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Sun, December 17, 2006 09:55:37 PMFrom:
Consumer Affairs
Subject:
CONSUMER NEWS & ALERTS, December 18, 2006
RESENDING TO FIX LINKS Ooops, the elves left out some of the links in earlier versions of our newsletter. Sorry.
THE GREATEST GIFT
It's been said that love is the greatest gift. Or is it life? Certainly, it is love that initiates and often sustains life, and there are those who would say that life without love is not worth living.
These arguments might be mere semantics but when it comes to organ donation, it is love -- whether it's for an individual recipient or simply for humanity -- that carries the day. Organ donors are heroes. They give of themselves to help others, getting nothing of material value in return.
This holiday season, we've collected a number of stories that tell of the struggles and rewards of organ donors, their families, the recipients and those who work to help families in crisis.
• The MOD Squads "How do I live without my son? Tell me how to do that," cried a mother who'd just been told her son was brain-dead following a motorcycle accident. Margaret Syrett of the MOD -- or "Mothers of Organ Donors" -- Squad knew she couldn't fix the unfixable. But Syrett had been there -- her six-year-old son Ricky suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage while playing with friends in his backyard. Now she and others like her help families assist others even as they deal with their own grief and loss. Read more.
• Strangers to the Rescue A man in England reads of an Israeli girl dying in a St. Louis hospital. He quits his job and flies to St. Louis, where he undergoes risky surgery to donate a lobe of his liver. Insane? Or heroic? Surgeons who once dismissed organ donation by living strangers are increasingly embracing it as the ultimate act of a Good Samaritan. Some major medical centers now report that more than half their transplants involve living donors. Read more.
• "Angels From God" Suzanne Eckler's husband Bobby, 59, kissed her good-bye and went off to work one morning, never to return. He died later that day of a fatal brain hemorrhage. But Bobby walked the earth for many more years, as Suzanne sees it, helping two children see, weaning two diabetics off dialysis and saving the life of a young mother of two who danced the father's dance with Bobby's daughter when she was married years later. Then there is Miss Wisconsin, who became a physician after watching her father die following four long years of waiting for a kidney transplant that never came. Read more.
LOCKING DOWN YOUR LAPTOP
Big companies, non-profits and government agencies have all lost laptops containing vital personal data on tens of thousands of consumers. It's pretty inexcusable to have unprotected laptops floating around -- and it's not necessary either. Martin H. Bosworth examines a couple of security systems that can erase the data on a stolen laptop. While these devices may not get the machine back, they can protect what's on it -- and despite the empty assurances offered after the fact, it's the data today's thieves are looking for.
Speaking of data thefts ...
• Boeing 328,000 Workers' Information Laptop was unencrypted, contained names, Social Security numbers, salary info, etc.
• Massive Data Breach At UCLA Personal data on more than 800,000 students and faculty exposed in long-term intrusion.
• Ameriprise Settles With Regulators Over Laptop Theft Company settles Massachusetts charges, agrees to strengthen its practices.
TRILEGIANT TACKLED
Iowa and 15 other states have hog-tied Trilegiant and Chase Bank, wresting from them an agreement to pay about $8 million in restitution to consumers victimized by the company's "negative option" schemes. Very simply, this is where you're signed up for something you never heard of, don't want and may not even know you're paying for. Congress could -- and should -- outlaw this odious practice. Until then, consumers in the 16 states have until February to file their claims for restitution. Full details are in our story.
More scams and outrages ...
• YP Corp. Agrees to Pay Refunds Company tricked businesses, organizations into signing up for Internet ads. Missouri led a multi-state effort to put a stop to this company's antics, which involved sending out small checks that, when cashed, signed up the recipient for supposed Internet ads.
• The Buzz Buzz An Indiana company called Buzz Telecom is putting the squeeze on senior citizens by offering false promises and costly fairy tales about long-distance rates. Numerous states are investigating Buzz after receiving complaints of slamming and cramming, according to officials familiar with the case.
• Lease Your Phone ... Lose Your Money Surely no one is still leasing their phone from the phone company? Wrong. No one knows exactly how many but many thousands of consumers -- including a large number of seniors -- are still paying outrageous monthly fees to have the local telephone company furnish them with a handset comparable to one they could buy at Wal-Mart for $10.
• AOL Settles Florida Fraud Charges Now that Mary Cheney is officially AOL's Vice President for Consumer Advocacy, maybe she'll clean up the company's outrageous practices of double-billing, cancellation difficulties and disputed charges. You think?
Save By Mail a Real Marvel We were marveling about the number of complaints we were getting about Save By Mail, a Canadian mail-order company we'd never heard of. So we dispatched Lisa Wade McCormick to look into it and, what to her wondering eyes should appear but a sleigh full of links leading back to a ghost of complaints past, one JD Marvel.
CHRISTMAS DIN
It's not just the endless Christmas music in the malls, at service stations and everywhere but the county lock-up that gets on the nerves, British experts warn of year-round effects. They say that many popular toys are dangerously loud. Researchers said that almost all (14 out of 15) of the toys tested produced noise levels above the recommended safety limit when held close to the ear. Half of the toys tested had levels above or very near recommended safety limits when measured about an arm's length away. The most dangerous toys by far were found to be toy guns.
