Current Events in March 2013

Death from diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer are being laid at the doorstep of drinks sweetened with sugar.

According to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions, sugar-sweetened soda pop, sports drinks and fruit drinks may be associated with about 180,000 deaths around the world each year.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are consumed throughout the world, and contribute to excess body weight, which increases the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. Using data collected as part of the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study, the researchers linked intake of sugar- sweetened beverages to 133,000 diabetes deaths, 44,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 6,000 cancer deaths. Seventy-eight percent of these deaths due to over-consuming sugary drinks were in low and middle-income countries, rather than high-income countries.

"In the U.S., our research shows that about 25,000 deaths in 2010 were linked to drinking sugar-sweetened beverages," said Gitanjali M. Singh, Ph.D., co-author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass.

Highs and lows

Researchers calculated the quantities of sugar-sweetened beverage intake around the world by age and sex; the effects of this consumption on obesity and diabetes; and the impact of obesity and diabetes-related deaths.

Of nine world regions, Latin America/Caribbean had the most diabetes deaths (38,000) related to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in 2010. East/Central Eurasia had the largest numbers of cardiovascular deaths (11,000) related to sugary beverage consumption in 2010.

Among the world's 15 most populous countries, Mexico -- one of the countries with the highest per-capita consumption of sugary beverages in the world -- had the highest death rate due to these beverages, with 318 deaths per million adults linked to sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

Japan, one of the countries with lowest per-capita consumption of sugary beverages in the world, had the lowest death rate associated with the consumption of sugary beverages, at about 10 deaths due to per million adults.

Broadening the study

"Because we were focused on deaths due to chronic diseases, our study focused on adults. Future research should assess the amount of sugary beverage consumption in children across the world and how this affects their current and future health," Singh said.

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 is an international, collaborative, systematic effort to quantify the global distribution and causes of major diseases, injuries and health risk factors.

The American Heart Association recommends adults consume no more than 450 calories per week, from sugar-sweetened beverages, based on a 2,000 calorie diet and offers tips on how Life's Simple 7 can help you make better lifestyle choices and eat healthier.

You know how the contestants on "American Idol" and the "X Factor" go, like, nuts when they come face to face with Simon Cowell?

Well, it's an experience a lot more wannabe performers will be having now that Cowell's Syco Entertainment is launching "The You Generation," a global audition channel on YouTube.

Officially launching tomorrow (Wednesday), the new show will be available in 26 countries and will run a competition over 52 weeks with 26 two-week rounds.

Submit an audition? It happens via Skype -- no more standing in long lines, sweating in the sun and being nudged and crowded by fellow hopefuls. 

Cowell and Co. are, of course, hoping the excitement is a strong as ever, as shown in this video:

Besides singing, there are numerous categories including makeup and style to cooking. The winner of each round will be announced on the second Friday of each two-week cycle. Winners will get a cash price and will be finalists for the grand prize at the end of the year-long contest.

The series host will be Will Best, with Cowell chiming in as necessary or as the spirit moves him.

Since I was a small child, I have been enamored with the instant noodle. My mother would fry them up with eggs for breakfast from time to time and they were delicious to me. As time progressed, I decided to frequent Asian grocery stores and try different varieties.

This led me to my current hobby: reviewing instant noodles from around the world. Thus far, I’ve reviewed just over 1,000 varieties from such far flung places as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Poland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, and of course, the United States.

Instant noodles are transmitted to us in many different ways. Commonly, we see them in a plastic package, accompanied by a packet. Those of us who are "on the go" require something that allows us to eat and run, and there we find the instant noodle cup. The cups are made of one of three materials: thin cardboard, plastic, or foam.

The cup itself was designed by Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the instant noodle and founder of Nissin Foods back in 1971. During a flight, he decided he would like to see a portable way for people to enjoy his product. The design of the cup with its wide top and narrower bottom allows the dry noodles to hang suspended in the cup, allowing the water to reach throughout and cook the noodles evenly.

Instant noodle cups are now made by many instant noodle companies worldwide with this design and abundantly available.

In the last year or so, I have noticed many stories touting the dangers that instant noodle cups pose. Countless emergency room visits, poor design, easily tipped – these are generally the points that are brought up time and time again.

The real problem

Unfortunately, the true nature of the problem is often overlooked.

Many people choose to add water to an instant noodle cup and put it in the microwave for a few minutes. If you look at the directions on the packaging, they more often than not recommend that you heat water in a separate container and then add it to the cup and let it steep.

Another claim is that there are no labels on instant noodle cups warning that the contents are hot. This is simply untrue as they are quite clearly labeled

Most importantly, the claim that children are at risk of serious burns and injury. A recent lawsuit accuses an instant noodle company of being at fault for a child burning himself when a cup of noodles spilled over. He was three years old at the time of the incident in question.

Would it be sensible to set a hot cup of coffee in front of a three year old? Probably not as the liquid inside is at a high temperature (which we all know after the famed McDonalds coffee spill lawsuit). The same goes with a freshly made cup of instant noodles. What’s different in this case, however, is that the user has added the liquid and heated it themselves. Handing a scalding hot cup of instant noodles to a child doesn’t sound like a good idea at all.

The design flaw concept is another issue commonly mentioned; that the cup tips over far too easily. The term "design flaw" could easily be replaced by ‘user error.’ These cups don’t tip themselves over – they need some help by someone or something that is afforded the luxury of mobility. Have I tipped over a cup of hot instant noodles before? Yes. Was it my fault? Sure was.

In any case, a little safety and common sense could save a lot of these emergency room visits.

