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Consumer News & Alerts

July 9, 2007

INACTION IN ACTION
Despite the recent flurry of indignation over defective and dangerous imports, government agencies and major American retailers have known of problems with specific imported products for years, but have done nothing. Case in point: For eight years, consumers who purchased Martha Stewart patio furniture at Kmart have been getting a nasty surprise -- the glass tops of the patio tables have been spontaneously shattering. The tables, made in Taiwan by JRA Furniture, are also sold under other brand names, including Home Depot's Hampton Bay.

While Home Depot is at least claiming it wants to help consumers whose JRA tables have shattered, Kmart, which has sold the tables since 1999, has consistently expressed no interest in doing anything for its customers, other than process their payment. Martha Stewart OmniMedia has never uttered a word on the subject, has failed to respond to numerous requests for comment and, as far as we know, has never lifted so much as a pinkie to help any of its customers whose tables shattered. Government safety regulators? Well, what do you think?

Your editor has been around Washington for nearly 30 years and has heard more high-blown b.s. about the care and feeding of American consumers than he cares to remember. But these days, no one even bothers with hypocritical expressions of concern. Consumers are simply fleeced and put out to pasture without anyone even pretending to give a damn about them. It's quite amazing, actually.

In other product safety notes ...

• Toy Industry Defends Chinese Imports As we reported last week, fully 96 percent of this year's recalled toys came from China. But, says the toy industry, spinning like a top, that's because so many of the toys are made in China. New York's Sen. Schumer is not impressed and wants Congress to create an "import czar" to ensure the safety of imported products.

• Europe, U.S. Sign Food Safety Pact It took 230 or so years but at long last, European and U.S. regulators have formally agreed to share information about food safety. Meanwhile in China, government inspectors revealed that some children's snacks have been deemed unsafe and said hundreds of bottles of fake human blood protein were seized from hospitals.

• A Washington 4th Besides the big fireworks show on the National Mall, Washington's suburbs put on some pretty elaborate exhibitions each year -- none more so than this year. In a number of Northern Virginia communities, Chinese "cake box" fireworks exploded early, shooting rockets into the crowd. Several people were hospitalized.

THE RIGHT THING
Martha and the Kmart brass might take a lesson from Microsoft. The company will spend an estimated $1 billion to extend the warranty on its Xbox 360 videogame consoles. The boxes have been plagued by problems from the start and, although gamers are nothing if not vociferous in their condemnation of the Microsofties, the company has been steadily making replacements while trying to fix the snag that causes the dread "red lights of death." They're no angels but at least Microsoft doesn't just stand by, taking devlish delight while its customers walk through piles of shattered glass.

TWO-CARD FILL-UP
It's finally come to this. The price of gas and the fuel appetites of the biggest SUVs have reached such heights that some consumers are finding they can't fill up their tank on a single charge card. Many major cards place a $50 or $75 limit on gas station purchases, leaving consumers to go off half-tanked or keep a spare card up their sleeve.

More car notes ...

• Honda Sued Over Hybrid Claims Ads and Web promotions overstate fuel savings, suit charges.

• Light Trucks Vulnerable to Whiplash Most pickups and SUVs rated poor or marginal in neck injury tests.

• Secrets Revealed Automakers' secret warranties are no longer secret in Maryland, thanks to a new state law that just took effect. Only four other states require manufacturers to notify consumers of technical service bulletins.

• New Jersey Sues Over Gas Additive Lawsuits name manufacturers and marketers of the gasoline additive MTBE. The lawsuits seek hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from polluters who stand accused of harming New Jersey’s natural resources.

RATTED OUT BY MYSPACE
It wasn't long ago that MySpace was being condemned for not policing its user lists to keep sex offenders at bay. Although civil libertarians have been relatively silent about it, MySpace has taken on some pretty impressive detective powers. It combed through public databases to identify sex offenders, then compared the results with its list of registered users. Then, states demanded that MySpace turn over the results. It did so and now, New Jersey says that more than half of the 141 convicted Garden State sex offenders with profiles on MySpace were on probation or parole on the condition that they stay off the Internet. They now face stiff penalties, possibly including a return to prison.

More privacy news ...

• Data Breaches Frequent, Effects Unknown A study by the GAO finds that, sure enough, data breaches are alarmingly frequent. But the study says it's hard to measure just how often the data breaches actually turn into identity theft. It supports implementing a "risk-based" standard for determining whether or not to notify consumers when companies or fail to fulfill their security obligations. The bunglers wouldn't have to bother telling consumers about most breaches, in other words.

• 2.3 Million Records Stolen A Fidelity National employee allegedly stole and resold data on 2.3 million customers. Fidelity claims -- guess what? -- there's no evidence the stolen information was used for identity theft.

COURT RULES FOR DISABLED POLICYHOLDERS
New York's highest court has ruled that insurance companies can't preclude existing conditions in long-term disability claims. Hard-working consumers who pay for years into disability policies all too often are left high and dry when they become disabled. The New York ruling is one all-too-rare ruling that puts consumers first.

SSRI SUICIDE RISK
There has been a lot of concern in recent years about whether antidepression medication may heighten the risk of suicide in young people. Recent studies have tended towards the view that the benefit of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs outweigh the risks. The latest study supports this view. Depression is a serious illness and should be treated by a caring professional. Readers should carefully discuss the pros and cons of all medications with their physicians.

• When Does Menopause Really Begin? The Healthy Geezer answers readers' questions about health and aging.

• Dark Chocolate May Help Lower Blood Pressure Eating about 30 calories a day of dark chocolate lowered blood pressure in a test group.

• Tattoo Removal a Growing Business Not-so-young consumers eager to excise signs of youthful folly.

RECALLS

WHAT THE HAY?
Here's a scam that literally targets consumers who may have just fallen off a hay wagon. It's an adaption of the overpayment scam, adapted to hay-balers in Missouri, we're told.

And finally ...

Greetings! We've been getting lots of emails lately telling us someone sent us a Hallmark e-greeting. Since most of the greetings we get are wrapped around bricks that come through the window, our suspicions were aroused. We checked it out and, sure enough, the looks-legit greeting takes you to a Web site that tries to load something called postcard.exe onto your machine. We didn't go beyond that point but it's a good bet this is not the kind of greeting you might have hoped for.

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