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About U.S. PIRG

Our team of researchers uncovers the facts; our staff bring our findings to the public, through the media as well as one-on-one interactions; and our advocates bring the voice of the public to the halls of power on behalf of consumers.

An Independent Voice For Consumers

U.S. PIRG is an advocate for the public interest, working to win concrete results on real problems that affect millions of lives, and standing up for the public against powerful interests when they push the other way.

The problems we face don’t care if you’re a liberal or a conservative, or if you live in a red or blue state — they affect each and every one of us. That’s why, for decades, we’ve taken a non-partisan, fact-driven, results-oriented approach to our work. And with your help, we can take on the difficult challenges ahead.

Our Top Priorities
Using the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, advocacy and litigation, U.S. PIRG stands up to powerful interests and delivers concrete results.

 

DEFEND THE CONSUMER BUREAU
In the wake of the Great Recession, we helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be our watchdog on Wall Street. But now, Congress is trying to weaken or eliminate it. We need to keep our consumer cop on the financial beat. >LEARN MORE

 

 

STOP THE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS
The overuse of antibiotics on farms is contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, threatening the health of millions every year. We're calling on states to address this growing public health threat. >LEARN MORE

 

 

BAN ROUNDUP
New studies link the chemicals in Monsanto's Roundup to cancer and other serious health problems. We're calling on cities and counties across the country to ban Roundup unless and until it's proven safe. >LEARN MORE

 

 

DEMOCRACY FOR THE PEOPLE
We're putting regular voters back in the driver’s seat of our democracy by increasing the influence of small donors in elections, overturning Citizens United, and modernizing how we register to vote. >LEARN MORE

 


 

Our Mission
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitals across the country, we take on the special interests on issues such as product safety, public health, campaign finance reform, tax and budget reform and consumer protection, where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.

U.S. PIRG, The Federation Of State Public Interest Research Groups
U.S. PIRG is a federation of independent, state-based, citizen-funded organizations that advocate for the public interest.

 

Since 1970, state PIRGs have delivered results-oriented citizen activism, stood up to powerful special interests, and used the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, advocacy and litigation to win real results on issues that matter.

 

Across the country, state PIRGs employ close to 400 organizers, policy analysts, scientists and attorneys, and are active in 47 states, with a federal lobby office in Washington, D.C. On national issues, we also coordinate our efforts, pool resources, and share expertise so that we can have the biggest impact.

U.S. PIRG Staff
U.S. PIRG is an advocate for the public interest. When consumers are cheated, or the voices of ordinary citizens are drowned out by special interest lobbyists, U.S. PIRG speaks up and takes action. We uncover threats to public health and well-being and fight for the public interest.


 

Funded By Our Citizen Members

Thousands of U.S. PIRG members and supporters fund our staff so we can counter the influence of powerful special interests. We conduct the research, educate the public, and advocate in the public's interest by making our case face-to-face with elected officials.

 

What's New

Blog Post | Financial Reform

EU NGOs Blast Google Locational Data Collection as US Groups Blast FTC on Privacy | Ed Mierzwinski

Today, 7 member groups of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) asked each of their national Data Protection Authorities to investigate Google Android's smartphone locational data collection practices following an investigative report by the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) finding that Google may be in violation of the new European GDPR privacy law. All the groups are members of the U.S. PIRG-backed TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue, which itself  followed up on the report and EU actions with a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Meanwhile, as the Senate prepared for an afternoon FTC oversight hearing today where Facebook may be a focus, we joined leading groups in a separate letter to complain to the FTC about its biased staff report that adopts unsubstantiated industry claims in defense of an FTC call to the administration for weak baseline privacy choices. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Popular toys contain toxics and other hazards

This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. U.S. PIRG’s 33rd annual Trouble in Toyland report found toxic amounts of boron, which can cause nausea, vomiting and other health issues, in slime products as well as fining that Amazon failed to appropriately label choking hazards.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Solid Waste

It’s “America Recycles Day.” Is the United States set up for recycling success?

While a recent survey says that 94 percent of Americans support recycling and 74 percent say it should be a priority, the national average recycling rate is only 34.7 percent. Almost two-thirds of our waste ends up in landfills, incinerators, or as litter blighting the environment, often because recycling is prohibitively difficult for people with the best of intentions. Some states, however, are more recycling-friendly than others. On America Recycles Day, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and several of its state affiliates are releasing reports detailing recycling efforts at the local level.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Financial Reform

2019 Fight Over Data Privacy Rights Heating Up Already | Ed Mierzwinski

Next year, a highly-anticipated privacy and data rights battle will occur in Congress. Powerful special interests from Google to Facebook are responding to the new European General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) by seeking to quash any similar effort to protect U.S. consumers while simultaneously seeking to preempt a new California privacy law before it takes effect in 2020. Will we continue as data collector products, not their customers, or will we gain control over our own financial DNA? The state PIRGs are in this one; guess which side we're on. Today we joined 34 leading groups in issuing shared Privacy Principles.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Our veterans need protection at home -- from predatory lenders and financial fraud

While many Americans honor our active and retired military on Veterans Day, federal officials are threatening to weaken financial protections for servicemembers, veterans and their families.