---
Hans Lienesch is the editor of The Ramen Rater.

Neiman Marcus is still a little fuzzy when it should be furry, or maybe it's the other way around. A few years ago, the upscale retailer paid $25,000 to settle charges that it sold products made from raccoon and other animal fur while claiming they were "faux fur."

Now Neiman Marcus and two other retailers are settling Federal Trade Commission charges that they misled consumers by marketing that products contained “faux fur,” when in fact, the products contained real fur.

Many consumers prefer to buy faux fur because of concerns about animal cruelty.

Besides Neiman Marcus, the FTC charges that DrJays.com Inc., and Eminent Inc., doing business as Revolve Clothing, falsely claimed that  some products had “faux” fur, and in other cases didn't name the animal that real fur was taken from.

Neiman Marcus also allegedly misrepresented that a rabbit fur product had mink fur, and failed to disclose the fur country of origin for three fur products. 

Burberry & Stuart Weitzman

According to the FTC, Neiman Marcus’s website misrepresented the fur content and failed to disclose the animal name and fur country of origin for three products:  a Burberry Outerwear Jacket, a Stuart Weitzman Ballerina Flat shoe, and an Alice + Olivia Kyah Coat. 

Neiman Marcus also misrepresented the fur content of the shoe in its catalog, at bergdorfgoodman.com, and in ads mailed to consumers.

DrJays.com allegedly misrepresented the fur content and failed to disclose the animal name for three products:  a Snorkel Jacket by Crown Holder with a fur-lined hood, a Fur/Leather Vest by Knoles & Carter with exterior fur, and a New York Subway Leather Bomber Jacket by United Face with fur lining.

Eminent Inc., doing business as Revolve Clothing, allegedly misrepresented the fur content and failed to disclose the animal name for four products:  an Australia Luxe Collective Nordic Angel Short Boot with a fur-trimmed hood, a Mark Jacobs Runway Roebling Coat, a Dakota Xan Fur Poncho, and an Eryn Brinie Belted Faux Fur Vest.

The FTC has proposed a 20-year consent order, under which the retailers would agree not to make further misrepresentations or violate the Fur Act.

A Beverly Hills, Calif., investment manager and radio personality has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on charges of running a $24 million bond scam.

Prosecutors said John Farahi was basically running a Ponzi scheme, promising investors that their money would be used to buy corporate bonds backed by the Troubled Assets Relief Program.  Instead the money was transferred into personal accounts controlled by Farahi and his wife to fund construction of their multi-million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills and in risky option futures trading in the stock market that resulted in more than $18 million in losses for investors, according to court documents.

Farahi admitted to scamming 59 victims out of more than $7 million but prosecutors said the real figure was closer to $24 million and the court ordeered him to pay restitution in that amount.

Farahi's radio program was carried on KIRN-AM, a Los Angeles-area radio station that programs to an Iranian-American audience. 

Four felonies

Farahi pleaded guilty to four felonies in June 2012: mail fraud, loan fraud, selling unregistered securities and conspiring to obstruct justice. He collaborated with his corporate counsel to cover up the fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement announcing his sentencing.

His former corporate counsel, David Tamman, was suspended from practicing law in California following his conviction on charges related to Farahi's scheme. 

The bar automatically suspends any attorney convicted of "felonies involving moral turpitude." Tamman is a graduate of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law who has been practicing since 1995. 
Tamman was charged with backdating documents and lying about it during a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued a “wanted” poster for SpongeBob SquarePants, accusing Nickelodeon, in the person of the the popular cartoon character, of marketing “junk-food and obesity” to children.

CSPI and other groups purchased a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter last week featuring a "Wanted" poster with mug shots of an unshaven and disheveled SpongeBob SquarePants. The ad says the character should be “approached with caution: he may be armed with nutritionally dangerous foods.”

"Nickelodeon prides itself on responsible programming for children, but what about its advertising?" asked CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan. "Nickelodeon is lagging behind companies like Disney when it comes to supporting parents and protecting kids from junk-food marketing."

Efforts to contact Nickelodeon and its parent company, Viacom, for comment were unsuccessful.

Unrepentant Nickelodeon

In 2011, American children under age 12 saw an average of 13 food ads per day, most of which were for unhealthy foods, according to CSPI, which says unlike Disney and Ion Media's Qubo, “Nickelodeon has yet to set nutrition standards for which foods it will advertise to young children through television, its Websites, apps, and other media.” The group claims Nickelodeon, NickToons, and Nick Jr. recently have advertised unhealthy products such as Cocoa Puffs, Air Heads candies, Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants, and Fruit Roll-Ups.

Nick characters are on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Cheese Nip crackers and snacks, including Pez candy and Popsicles. Unilever's Popsicle brand sells ice pops in the shape of SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The SpongeBob SquarePants bar is made from water, several forms of sugar, and a long list of preservatives, artificial food dyes, and other additives.

Disney sees the light

In 2006 and again in 2012, CSPI praised the Walt Disney Company for the “progress that it has made to curb junk-food marketing to kids.” CSPI says Disney's updated policy will mean that the company will no longer accept ads for the unhealthiest foods on its children's television, radio, and Websites, and that it is strengthening the nutrition standards for the foods its licensed characters can be used to promote. The Disney character Goofy, for instance, appears on packaging for a snack pack that includes cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery sticks, and dip.

"It's simply wrong for children's entertainment companies to push junk foods and junk drinks on their young viewers," said Daniel Zingale, senior vice president of The California Endowment, a co-sponsor of the ad. "Nickelodeon should follow the example of the Walt Disney Company and establish strong advertising guidelines that teach good nutrition and bar the promotion of unhealthy products on its television, radio, and online channels."

