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News Release | Maryland PIRG and Waterkeepers Chesapeake | Public Health

MDA’s Proposed Regulations for 2017 Law Allow for Continued Routine Antibiotic Use, Which Fuels Global Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

Public health advocates are crying foul over the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) long-overdue, proposed regulations to implement the Keep Antibiotics Effective Act of 2017. As written, the draft regulations are so weak that the overuse of human antibiotics on Maryland farms will likely continue.

News Release | Maryland PIRG | Transportation

Maryland Takes a Step Forward in the March Towards Transportation Electrification

In early August, Maryland released its draft plan to spend the $75 million it is receiving as part of the Volkswagen emissions cheating settlement. While it allocates the maximum allowable 15 percent ($11.3 million) to electric vehicle charging infrastructure and makes some money available for the purchase of electric buses, the plan still allows for much of the money to be used on new diesel or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle replacements.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

U.S. PIRG statement on $289 million verdict against RoundUp

Today, a jury ruled against the chemical company Monsanto, awarding $289 million in damages to Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper who said he got terminal cancer from Monsanto’s best-selling weedkiller Roundup.

Blog Post | Transportation

The Trump Administration’s Flawed Reasons for Rolling Back Clean Car Standards | Matt Casale

The Trump administration is making some pretty outlandish claims to justify its roll back of the nation’s most effective program at fighting climate change. Asserting that stronger fuel economy standards make our roads less safe, the administration moved last week to weaken Obama-era clean car standards -- but their claims just aren’t true.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

We Join Leading Groups Urging SEC To Strengthen Weak Investor Best Interest Proposal | Ed Mierzwinski

We've joined leading consumer, civil rights, labor and older American organizations in a comment letter urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strengthen its proposed "Regulation Best Interest" intended to ensure that all broker-dealers and other individuals and firms offering investment advice act do so in a fiduciary capacity, or in the best interest of their investor-clients. (Right now, it doesn't).

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News Release | Maryland PIRG and Waterkeepers Chesapeake | Public Health

MDA’s Proposed Regulations for 2017 Law Allow for Continued Routine Antibiotic Use, Which Fuels Global Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

Public health advocates are crying foul over the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) long-overdue, proposed regulations to implement the Keep Antibiotics Effective Act of 2017. As written, the draft regulations are so weak that the overuse of human antibiotics on Maryland farms will likely continue.

News Release | Maryland PIRG | Transportation

Maryland Takes a Step Forward in the March Towards Transportation Electrification

In early August, Maryland released its draft plan to spend the $75 million it is receiving as part of the Volkswagen emissions cheating settlement. While it allocates the maximum allowable 15 percent ($11.3 million) to electric vehicle charging infrastructure and makes some money available for the purchase of electric buses, the plan still allows for much of the money to be used on new diesel or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle replacements.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

U.S. PIRG statement on $289 million verdict against RoundUp

Today, a jury ruled against the chemical company Monsanto, awarding $289 million in damages to Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper who said he got terminal cancer from Monsanto’s best-selling weedkiller Roundup.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

U.S. judge allows Monsanto’s Roundup cancer lawsuit to go to trial, victims will be heard in court

Federal judge found sufficient evidence to move to trial hundreds of lawsuits alleging that Monsanto Co.’s glyphosate-containing weed-killer Roundup causes cancer.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

Johnson & Johnson commits to disclose fragrance ingredients in baby products by August 1

J&J said it intends to disclose 100 percent of the ingredients in its babycare products next month.

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Result | Consumer Protection

Convincing retailers to remove toxic chemicals from products

Maryland PIRG joined groups across the country to call on major retailers to address toxic chemicals in their supply chain. Thanks to our work, both Macy’s and Ashley Furniture announced they would stop using toxic flame retardants in their furniture. We also convinced Lowe’s and Home Depot to phase out phthalates from their flooring.

Result | Public Health

Protecting Marylanders from toxic lawn chemicals

Toxic chemicals in lawn pesticides pollute our environment and our health. These chemicals can drift into our air, waterways and homes. In 2015, Maryland PIRG helped win restrictions on toxic lawn pesticides in Montgomery County. The restrictions allow only safe pesticides to be used on lawns, playgrounds, recreation areas and children’s facilities’ grounds.

Result | Democracy

Delivering one million petitions to President Obama on dark money

U.S. PIRG joined a broad coalition to deliver one million petitions from Americans, including U.S. PIRG members and supporters, calling on President Obama to shine a light on dark money, or secret political spending.

