probability that using the product will cause serious injury or death.
  • Collectively, these 17 Class I recalls alone involve well over 100,000 AEDs distributed and have resulted in deaths or life-threatening situations for many patients. The details of one such recall, involving 14,054 units and occurring only after two patients had died, are included in today’s testimony.
  • Unless the FDA rejects the AED industry’s attempt to deregulate these devices and not require the kind of premarket studies that could clearly reduce the serious dangers of these inadequately tested devices, patients using these devices will be subjected to a continuation of this de facto human experimentation, with more recalls, more deaths and more life-threatening situations.
  • In the interest of protecting public health and promoting innovation, it is imperative that FDA reject industry wishes and instead maintain the class III categorization of AEDs and require AED manufacturers to submit premarket approval applications.  Such applications must include data from robust clinical trials that reasonably assure that AEDs are safe and effective.

Check out our work on medical device approval processes.

Three years in prison for DeLay is too little

, , ,

We applaud today’s sentencing by a Texas judge of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. However, his sentence of three years in prison is a far cry from justice when compared to the damage he has done to Texas households, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come. We are disappointed that someone who faced a possible penalty of 99 years in prison on a money-laundering charge and 20 years on a conspiracy charge has received such a light sentence.

DeLay’s brand of politics was one of reckless disregard for the American people. By funneling illegal corporate money into Texas state elections, he helped elect Republican candidates to the Texas Legislature, which led to the tainted redistricting of his state. He was convicted in November on charges that emanated from a complaint originally filed by former director of Public Citizen’s Texas office Chris McDonald, who is now director of Texans for Public Justice. McDonald testified at DeLay’s trial.

Jan. 21 is the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a ruling that allowed national elections to be undermined with untold amounts of undisclosed corporate money. Until we pass the Disclose Act to reveal the identity of corporate political donors, establish a system of public financing like Fair Elections Now and pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, our democracy remains at risk from the Tom DeLays of the nation.

Tom “Smitty” Smith is the director of Public Citizen’s Texas office.

Top Ten USA – A new tool for the environmentally-conscious consumer

, ,

Becoming more energy efficient, which has long been one of the keys to a sustainable future, may have just gotten a little easier. TopTen USA, a new non-profit group, just launched a new website that ranks electronics based on energy efficiency. The website contains information on virtually every electronics product category.  It has an attractive easy-to-use interface that makes it very easy to find what you are looking for.

The World Wildlife Foundation, which is a partner in the project, wrote on its blog yesterday:

Since energy efficiency is one of the quickest, cheapest and easiest routes to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one of TopTen’s goals is to generate greater demand for efficient products, helping to catalyze a market shift toward more climate-friendly products.

One problem with TopTenUSA is that it only ranks based on energy usage. It appears that the environmental impact of the manufacturing process is not considered. Nor does the website have any information on recyclability of products. Hopefully, as it develops, TopTenUSA will add information about those factors as well.

TopTenUSA  has exciting potential and  will hopefully prove an invaluable resource to consumers.

Load More