You want free checking accounts with no strings attached? You're not likely to find it at a bank.

According to Bankrate.com's 2013 Credit Union Checking Survey, 72% percent of America's 50 largest credit unions offer them, compared with the 39% of banks.

In addition, 96% of the credit union checking accounts that Bankrate surveyed are free or can become free with direct deposit, e-statements, transaction activity, other accounts/balances or some combination thereof. Since 2010, the availability of standalone free checking at credit unions has declined modestly from 78% to 72%. At banks, the percentage has plunged from 65% to 39%.

"While banks have significantly scaled back free checking accounts, free checking remains the rule, rather than the exception, among credit unions," said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com's senior financial analyst.

ATM charges

Credit unions' average ATM surcharge jumped 10% over the past year -- from $2.08 to $2.29. Credit unions increasing the fee outnumbered those decreasing the fee by a margin of nearly 3-to-1. Surcharging is nearly universal at both banks and credit unions, with $2 and $3 the most common fees assessed by credit unions and $3 the most common by banks.

An ATM surcharge is the fee that an ATM operator charges a non-customer. It is separate from the fee that a financial institution charges its own customers for making out-of-network withdrawals (most commonly $1 and $1.50 at credit unions, $2 at banks).

Survey highlights

The survey also found:

• Half of the credit union checking accounts that Bankrate surveyed have no minimum opening deposit requirement and none of the 50 accounts require more than $100 to open.
• Seventy-four percent have no minimum balance requirement, 18% have a monthly fee regardless of balance and the remaining 8% have a fee that can be waived by maintaining a balance of no more than $750.
• The range of monthly service fees on the accounts is $1 to $10, with $2 and $5 the most common.
• The range of non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees at credit unions is $12 to $37. This compares to $18 to $38.50 at banks.
• The most common NSF fee at credit unions is $30, compared with $35 at banks.
• Credit union fees for debit cards and debit card transactions are rare (present on less than 5% of accounts in each case).
• Thirty percent of credit unions either do not charge a fee to use another bank's ATM or provide at least one free withdrawal per week.

Average Credit Union Fees

• NSF: $26.74 ($26.65 last year)
• ATM Surcharge: $2.29 ($2.08 last year)
• Fee to Use Other ATM: $1.01 ($0.97 last year)

Average Fees (Credit Unions vs. Banks*)

• NSF: $26.74 at credit unions, $31.26 at banks
• ATM Surcharge: $2.29 at credit unions, $2.50 at banks
• Fee to Use Other ATM: $1.01 at credit unions, $1.57 at banks

*Bank fee data from Bankrate.com's 2012 survey of bank checking accounts (released in Sept. 2012)

Methodology

Bankrate.com surveyed the 50 largest credit unions in the United States from Jan. 15-28, 2013. Size was based upon total deposits. Bankrate surveyed one checking account at each credit union, along with the accompanying debit card and ATM transaction fees.

More evidence that the housing market is strengthening -- at least the construction end of it.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development report the building of privately-owned housing rose 0.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000. Economists at Bankrate.com were looking for an annual rate of 905,000. At the same time, the government revised its January rate of construction upward from 890,000 to 910,000.

Single-family housing starts rose 0.5% to a rate of 618,000 while the February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 285,000.

Building permits

And there are signs that this will continue. Applications for building permits shot up 4.6% last month -- to an annual rate of 946,000 -- 33.8% above the year-ago estimate of 707,000. Economists had projected February permits would come in at 915,000.

Permits for construction of single-family homes rose 2.7% -- to a rate of 600,000, while authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were totaled 316,000 in February.

Looking ahead

We'll find out later this month whether the apparent builder optimism is well-founded. The Commerce Department is scheduled to report next week on new home sales for February. During January, sales surged 15.6% with every region of the country posting gains.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, has been politically controversial from the start, dividing the parties, surviving a Supreme Court challenge, and serving as a major issue in the 2012 election.

But after all the fuss, it's still standing and later this year will begin to transform the way consumers obtain and pay for health insurance. The law goes into effect January 1, 2014.

For consumers who currently purchase their own health insurance, or who have no health benefits at all, it will bring about big changes. Currently, consumers must go to a variety of different insurance carriers to shop for and obtain a policy. The new law streamlines the process.

New marketplaces

Health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, form the bedrock of ACA. Each state will have one or more exchanges that will offer these benefit packages. Individuals may use the exchange to find the policy that's right for them and small businesses can turn to an exchange to shop for a group plan.

The exchanges will offer a variety of certified health plans and provide information and educational services to help consumers understand their options. Under the law, states have the option to establish one or more state or regional exchanges, partner with the federal government to run the exchange, or to merge with other state exchanges.

Regardless of how they go about it, every state is required to have a health insurance exchange for its residents by January 2014. Some states, like Virginia, have refused to set up their own, so their citizens will be covered by an exchange set up by the federal government.

Sign up in October

The health insurance exchanges will open for business October 1, at which time consumers under age 65 may select a health plan. Those 65 and older will continue to be covered by Medicare.

The exchanges will only offer benefit packages that are “certified.” In other words, they must cover certain things. If you currently have an individual policy with a very high deductible and minimal coverage, it is possible that you will be required to replace it.

California is among a handful of states that moved quickly to establish a health insurance exchange. Its exchange, known as Covered California, received federal approval in January.

“This is another significant step in California's long but determined march toward better health at an affordable price," Covered California’s Board Chair Diana Dooley said at the time.