Result | Consumer Protection

30 years of toy safety

For the past thirty years, our sister organization U.S. PIRG Education Fund has taken a close look at the safety of toys sold in stores. Their reports have led to more than 150 regulatory actions. In November 2015, they released our 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

Result | Democracy

Giving more Americans a greater voice in our elections

In our democracy, the size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, we helped win reforms in Maine and Seattle to ensure that more Americans have a greater say in our elections. Seattle’s Initiative-122 empowers small donors with “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the cap on contributions. In Maine, the state’s Clean Elections Act was improved by strengthening campaign finance disclosure laws and offering qualifying candidates increased public funding.

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Report | Maryland PIRG Foundation | Public Health

Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide

With this Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide, parents, teachers, and students can make more informed decisions while shopping for school supplies this Back to School season. We want to give parents and teachers the option to choose school supplies that do not contain toxic chemicals. This Shopping Guide should serve as a handy tool for finding products free of several types of toxic chemicals.

Report | Maryland PIRG Foundation | Public Health

Trouble in the Air

People across America regularly breathe unhealthy air that increases their risk of premature death, asthma attacks and other adverse health impacts.

Report | Maryland PIRG Foundation | Transportation

Highway Boondoggle 4

America's infrastructure is in rough shape. Many of our roads, bridges, and transit systems are aging and in need of repair. Yet, year after year, state and local governments propose billions of dollars' worth of new and expanded highways that do little to reduce congestion or address real transportation challenges, while diverting scarce funding from repairs and 21st century priorities. This report profiles nine highway projects that epitomize the need for a fresh approach to transportation spending.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Debt Collectors

Report: Our latest report based on the CFPB's public Consumer Complaint database reviews the most-complained about debt collectors. Funny, a new CFPB complaint "snapshot" does not. The report comes as the CFPB's acting director threatens to make the database non-public. If the CFPB both shuts down the public database and continues to issue industry-friendly reports that don’t give out any real information, the public and marketplace harm is even greater.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Shining A Light on Consumer Problems:

Our report, Shining A Light on Consumer Problems: The Case for Public Access to the CFPB’s Financial Complaints Database, details why it is important that the highly successful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau database of over one million consumer complaints remain open to the public, so consumers, researchers and others can study the financial marketplace.

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Blog Post | Transportation

The Trump Administration’s Flawed Reasons for Rolling Back Clean Car Standards | Matt Casale

The Trump administration is making some pretty outlandish claims to justify its roll back of the nation’s most effective program at fighting climate change. Asserting that stronger fuel economy standards make our roads less safe, the administration moved last week to weaken Obama-era clean car standards -- but their claims just aren’t true.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

We Join Leading Groups Urging SEC To Strengthen Weak Investor Best Interest Proposal | Ed Mierzwinski

We've joined leading consumer, civil rights, labor and older American organizations in a comment letter urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strengthen its proposed "Regulation Best Interest" intended to ensure that all broker-dealers and other individuals and firms offering investment advice act do so in a fiduciary capacity, or in the best interest of their investor-clients. (Right now, it doesn't).

Blog Post | Consumer Protection

ID Theft & Privacy Checklists | Mike Litt

Today, we're releasing our revamped Identity Theft and Online Privacy resources.

Blog Post | Public Health

2018 Legislative Scorecard | Emily Scarr

The Maryland Public Interest Research Group (Maryland PIRG), a non-profit, non-partisan advocate for the public interest, monitors the voting records of Maryland’s state legislators. Do your legislators support the public interest? Our 2018 State Legislative Scorecard reviews their votes on key public interest issues, including those listed on our 2018 Legislative Agenda.

Blog Post | Democracy

Baltimore City Council votes for Fair Elections | Emily Scarr

Last night, the Baltimore City Council voted unanimously to support a charter amendment for the Fair Elelctions Fund and commission. If the charter amendment gets approvedl at their July 9th meeting, it will be up to Mayor Pugh to give final approval for the amendment to be on November's ballot. Read more from the Baltimore Sun.

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TELL MCDONALD’S: HOLD THE ANTIBIOTICS

It’s time the country’s most iconic burger chain stopped serving beef and pork raised on our life-saving medicines.

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TELL CONGRESS: DON’T WEAKEN THE CONSUMER BUREAU

Some proposals hidden in the budget would weaken the Consumer Bureau and remove critical consumer protections. Make your voice heard.

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Tell L’Oréal: Make It Toxic-Free

Products we use on our bodies shouldn’t contain toxic ingredients that put our health at risk. Tell L’Oréal: It’s time to make toxic-free products.

TAKE ACTION
JOIN THE CALL FOR CLEANER BUSES

All-electric buses are here, and they’re cleaner, healthier and often cheaper in the long run. Tell our governor to invest in clean, all-electric buses.

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