Violent Video Games A report commends Target and Best Buy for their efforts to properly label violent video games, but says other retailers have a long way to go. Those still behind the curve include Circuit City, Kmart, Sears, Toys "R" Us, GameStop and Wal-Mart.
More news of interest to parents ...
Deceased Cat Invited to Study Abroad People to People sends out who knows how many invitations to students supposedly "nominated" to go on $5,000 trips abroad. We've reported earlier about invitations issued to children who've been dead for a decade or more and now, Lisa Wade McCormick reports, the organization has sent an invitation to a dead cat.
Dems Eye Rising Tuitions As they prepare to assume control of Congress, Democrats are vowing to make college education more affordable. Tuitions have been rising steadily and it's an open question whether there's much Congress can do about that. However, Joe Enoch reports, lawmakers say they may be able to do something about the cost of student loans.
WHAT DID ELI LILLY KNOW?
The New York Times says the company tried to cover up dangerous side effects of its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, which has been linked to obesity and diabetes, but the company denies it covered up adverse effects and, for that matter, claims the link to diabetes has not been proven. Zyprexa is a top money-maker for Lilly, with sales of $4.2 billion last year. More than two million people worldwide took the drug in 2005.
Trouble in the Olive Garden An outbreak of food-borne illness has hit patrons of an Indiana Olive Garden restaurant. Public health officials say they don't think it's related to the recent Taco Bell E. coli incidents in the Northeast. So far, it appears the problem is confined to a single restaurant in surburban Indianapolis.
In case you haven't heard, the latest theory is that lettuce, not scallions, was to blame for the Taco Bell illnesses.
SAFETY GROUPS WON'T ROLL OVER
Auto safety groups are refusing to roll over and play dead on the rollover issue. New government tests adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration don't simulate real-world conditions, the auto safety advocates argue. They want a "dynamic" test that is more likely to detect which cars and light trucks will perform well in the conditions that often lead to rollovers. The feds argue their test is good enough.
New Mileage Estimates Hybrids are likely to be hard hit by new, more realistic gas mileage estimates adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The new rules, which become effective in 2008, are the first time in 20 years the EPA has updated the way it estimates fuel efficiency. They take into account the more aggressive, high-speed driving style that's now the norm in most of the country.
EVEN MORE SCAMS & OUTRAGES
• DirecTV Telemarketers called consumers listed on the do-not-call registry.
• Allergy Testing Illinois company drew blood, charged big fees at health fairs but didn't deliver the results.
• Wrinkle Cream Tests by Consumer Reports find little difference among brands.
• Infomercial Marketer Consumers complain they ordered vacuum cleaners but never received them.
• Duane Read Drugs New Jersey charges drug chain violated terms of an August settlement.
• "Girls Gone Wild" Judge imposes 30 months of community service on kid porn producer, no jail time.
RECORD HOLIDAY TRAVEL
Americans in record numbers will be on the road, in the air and riding the rails this holiday season. Gas prices are likely to hold steady during the holidays despite OPEC rumblings, our Joe Benton reports, while air fares are rising sharply and rail fares ... well, unless you live in the Boston-Washington corridor, train fares probably aren't at the top of your list of things to worry about.
Baggage Bunglers If you're traveling by air this holiday season, you may want to use a parcel delivery service to send your bags separately. The baggage situation is a mess. Strict carry-on restrictions mean most items must be checked, which means the bag handlers get testy, which means ... well, you get the idea.
Stranded Without Breakfast We don't know about you but our peripatetic travel editor, Dan Schlossberg, is hungry in the morning. He wants to get the "free" buffet breakfast he paid for in the Marriott concierge-level lounge. When that doesn't happen, Dan is not a happy guy.
Grand Canyon Skywalk Every year, a surprising number of people fall into the Grand Canyon. It is, after all, a very big hole in the ground and the edges are, well, crumbly. A new attraction aims to change that. It's a glass-enclosed skywalk that hangs out in the air, 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Yes, the floor is glass as well, so staring at one's feet won't be helpful to those wary of heights.
RECALLS
BE FULL OF CHEER ...
We hope our "Greatest Gift" section is a source of cheer for you this holiday season. It's filled with stories of grief and loss giving way to acts of love and compassion that touch countless lives. These stories are our holiday gift to you, with our thanks for your trust and support. Thanks for all you do. Have a safe and happy holiday.
A publication note ...
There will be no weekly newsletter next Monday, December 25, and The Daily Consumer will not publish that week. We will, just when you least expect it, surprise you with a year-end treat, "The 12 Duds of Christmas." Stay tuned.
Jim Allen
Joe Benton
Martin H. Bosworth
Ruth Campbell
Stacey Cohen
Joe Enoch
Henry Fishman, M.D.
Tom Glaister
Jim Hood
Mark Huffman
Lucille Huffman
Mark l'Italien
Truman Lewis
Joan Lisante
Marisa Lisante
Lisa Wade McCormick
Dan Schlossberg
David Wood
Fred Yager
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