Since then Covered California has been working with interested private health care plans to offer certified health benefit products online for individuals and small businesses. Starting October 1, consumers can begin using the exchange's website to shop for a plan.

Variety of plans

Insurance plans will vary — from generous to modest — but each plan must include basic, comprehensive medical coverage and prescription drug benefits. As with an online travel site, where you can compare airline fares and hotel rates, you’ll be able to compare the plans’ costs and benefits head-to-head online.

These certified health benefit plans are not cheap, which brings us to paying for these benefits. What you, as a consumer, pays will depend largely on your income.

Families below a certain income level will continue to receive Medicaid coverage. Most middle-class families who purchase individual policies will receive a federal subsidy to offset the cost.

Calculating your cost

How much? There are a number of online calculators that help you find out. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has created this calculator to help you determine your cost. 

Here's an example using the calculator. Let's assume a family of four, in a “medium” cost area of the country, is covered by an individual health insurance plan because the 45-year old principal policy holder is self-employed. According to the calculator, the unsubsidized cost of the average policy would be $14,245, or $1,187 a month.

But under ACA, the family would only have to pay a maximum of 9.5% of their income in premiums. The government would provide a subsidy of $7,120, meaning the premium would be $7,125, or less than $600 a month.

The subsidy will be provided through a tax credit. Ordinarily, consumers would have to wait until they file their federal returns before they receive the benefit. However, under ACA the tax credit available through the health exchange will be available immediately, to offset the cost of the monthly premium.

What to do

Starting October 1, go to your state's online health exchange and begin shopping for a plan. You can find it by using a search engine, entering the name of your state and the words “health insurance exchange.”

If you are currently covered by an employer-issued group plan, Medicare or Medicaid, you do not need to take any action.

“Identity theft cannot be prevented. It can’t.”

Those were the words uttered by identity theft expert Adam Levin, who’s the chairman and co-founder of Identity Theft 911, a company that provides data protection services for businesses.

This could make a consumer feel pretty helpless.  After all, there are things you can do to prevent home burglaries and auto theft, but identity theft? That's another matter.

By now, you’ve probably heard that the Social Security numbers and credit reports of some famous individuals were posted by a covert group of folks  who have, so far, done a pretty decent job of staying anonymous and remaining behind digital walls.

So far, the data bandits posted the Social Security numbers of former Vice President Al Gore, presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Michelle Obama and a bunch of entertainment and sports figures like Tiger Woods, Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian and Mel Gibson.

Additionally, the hackers released bank account and credit card balances of the celebrities since this information was on most of the credit reports.

Now let’s face it, some of you will probably roll your eyes at the fact that some of the rich and famous were hacked into, since it’s logical to think their level of wealth and celebrity makes them bigger targets and more likely to be stolen from.

Too much information

But Levin says everyday consumers should be just as worried, because identity theft isn’t something that can be completely halted, for the mere reason that there’s an unprecedented amount of information being exchanged today.

“There’s way too much information out there about people," said Levin in an interview with ConsumerAffairs.

“People have a tendency to overshare information and there have been so many breaches at so many levels of government and business. And oftentimes businesses put in fairly well-thought-out security systems, but the problem is a security system is only as good as its weakest link and historically people are the weakest link.”

“So you see a company like RSA, which is arguably the most secure company in the world getting breached, because a low-level employee clicked on a "spearfishing" email that allowed [others] to crawl into the bowels of the company by collecting his email and following the trail to where it led them and basically comprising the security codes of the company and forcing the company to replace 40 million fobs.”

Levin says that between people’s newly developed need to share, state-sponsored hackers and independent hactivists, the world presents a new kind of danger that hasn’t been fully grasped by the everyday consumer, and because identity theft is still relatively new—at least in digital realms—a lot of people haven’t realized that they need to do more than change their password every now and then.

New mindset

What needs to happen, says Levin, is that people need to develop a completely new mindset when it comes to dealing with data thieves.

“You’ve got to have a paradigm shift in the way you think, stop thinking you can prevent it,” he says. “It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do everything you possibly can to minimize your risk of exposure.

“That means you do everything that everybody from the beginning of time when the subject of identity theft comes up has told you: Don’t carry your Social Security number, don’t give information to people you don’t know, don’t click on things ever if you can avoid it, certainly not things that don’t look right."

"Have the best security systems on your computer and your smartphone. People think smartphones are communication devices they’re really mini storage devices. Shred everything in sight," said Levin.

One of the most effective ways to learn if your identity or financial information has been tampered with is to request a free credit report, which helps people understand and manage their credit better.

If possible, people should look at their credit information on a daily basis to determine if anything looks off, even slightly, and if it does you should immediately jump into action, instead of assuming something was your fault and that maybe you forgot to pay something off on time.

Joining a transactional monitoring program through your bank and credit card company will help you stay on top of each daily transaction, which may sound a bit drastic to some, but Levin says these are the measures that consumers need to take these days.

In short, the level of consumer vigilance needs to be stepped up tenfold if people expect to keep their information secure, Levin says.

Once you sign up with the transactional monitoring program you can either ask to be notified after every transaction or only on those transactions that reach a certain limit.

In addition, Levin says that thieves are stealing information in much more advanced ways today and often it’s not by hacking or by breaking your password.

He says scammers are moving a lot more slowly and more methodically these days and they'll take long amounts of time to gather the information they need to begin their scam.

Not a hack

In the case of the celebrities, Levin says their information wasn’t actually hacked, it was gradually collected.

“It wasn’t a hack,” he said. “What they did was they assembled all of this information, because that’s what these guys do. They [gather] together information slowly, sometimes from social networking sites, sometimes from businesses of social networking sites and their goal is how much information can they get together to answer the authentication questions.”