> Keep Reading

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Our veterans need protection at home -- from predatory lenders and financial fraud

While many Americans honor our active and retired military on Veterans Day, federal officials are threatening to weaken financial protections for servicemembers, veterans and their families.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Ditching diesel isn’t just good for public health and the environment -- it’s affordable

Getting rid of that black cloud of exhaust behind our buses, and the negative health and environmental effects that come along with it, is easier than it may seem. According to a new report from U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Environment America Research and Policy Center, electric buses are not only cleaner and healthier than diesel buses, but transit agencies and school districts have many affordable options at their disposal to adopt them.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Fifty Groups Ask FTC, CFPB To Investigate Experian Over Security Flaw

This week, fifty leading state and national consumer, civil rights, military family, faith and other groups joined U.S. PIRG (letter to regulators) in urging the FTC and CFPB to investigate a security flaw (apparently fixed) at the credit bureau Experian. As originally reported by Nerdwallet, whose findings were confirmed by U.S. PIRG, access to "secret" PINs to temporarily lift credit freezes was left available to anyone who answered "none of the above" to security questions. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health, Antibiotics

Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella outbreak comes from unknown source

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an outbreak of Salmonella from an unknown source, which has so far infected 92 people in 29 states. This strain, Salmonella Infantis, which can be fatal, is resistant to multiple antibiotic treatments. And antibiotic resistance, hastened by the routine overuse of antibiotics on industrial farms, makes treating dangerous foodborne disease outbreaks more difficult. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

Chain Reaction report urges burger restaurants to beef up policies to eliminate routine use of antibiotics

Two growing burger chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi, stand out from the herd when it comes to serving beef raised without the routine use of antibiotics in the burger industry. They were the only restaurants to earn an “A” on the fourth annual Chain Reaction scorecard released today by six major consumer and environmental organizations. The vast majority of hamburger chains — 22 of the top 25, including giants such as McDonald’s — got an “F” grade because they lack established policies restricting antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.

> Keep Reading

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Result | Public Health

Making Our Food Safe to Eat

U.S. PIRG helped to pass the FDA Food Modernization Act, which strenthened the Food and Drug Administration's authority to monitor food safety. This bill strengthened the FDA's food safety program for the first time in 70 years. The bill was stuck in Congress for over a year until U.S. PIRG and the State PIRGs organized a public outreach campaign, speaking with more than 300,000 people about the issue.

> Keep Reading
Result | Public Health

KIDS’ SCHOOL LUNCHES NOW SAFER

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the U.S.D.A. has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

> Keep Reading
Result | Health Care

Young People Now Covered

This year, the federal health care reforms that U.S. PIRG worked to win have started to pay off for young people. In the past, teens saw their premiums soar or were denied coverage when they turned 19, even if they’d been insured their whole lives. Now, they can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. 

> Keep Reading
Result | Consumer Protection

Protecting Consumers from Credit Company Abuses

Credit card companies seeking even higher profits have invented a slew of unfair practices. U.S. PIRG played a crucial role in passing the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which protects consumers and reins in the credit card companies' most abusive fees and practices.

> Keep Reading
Result | Higher Ed

Keeping Higher Education Affordable

With the rising cost of higher education, it's critical to protect the federal financial aid programs that make college affordable for millions of students. U.S. PIRG helped lead the campaign that passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which makes huge investments in financial aid by ending sweetheart subsidies for big banks and student loan companies.

> Keep Reading

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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.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Electric Buses: Clean Transportation for Healthier Neighborhoods and Cleaner Air

Buses play a key role in in our nation’s transportation system, carrying millions of children daily to and from school and moving millions of Americans each day around our cities. Buses reduce the number of individual cars on our roads, make our communities more livable and sustainable, and provide transportation options for people of all ages and abilities. Yet, the majority of America’s buses remain dirty – burning fossil fuels like diesel that put the health of our children and communities at risk and contribute to global warming.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Accidents Waiting to Happen: Coal Ash Ponds Put Our Waterways at Risk

Clean water is essential to America’s health and welfare. Our lakes, rivers, streams and creeks provide us with water to drink, add character to our most beautiful natural places, and give us places to fish and swim. Unfortunately, our waterways are under constant threat of pollution from dangerous facilities located along their banks. These facilities are accidents waiting to happen.

> Keep Reading
Report | US PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group | Budget

Following the Money 2018

One of our primary causes throughout the decades has been holding government officials accountable for responsible stewardship of our tax dollars. To that end, U.S. PIRG Education Fund released its annual "Following the Money" report, which ranks each state on the transparency of its government spending database website. 

> Keep Reading

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Blog Post | Safe Energy

#EEDay2018 - States Can Lead | Abe Scarr

The cheapest, cleanest energy is the energy we don’t use in the first place. Whether you care about improving air quality, fending off the worst impacts of global warming, or simply saving money, energy efficiency and conservation are critical.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Walmart To Phase Out Paint Strippers Linked To Dozens Of Deaths

In the absence of government action on deadly paint strippers, retailers are stepping up to protect consumers.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Drinking Water Shut Off In All Detroit Schools Due To Lead

As school started for the year, many students in Detroit returned to schools with drinking water containing lead—a toxin that can impact how they think, learn and behave.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

'This Infection is Resistant to Everything We Have'

Those are not words any patient wants to hear.

But a surgeon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital tells U.S. PIRG Education Fund that he and other doctors are being forced to deliver that message. He points to the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture as a major culprit.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post

Monsanto Asks Court To Throw Out $289 Million Verdict In Roundup Case; Faces 8,000 Similar Lawsuits

Monsanto is back in court and probably will be for awhile.

> Keep Reading

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U.S. PIRG Updates

   
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