Simply requiring hospitals to report their infections has forced them to be more accountable to their patients, says Lisa McGiffert, who heads Consumers Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign, which among other things has pushed for more transparency.

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The explanation, according to Consumers Union's Joel Kelsey: The federal government, which mandated the switch from old-style analog broadcasting to digital and set the cutoff date, hasn't spent much to inform the public about how to deal with the switch.

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The Consumers Union of the U.S. subjects each vehicle to more than 50 tests, then makes a prediction about reliability and evaluates for safety before recommending a choice to its members.

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Elisa Odabashian, the director of the West Coast office of Consumers Union, said the government's testing program is not sufficient to ensure that U.S. beef is safe.

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With the company's core rural consumers saturated with stores, union-pandering urban politicians making it tough to impossible to open big city locations, and overseas missteps in key markets like Germany and South Korea, there's reason to believe Wal-Mart's growth phase is near its end.

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Privacy advocates, including the Consumer Federation of California, Consumers Union and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, hope she's right.

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The Health Department said the move was to safeguard consumers, ensure island companies met European Union standards and protect the island's reputation.

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This enormous detriment to European Union farmers and consumers in the wake of HUS coincides with the shattering U.S. economic downturn.

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But there's a good reason not to make that move, according to Pete Sikora, one of the Consumers Union study authors.

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