Another piece of advice Levin has for consumers is to make up answers for those authentication or security questions that ask you for your mother’s maiden name, for example. Although you may have to write your answer down to remember it, it’ll be hard for someone to use that piece of information in their intended scam.

A big place that people slip up and release personal information is when they’re faced with convenience over using slow and careful safety measures, Levin says.

But even with all of the statistics on identity theft and even after the numerous stories of people having their identities used in a number of different frauds, a lot of people still consider all of the identity theft talk just another scare tactic and just like other dangers in the world, many people don’t believe those dangers will happen to them, at least not on a large scale.

In a poll conducted by research company GFK and released by telecommunications company Omnitel, researchers interviewed 1,000 people, consisting of 500 adult males and 500 adult females.

When the participants were asked if they believed the issue of identity theft was just a scare tactic and not a serious problem, 390 people (39%) said they strongly agreed with that statement. That's a substantial amount and indicative of just how many opportunities there are for people that want to steal your data.

And they’re not just stealing money, scammers are into all kinds of nasty little deeds from child identity theft to medical theft, where a person can steal your information, get medical care under your name and create all types of confusion and harm, says Levin.

What to do

Besides doing all of the traditional things if you learn your information has been stolen or compromised, like changing your passwords and contacting your banks and credit reporting agencies, it’s important to communicate with your insurance company to see what type of identity theft protection you have. In some cases the protection may be free, Levin says.

In addition, filing a police report is imperative.

“You’ve got to file a police report,” Levin says. “If you don’t file a police report it is a nonstarter, because the sense is, if you don’t file a police report that means maybe you’re the identity thief.”

And if your information isn’t just compromised but outright stolen, you’ll have to do a little more legwork, which can be labor-intensive, but extremely necessary to start fixing some of the wrongs that were committed against you.

“You’ve got to communicate with those government agencies that are appropriate,” says Levin.

“There are some states that have an identity password and that’s something where a card is issued in most cases by the Attorney General confirming that you’re a victim, so if you encountered any issues you have the card.”

Low-cost, no-trouble instant cups of soup and noodles are popular with harried moms looking to serve their child a hot meal but a lawsuit filed today charges that design flaws make them a serious burn hazard.

The Pawa Law Group today is filing a products liability case in California Superior Court on behalf of a three-year old boy who was badly burned by a CupSoup that tipped over and spilled its scalding hot contents on him in 2012.  

The scalding hot soup caused severe burns to sensitive areas of the boy's body that have required skin graft operations and extensive medical care. The lawsuit alleges that Nissin, the manufacturer of CupSoup, defectively designed the product by making it unstable and susceptible to tipping over and spilling its contents onto consumers.

According to the allegations of the case, CupSoup is highly unstable due to its narrow base and other dimensions that make it top-heavy and easily tipped over. The suit quotes peer-reviewed articles in academic journals that have found that about 600 children wind up in emergency rooms each year because of instant soup and noodle burns.

Design flaws

Design flaws in certain instant noodle containers have been documented by emergency room burn doctors as a serious cause of injury to children. Approximately 600 children each year are admitted to emergency room burn units for injuries resulting from instant soup burns, mainly due to faulty packaging according to a report by  emergency room burn doctors. Please find the three peer reviewed attached.  

While some kinds of instant soup are sold in containers that are wide and low and thus less susceptible to tipping over, others, like CupSoup, are unstable and tip over easily, according to a scientific study published in the Journal of Burn Care & Research.

Small children are particularly susceptible to burns as they have more sensitive skin than adults and older children. The contents of instant soup, such as noodles, also tend to stick to skin, thus increasing the severity of burns.

The nationwide litigation filed today is intended to change how instant soup containers are designed so as to protect children and stop the epidemic of burns.

When is a child's behavior the product of just being a kid and when is it evidence of something else, like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)? That's what a lot of parents would like to know.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors or be overly active. Critics who argue that ADHD is overly diagnosed and medications overly prescribed, point out that sounds a lot like the way most kids behave.

Doctors agree that for these problems to be diagnosed as ADHD, they must be out of the normal range for a child's age and development. Parents and their pediatricians need to look at a lot of data.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder among children. It affects up to five percent of school aged children, boys more than girls.

Genetic factors

It may run in the family. What's not exactly clear is what causes it. What is known is that it begins early in life, when the brain is still developing. Other problems, such as depression, learning disabilities and behavior problems are commonly confused with ADHD.

According to the CDC. research does not support the popularly held views that ADHD is caused by eating too much sugar, watching too much television, parenting, or social and environmental factors such as poverty or family chaos. The agency says these things might make symptoms worse, especially in certain people. But the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that they are the main causes of ADHD.

Deciding if a child has ADHD should be a several step process. There is no single test to diagnose it.

One step of the process involves having a medical exam, including hearing and vision tests, to rule out other problems with symptoms like ADHD. Another part of the process may include a checklist for rating ADHD symptoms and taking a history of the child from parents, teachers, and sometimes, the child.

Three types

There are three types of ADHD – lack of attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior – with lack of attention making up the bulk of the diagnosed cases.

For parents and their pediatricians, it can be a delicate balance. Often times difficult children are incorrently labeled with ADHD. At the same time, may children with the disorder go undiagnosed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued guidelines for diagnosis. As a baseline, the group says symptoms must be visible in more than one environment and children should have at least six attention symptoms or six hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, with some symptoms present before age seven. They should also be present for longer than six months.

