Home

CoPIRG Lowes042518

What's New

All
News
Milestones
Reports
Blog

News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget

Colorado Receives a “C+”, Ranks 20th in Country for Transparency of Government Spending

Colorado receives a “C+” for the level of transparency and ease of use of the state’s main website for accessing government spending data according to a new report by the CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group. Colorado received 78 out of 100 points, which ranked it 20th in the country for online government spending transparency. Colorado missed points around ease of use and the disclosure levels around economic development subsidies.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Antibiotics

Expanding Conditional Approvals in the Animal Drug User Fee Act Is Bad For Public Health

> Keep Reading

News Release | CoPIRG | Consumer Protection

Victory: Gov Signs Credit Freeze for Minors Bill Into Law

Today, Governor Hickenlooper signed HB 1233 into law, which will give Colorado parents and guardians the authority to place credit freezes free of charge on the records of minors and individuals they legally represent starting January 1st, 2019.

“HB 1233 allows parents and guardians to place a credit freeze for free on their dependent’s credit information, which is one of the most important actions you can take to stop identity thieves from using your child’s information to commit identity theft,” says Danny Katz, Director of the consumer advocacy group CoPIRG.

Blog Post | Public Health

Home remodeling shouldn’t be a deadly project: Toxic paint removers being sold by Lowe’s and other stores | Dev Gowda

No one should lose a loved one to deadly chemicals. But right now you can walk into Lowe’s and other stores and buy paint removers containing highly toxic chemicals.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves

U.S. PIRG Education Fund joins Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Lowe’s to stop selling paint strippers made with methylene chloride and the chemical NMP.

Pages

News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget

Colorado Receives a “C+”, Ranks 20th in Country for Transparency of Government Spending

Colorado receives a “C+” for the level of transparency and ease of use of the state’s main website for accessing government spending data according to a new report by the CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group. Colorado received 78 out of 100 points, which ranked it 20th in the country for online government spending transparency. Colorado missed points around ease of use and the disclosure levels around economic development subsidies.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Antibiotics

Expanding Conditional Approvals in the Animal Drug User Fee Act Is Bad For Public Health

> Keep Reading

News Release | CoPIRG | Consumer Protection

Victory: Gov Signs Credit Freeze for Minors Bill Into Law

Today, Governor Hickenlooper signed HB 1233 into law, which will give Colorado parents and guardians the authority to place credit freezes free of charge on the records of minors and individuals they legally represent starting January 1st, 2019.

“HB 1233 allows parents and guardians to place a credit freeze for free on their dependent’s credit information, which is one of the most important actions you can take to stop identity thieves from using your child’s information to commit identity theft,” says Danny Katz, Director of the consumer advocacy group CoPIRG.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves

U.S. PIRG Education Fund joins Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Lowe’s to stop selling paint strippers made with methylene chloride and the chemical NMP.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

More Info On Our Testing Methodology for Asbestos in Makeup

Claire’s Stores Inc. incorrectly claims that our testing methods are unsound. Its accusations are misinformed at best, and seem to be designed to distract from the bottom-line: that Claire’s is selling makeup that contains asbestos to preteens.

Pages

Result | Consumer Protection

Defending Colorado’s Consumer Advocate

For 30 years, Colorado’s consumer advocate, the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), has gone to bat for Colorado consumers on gas, electric and telephone matters. All told, it has saved Coloradans more than $1.7 billion on their bills. Despite this track record of success, in 2015 the state legislature came close to eliminating it. CoPIRG helped mobilize public support and generate media attention to save the OCC.

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.

Result | Public Health

Convincing McDonald’s and Subway to protect public health

In 2015, bolstered by the support of more than 100,000 members and supporters, we convinced both McDonald’s and Subway to take action to protect public health. In March, just two days after we delivered more than 30,000 petitions to McDonald’s headquarters, the company announced that they would stop serving chicken raised on medically-important antibiotics. And in October, after more than 100,000 called on the chain to take action, Subway announced a similar policy for all the meat they serve.

Pages

Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Public Health

In Your Face

The negative health effects of asbestos are well-known. Most people may associate asbestos contamination with the workplace or decades-old construction material, but alarmingly, recent media reports have found asbestos contamination in kids' makeup from popular stores. PIRG decided to do its own asbestos testing at an accredited laboratory.

Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Transportation

Plugging In

The adoption of large numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) offers many benefits for cities, including cleaner air and the opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles are far cleaner than gasoline-powered cars, with lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower emissions of the pollutants that contribute to smog and particulate matter.

Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Public Health

Kiss Off: A Consumer's Guide to Saying No to Toxic Lip Products

Research into major lip product brands sold across the United States reveal that big-name manufacturers such as L’Oréal, Maybelline, and Chapstick contain chemicals that are harmful. Some of these ingredients, like parabens and fragrance, are linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and other negative health effects. This consumer guide includes some potentially dangerous examples and a few “safer” alternative products that do not contain these toxic ingredients.

Report | CoPIRG | Consumer Protection

Recommendations in Response to Equifax Breach

Equifax, one of the big three credit reporting agencies, announced on September 7th that it had been hacked, potentially compromising the data of 145 million Americans. The types of information taken from the massive credit bureau, particularly Social Security numbers and dates of birth, are the keys to new account identity theft. This means identity thieves could open fraudulent credit accounts and rack up tons of debt in your name. Here’s our recommendations for what you should do:

Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2017

For over 30 years, CoPIRG Foundation has conducted an annual survey of toy safety, which has led to over 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years, and has helped educate the public and policymakers on the need for continued action to protect the health and wellbeing of children. Among the toys surveyed this year, we found potential choking hazards, and two products with concentrations of lead exceeding federal standards for children’s products. We also found data-collecting toys that may violate children’s privacy laws.

Pages

Blog Post | Public Health

Home remodeling shouldn’t be a deadly project: Toxic paint removers being sold by Lowe’s and other stores | Dev Gowda

No one should lose a loved one to deadly chemicals. But right now you can walk into Lowe’s and other stores and buy paint removers containing highly toxic chemicals.

Blog Post | Transportation

To Build A 21st Century America, Start Here | Jeff Robinson

The stakes in the current infrastructure debate are high. But what matters most is not the size of any federal infrastructure package, nor how it is financed, nor even how many jobs it creates in the coming years. What matters most is building the infrastructure that will enable America to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Why is it so hard to repair our stuff? | Nathan Proctor

We generate way too much waste, and companies use their power in the marketplace to make things harder to repair. That’s the idea behind “Right to Repair” laws -- they check companies ability to limit repairs and empower us to fix our own stuff.

Blog Post | Financial Reform

The End for "Rent-A-Tribe" Payday Lending Schemes? | Ed Mierzwinski

This month, Scott Tucker, a payday lender who used his proceeds to fund a LeMans racing team, was sentenced to 16 years in jail on federal racketeering and other charges. Last fall, his former business partner Charles Hallinan, known as the Philadelphia Main Line "godfather" of payday lending, was also convicted of federal racketeering charges. Tucker and Hallinan's main business model? Their claim that their payday loan enterprises were for the benefit of Native American tribal partners and therefore subject to tribal immunity. The authoritative public interest law firm Public Justice speculates: "Tribal Immunity" may no longer be a Get-Out-of-Jail Free Card for payday lenders." It's about time.

Blog Post

States Can Give Bees A Safe Place To Exist | Kara Cook-Schultz

Bees are dying at unprecedented rates, with real consequences for our food supply, environment and economy. We're calling on states to take action.

Pages

LOWE’S: PULL TOXIC PAINT STRIPPERS

Methylene chloride has killed at least 50 people nationwide, but is still commonly found in paint removers. Tell Lowe’s today: Stop selling paint strippers that put our lives at risk.

TAKE ACTION
STAND UP FOR BEES

Bees pollinate 70 percent of the world’s crops. Protect bees and the health of our planet by telling our governor to ban bee-killing pesticides.

TAKE ACTION
TELL CONGRESS TO STAND UP FOR CONSUMERS

The House is considering a bill that benefits credit bureaus at the expense of average consumers and servicemembers. Tell Congress to oppose it.

TAKE ACTION
ASBESTOS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S MAKEUP

Some makeup sold by Claire’s retail stores is contaminated with asbestos. Tell your representatives: Kids’ makeup shouldn’t contain toxic chemicals.

TAKE ACTION

Take Action
donate
join us

Defend the CFPB

Tell your senators to oppose the “Financial CHOICE Act,” which would gut Wall Street reforms and destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as we know it.

support us

Your donation supports CoPIRG's work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.

consumer alerts

Join our network and stay up to date on our campaigns, get important consumer updates and take action on critical issues.