Consumer News & Alerts   |   April 30, 2007

VIRTUAL VIOLENCE: DOES IT SPILL OVER?
In bedrooms across the land, teens are awake far into the night, playing video games with far-fetched names, like World of Warcraft. Whether this is a good thing is open to debate. Some social scientists warn that the games are addictive, others say they interfere with homework and leave children at risk of physical and emotional problems.

More alarming are recent findings that violent video games have a lingering effect on brain function, including increased activity in the part of the brain that governs emotional arousal. Studies have found kids who spend a lot of time playing violent games are more likely to get into fights.

All of this weighed heavily on our Tom Glaister early one morning, as he went into an Internet café in Thailand and found it packed with children staring expressionless and glassy-eyed at the blood and gore depicted on the screens in front of them. His curiosity aroused, Tom did some research and the result is this week's cover story: Virtual Violence: Does It Spill Over Into Real Life?.

WI-FI WORRIES
Video games might be bad for kids and some experts are worried that wireless computer networks may also pose health risks. The British scientist who first raised concerns about the potential harm posed by cell phones now says that Wi-Fi networks may be even worse. The signals are stronger and becoming more widespread.

Then there's the question of privacy. Many of us don't think twice about logging onto the Internet "hotspots" at airports, coffee shops and the like. Just flip open your laptop and next thing you know you're online. But whose network are you really using? There are some very real security risks most of us never even think of -- but Martin H. Bosworth thinks about them all the time and he has some helpful pointers to keep you and your data safe in public.

MORE FOOD POISONINGS TO COME
The traumatic pet food contamination that has sickened and killed thousands of animals over the last few months is not an isolated incident, an expert warns. Rather, it's indicative of how ill-prepared FDA and USDA are to deal with the globalization of the food supply. In simple terms, the U.S. has next to no direct, hands-on control of food components imported from abroad. Incidents like the latest rash of poisonings will continue until the U.S. overhauls its system, this expert warns.

The fall-out from the current crisis continues, as inspectors find hog farms from North Carolina to California fed food scraps containing melamine to hogs that wound up as pork chops But fear not. The Government will compensate hog farmers whose porkers must be destroyed. As for consumers whose pets were killed ... well, they're on their own.

On Capitol Hill, Congress sputtered about the FDA's lack of authority to recall tainted food while Senators demanded the FDA release the names of all pet food companies suspected of receiving tainted rice gluten.

$3 GAS SPREADS TO 7 STATES
In at least seven states and the taxation-without-representation District of Columbia, the price of a gallon of regular gas is now $3 or higher ... and a nationwide average price of $4 may not be all that far away. AAA reacted angrily to that prediction, calling it "premature, at best, and misleading, at worst." Maybe so, but let's see who's saying what by summer's end.

They're No. 1 Toyota left General Motors in the slow ***, taking over the No. 1 spot as the best-selling automaker during the first three months of 2007. It's the first time that's happened but it's not likely to be the last.

REBATE REVENGE
The Federal Trade Commission is beginning to catch up with companies that offer rebates but make it so hard to collect that consumers are too often left holding the bag. InPhonic/Wirefly and Soyo last week settled charges that they made unfair and deceptive promises to cell phone customers. They've been ordered to reimburse consumers for the overdue rebates.

In other telecom developments ...

• Vonage Victory Internet telephone company Vonage can keep signing new customers while its appeal of a patent infringement conviction is pending, an appeals court ruled.

• Net Neutrality Coalition Marks a Milestone Public awareness, pressure on Congress have kept more draconian measures at bay.

STATING THE OBVIOUS
It's hard to take seriously the notion that an industry apologist, log-roller and lobbyist is the best choice to head an agency whose sole mission is to protect consumers from unsafe products. But the Bush Administration apparently thinks its mission is to protect importers of products made mostly in China from meeting U.S. safety regulations. How else to explain its nomination of John Baroody of the National Association of Manufacturers? Consumer groups are pointing out the obvious but is anyone listening?

• Public Citizen Trashes Anti-Tort Study Ideological report uses discredited data, "junk economics," Public Citizen says.

WAL-MART MEDICAL CENTER
Maybe one way to control the spiraling cost of medical care is to turn it over to Wal-Mart? The giant retailer has announced plans to open in-store health clinics. It's an outgrowth of Wal-Mart's generic drug discount program, which has been a barn-burner at a time when Wal-Mart badly needed one. The big drug store chains have talked about having in-store clinics for years but no one has really pulled it off. Can Wal-Mart make it work? We'll see, won't we?

More health news ...

• FDA Rejects Arcoxia As Arthritis Drug Merck had hoped Arcoxia would be the successor to Vioxx, withdrawn in 2004 because it heightened the risk of heart attack and stroke. But the FDA said it wanted more evidence Arcoxia -- also a COX-2 inhibitor -- was reasonably safe and effective.

• A Better Prostate Test? Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have developed a new testing method that could reduce the number of false positives. That could cut the number of unnecessary biopsies.

• Roche Cutting Tamiflu Production Governments have bought up enough to fill their stockpiles so the drugmaker is shutting down production, but says it can gear up again if necessary.

• CSPI: School Food Plan Should be Law of the Land The Institute of Medicine has proposd new school lunch standards that would reduce harmful levels of fat, salt and so forth. Consumer groups say the recommendations should be widely adopted.

• Ninety Percent of Doctors Take Drug Company Favors Drug company advertising gets a lot of attention but it's the cozy relationships the druggies have with doctors that really determine what prescriptions get written. The benefit of this mutual admiration society to patients isn't quite clear, a new study finds.

• Bigger Settlement for Paxil Parents Public Citizen wins a bigger settlement for parents who lack documentation that they purchased Paxil for their children.

FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM
As foreclosures break records, consumer groups are pressing for a moratorium on foreclosures and tougher laws against predatory lending. The organizations want state attorneys general to seek injunctions against foreclosures of homes financed by subprime mortgages.

In Congress, Ohio's Stephanie Tubbs Jones has reintroduced the previously-axed Predatory Lending Practice Reduction Act, which would impose stiff restrictions on subprime loans.

Who are the victims of predatory lending practices? In many cases, they're seniors who are tricked into refinancing their homes at rates that are almost guaranteed to have them in foreclosure a short time later. Mark Huffman explains the process in his report, Seniors Bear Brunt Of Predatory Lending.

Not Just Mortgages It's not just homes that are being financed with subprime loans. Increasingly, auto loans use the same sleazy tactics to leave consumers upside down in their vehicles, a new report finds.

FEDS' FEEBLE IDENTITY THEFT PLAN
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, under fire for his role in the "prosecutor purge," is trying to put the best face on the feds' feeble "identity protection" plan. Most consumer advocates said the plan provides protection that is actually weaker than existing laws in several states.

New York Security Breach A Chicago company took months to tell 450,000 New Yorkers it had lost their data, violating New York's stringent law which requires that businesses must notify consumers of security breaches in the “most expedient time possible.”

SCAMS & OUTRAGES

• 419 Scammer Claims To Be U.S. Soldier He's trying to smuggle Saddam Hussein's fortune out of Iraq. So he says. Don't believe it.

• eBay "Bots" create positive reviews for bogus sellers.

• Prepaid Funeral Scam Southern California funeral home operator sold "pre-need" plans but allegedly pocketed the money.

• $70 Million Missing from Cemetery Funds Oklahoma man charged with embezzlement and racketeering in alleged looting of Detroit-area cemeteries.

RECALLS

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