Problems in adulthood

Another thing about ADHD, if a child has the disorder they never “out grow” it. While they can manage its symptoms they continue to have the disorder as adults, which can raise a whole host of other troubling issues.

Recently, researchers at the Mayo Clinic conducted a major study, following up with children diagnosed with ADHD to see how they are doing as adults. The study found that ADHD often doesn’t go away and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults.

They also appear more likely to commit suicide and to be incarcerated as adults, the study found.

“Only 37.5 percent of the children we contacted as adults were free of these really worrisome outcomes,” says lead investigator William Barbaresi, M.D., of Boston Children’s Hospital, who started the study when he was at Mayo. “That’s a sobering statistic that speaks to the need to greatly improve the long-term treatment of children with ADHD and provide a mechanism for treating them as adults.”

Two hundred thirty-two people  diagnosed with ADHD as children  took part in the study. The researchers found that 29 percent of them said they still had ADHD symptoms as adults. Of the group, 57 percent had at least one other psychiatric disorder as adults. The most common were substance abuse/dependence, antisocial personality disorder, hypomanic episodes, generalized anxiety and major depression.

“We suffer from the misconception that ADHD is just an annoying childhood disorder that’s overtreated,” Barbaresi said. “This couldn’t be further from the truth. We need to have a chronic disease approach to ADHD as we do for diabetes. The system of care has to be designed for the long haul.”

In fact, Barbaresi thinks the situation is worse than the study suggests. Most of those in the study were middle class and the products of good educations. He thinks the findings are actually a “best case scenario.”

What to do

If you think your child is displaying ADHD symptoms, Barbaresi advises you to seek a proper diagnosis. If found to have ADHD, then make sure your children are in high-quality treatment — and remain in treatment as they enter adolescence.

Children also should be assessed for learning disabilities and monitored for conditions associated with ADHD, including substance use, depression and anxiety, Barbaresi said.

TheLadders.com has been hit with a class action complaint accusing it of  advertising jobs that did not meet the site's former salary requirements or were not authorized to be posted on the site.

According to the complaint, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, "TheLadders sold access to purported '100k+' job listings that (1) did not exist, (2) did not pay $100k+, and/or (3) were to authorized to be posted on TheLadders by the employers."

The suit also calls TheLadders's vaunted resume-writing service misleading, claiming that "[i]nstead of providing bona fide resume critiques as promised, TheLadders sent its members a form letter that failed to provide any resume criticism responsive to members' individual resumes."

The filing is padded with complaints posted on internet boards, and provides the interesting bit of trivia that, "[a]s of February 15, 2011, upon typing 'the ladders' into Google, the first 'autocomplete' suggestion provided was 'the ladders scam.'"

TheLadders, which was founded in July 2003, initially purported to offer only jobs that paid a salary of at least $100,000. In September 2011, the site did away with the $100,000 salary minimum.

"Hand-selected" and "pre-screened"

According to the suit, TheLadders stated that "experts pre-screen all jobs so they're always $100k+," and invited members and potential members to "search jobs that have been hand-screened by our experts." 

However, the suit alleges, TheLadders's job listings "were neither 'hand-selected' nor 'pre-screened.'" Instead, according to the suit, the site "scraped" job listings from different websites without first obtaining permission, and did not check to see if the jobs actually paid at least $100,000. The site also did not take any steps to see if the jobs were already filled, the suit alleges.

The suit quotes a number of complaints posted online from employers and recruiters. One recruiter/employer quoted in the complaint says:

"My biggest complaint … is when people would call to ask about a job they saw on The Ladders, or to follow up on an application they'd made. I'd have to explain to them that we didn't list on The Ladders, that the job had been closed for months (in a few cases, for over a year), and that the job paid well less than six figures."

Stale job postings

The suit's plaintiff, Barbara Ward, is an Arkansas resident who signed up for TheLadders in January 2011. According to the complaint, Ward applied for "numerous" jobs but only heard back from two employers, allegedly "because the purported opportunities were stale."

Ward wants to represent a nationwide class of individuals who had a premium membership with TheLadders between March 11, 2007 and August 31, 2011, as well as a narrower Arkansas subclass.

Alexandre Douzet, who is desired on TheLadders's website as "CEO & Co-founder," said in a statement to Business Insider: "We believe the allegations set forth in this complaint to be false. In fact, our employees review job listings before they are posted to our site, as has always been our protocol."

"Additionally," Douzet said, "We have a team of specialists who review resumes and provide individualized critiques. This complaint lacks merit, and we fully intend to take the necessary legal steps to dispose of it quickly. In the interim, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing the best job-matching experience for employers and job seekers, while serving as the fastest-growing source for career-driven professionals."

Prescient blog?

The complaint was posted on corcodilos.com, also known as the "Ask The Headhunter blog." The blog's owner, Nick Corcodilos, has previously alleged some of the same things now charged in the suit.

In a May 9, 2011 blog post entitled "TheLadders: How the scam works,"Corcodilos claimed that "TheLadders takes job listings from employers’ own websites without authorization, even after being told to stop, and that TheLadders misrepresents the salaries on those jobs so that it can beef up its questionable database of “50,000, high-level 100k+ executive positions.”

Corcodilos also says that "TheLadders CEO, Marc Cenedella, has admitted that 50% or more of those '$100k+' jobs are 'scraped' from other online databases, over which TheLadders has no authority or quality control." Corcodilos's blog entry was cited in the class action complaint.

And in a January 2009 newsletter entry entitled "Liars at TheLadders," Ask The Headhunter published a chat that allegedly occurred between a customer of TheLadders and one of its employees. (The chat was also included in the class action complaint.)

In the chat, the purported TheLadders employee "Andy" tells customer Alishia that "we make no claims that all of our jobs are submitted directly to us. Many of the positions on our site are linked directly to from external job boards." Alishia had complained about a job she said she found on TheLadders, only to discover that it paid a salary of $50,000 and had not been authorized by the employer to be posted on TheLadders.

The suit alleges breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair  dealing, money had and received, unjust enrichment, violation of the Arkansas Deceptive and Unconscionable Trade Practices Act, and breach of contract. The plaintiff and class are asking for a refund of their subscription and service fees.

---

Jon Hood is an attorney in New York City.

You know what?

One could say that the inside of a person’s refrigerator says a little something about them and is somewhat representative of a person’s day-to-day living style.

For example, the person who has all of their different flavored yogurts perfectly aligned by color probably shows that same level of organization in other areas of their life.

Then there's the person who jams everything into their fridge without rhyme or reason, regardless of the food type or the date it was purchased. That too says a little something about them. A head of broccoli leaning against the milk container on the top shelf of the fridge? Why not? Some might say.

Here’s why not, say groups like the FDA and the people at FoodSafety.gov --  because your refrigerator, everything in it and its temperature all have to work together, so you can get the most out of your dollar and keep you and your family healthy and well-nourished.

For starters, the government agencies along with the site Recipe.com, which released a visual presentation on food safety, say all refrigerators should be kept at 35 to 40 degrees, in order to maintain the quality of your food and to be energy-efficient.

Make some space

Experts say you should make space in your refrigerator to thaw frozen meats, instead of softening them on your countertop or sink, as many people do.

Allowing your meat to thaw outside of your fridge can allow the surface of it to eventually reach temperatures between 40° and 140° F, which the USDA calls the danger zone when it comes to foods developing bacteria.

In addition, it’s suggested that you don’t use hot water to thaw your food, as this too can bring the outside of the meat to dangerous temperatures, even if the center is still frozen.

And it’s not just your favorite cut of steak or that frozen chicken breast where bacteria can grow; nasty little things can spread on that fresh-looking piece of fruit or on those healthy-looking vegetables too, as most of us know.

Keep it clean

According to University of Maine researchers, it’s best to not only wash fruit after you buy it, you should wash your hands with hot water and soap before you even handle it. This will diminish the risk of your ingesting any bacteria or germs that live on your hands during the day until they’re eventually washed.  

Furthermore, it’s important to thoroughly wash anywhere that you’re chopping the produce, whether it be the countertop, the sink or on a cutting board, since this will eliminate germs and lower the risk of other foods in your fridge being contaminated.

Simply rinsing these surfaces or doing a quick wipe down just won’t cut it, experts say.

Additionally, health experts say you should use a vegetable brush to wash those fruits and vegetables that have thick skin, as simply running them under water may not remove all of the bacteria, so it’ll require a little elbow grease and some good scrubbing power on your part to stay healthy and safe.

And a thorough cleaning of fruits and vegetables is important, even if you peel the skin beforehand, experts say.

And when it comes to foods that are already cooked, it’s important that they are refrigerated within two hours of being prepared.

Left-overs

So if you get takeout or bring home restaurant food and like to eat half of it and let the other half sit for a few hours until you eat it, you’re really increasing the chances of getting yourself sick.

Likewise, if you happen to cook a meal and leave it out until others are able to eat it or until they finally get hungry, that’s another way of increasing the chances of passing on a foodborne illness, as bacteria can quickly develop on cooked dishes if they sit around for an extended period of time.

And for those folks who purchase foods, stick them in the fridge and forget all about them, you really want to be extra careful, since spoiled foods don’t always have a stench or a rotten appearance, which means it’s best to keep track of exactly when foods were purchased and refrigerated.

Celery and lettuce, for example, should be kept no longer than 10 days, while fresh spinach and mushrooms no longer than seven days, the experts say.

And when it comes to meats, hot dogs and bacon have a seven-day lifespan in the fridge, steaks and other raw meats five days and lunch meats have about a three to five day shelf life.  

Raw chicken shouldn’t be kept for more than two days in the fridge, along with ground meats and raw sausage, and raw fish shouldn’t be kept around for longer than two days either.

And it’s important to store meats on the bottom of your refrigerator, because you don’t want juices from the meat leaking down on your other food items.

Dairy products

Dairy products have a little bit longer shelf life than other foods, but you still have to keep a very close watch, food experts say.

No milk should be kept around longer than one week, yogurt no longer than two weeks, sticks of butter no longer than four and eggs should be thrown away after five weeks’ time, regardless of appearance or smell.

To be healthy and to get the most use out of the foods you buy, it’s best to either keep a mental or physical list of when items were bought and stored in your fridge. Don't rely on expiration dates, which really have nothing to do with spoilage, as David Wood explained in a ConsumerAffairs story a few years ago.

Remember news? There used to be reporters who went out and covered important public events, asked annoying questions, tried to pry information out of tight-lipped politicians and soothsayers.

Reporters tried hard to be fair, nonpartisan and accurate. Oh, they had opinions, all right -- they basically despised everyone they covered -- but tried to keep them to themselves.

Times have changed. There aren't many reporters anymore but there certainly are a lot of "Journalists" and commentators and analysts and prognosticators. Most of them are corraled in cable TV newsrooms, where they spend their days pontificating, expressing their opinions about one thing and another.

This is not really journalism but it's inexpensive to produce and not too filling, sort of like fast food. 

Not much news on news channels

Nowhere is this more true than at the three cable "news" channels -- CNN, Fox and MSNBC. A new study from the Pew Research Center finds that the three channels have become "strikingly similar" over the last five years. In particular, the study found that all three of the channels are increasingly relying on interviews and bloviating rather then actual reporting. 

"CNN, which has branded itself around reporting resources and reach, cut back between 2007 and 2012 on two areas tied to that brand -- in-depth story packages and live event coverage," Pew said. "Even so, CNN is the only one of the three big cable news channels to produce more straight reporting than commentary over all. At the other end of that spectrum lies MSNBC, where opinion fills a full 85% of the channel’s airtime."

What? MSNBC is more opinionated than Fox? Yep. Pew said its analysis found that "by far the highest percentage of opinion and commentary is on MSNBC (85% to 15% reporting)." CNN was the only channel to offer more reporting (54%) than opinion (46%). Fox was in between at 55% commentary and 45% reporting.

It's fortunate, perhaps, that Pew didn't do a story count. In its heyday, CNN jammed hundreds of stories into each day's coverage. It now selects what might be called a daily "playlist" of a few stories that it grinds into dust by day's end.

Traffic and weather

Elsewhere, Pew found local television placing more emphasis on traffic, weather and sports, all inexpensive to cover. But the Pew researchers expressed concern that with digital sources covering these same topics on demand, local stations may soon be talking to themselves. Do you, after all, really need traffic information when you're plopped down at home in front of the TV?

Pew took comfort, however, from the network evening news shows, which it termed a "rock of stability." Most industry analysts would consider them basically  relics that the networks keep around as brand enhancers, but why quibble?

"Despite the steady erosion of the early evening audience and continuing doomsday predictions about the future, the structure and format of the network newscasts have changed remarkably little since 2007, far less than on cable or local television news," Pew said.

This year's Easter celebrations, while stylish, will also be on budget, according to the National Retail Federation's (NRF)s Easter Spending Survey conducted by BIGinsight.

Keeping cost and their shopping list in mind, the average person celebrating Easter will spend approximately $145.13 on candy, decor, apparel and food -- about the same as last year -- with total spending will reaching an estimated $17.2 billion.

“With a plethora of budgetary concerns already on their plates, Americans this Easter will look for special, creative ways to celebrate the holiday without breaking the bank,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “And as spring weather rolls in, consumers will find affordable ways to spruce up their homes and wardrobes, just in time for visiting family and friends this Easter holiday. Retailers are already lining their shelves with specials on chocolates, warm-weather apparel and even gardening tools and outdoor furniture.”

How we spend

The survey found much of consumers’ budgets will go towards food for a family brunch or dinner: 86.9 percent of those celebrating Easter will spend an average of $45.26 on items needed for their holiday meal.

Traditionally known as the kickoff to spring, many will specifically set out to purchase new spring attire. Nearly half (48.4%) will purchase clothing this Easter, spending an average of $25.91 on bright new outfits for their children and even something new for themselves.

And, nine in 10 (90.5%) will stock up on Easter candy, spending an average of $20.66 on jelly beans, chocolate and more. Additionally, consumers will spend an average of $20.82 on gifts, $9.49 on flowers and $9.11 on decorations.

When it comes to where people will shop for their Easter needs, the survey found families will shop for price and value. Most people (63.4%) will shop at discount stores and four in 10 (40.7%) will shop at their favorite department store. Others will shop at specialty stores (24.9%), online (21.1%) and specialty clothing stores (10.6%).

Smart shopping

“While many of today’s consumers are coping with tight budgets, the Easter Bunny isn’t headed toward retirement in 2013,” said BIGinsight Consumer Insights Director Pam Goodfellow. “Look for cost-conscious parents to scope the sale racks, head to discounters, and clip coupons to keep spending on track and to make the holiday special for youngsters this year.”

The survey also found that many people will use their smartphones and tablets to shop for Easter items. Four in 10 (43.3%) smartphone owners will use their mobile device to research product information, look up store hours and location, compare prices and even purchase gifts and other items. Specifically, 14.8 percent say they will purchase Easter products with their smartphones.

More than half (51.0%) of tablet owners will use their device to make purchases, research products and prices and look up retailer information such as store locations and hours. One in five (22.1%) say they will purchase something via their tablet.

About the survey

The NRF 2013 Easter Spending Survey of 5,050 consumers was conducted from March 5-11, 2013. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.  

Is the housing market on the comeback trail or not? Results of the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) make it hard to tell.

During March, the HMI fell two points -- to 44, the third straight decline after eight consecutive months of improvement. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

“Although many of our members are reporting increased demand for new homes in their markets, their enthusiasm is being tempered by frustrating bottlenecks in the supply chain for developed lots along with rising costs for building materials and labor,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, NC. “At the same time, problems with appraisals and credit availability remain considerable obstacles to completing deals.”

Growth pains

NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe points out that in addition to tight credit and below-price appraisals, home building is beginning to suffer “growth pains” as the infrastructure that supports it tries to re-establish itself. “During the Great Recession, the industry lost home building firms, building material production capacity, workers who retreated to other sectors and the pipeline of developed lots,” Crowe explained. “The road to a housing recovery will be a bumpy one until these issues are addressed, but in the meantime, builders are much more optimistic today than they were at this time last year.”

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 25 years, the HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “”high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Mixed results

While the HMI component gauging current sales conditions declined four points to 47, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers both posted gains, of one point to 51 and three points to 35, respectively, in March.

Three-month moving averages for each region’s HMI score were also mixed, with the Northeast holding unchanged at 39, the Midwest and South posting one-point declines to 47 and 46, respectively, and the West registering a four-point increase to 58.