Consumer Protection

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  Before the 1900s corporations did not care whether their products were healthful or safe. Some awful stuff was going on in the food and drug industries. They would mislabel foods and sell foods contaminated by additives. Meat products were often tainted because of the unsanitary conditions in processing plants. Also consumers were tricked into buying worthless and dangerous medicines. The book, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair described the horrid conditions of the meat-packing houses and wrote some magazine articles about those conditions and aroused public fury. Due to this congress passed the Pure Food and drug act, which made it illegal for a company to sell contaminated, unhealthful, or falsely labeled foods or drugs. Also the meat inspection act was passed which provided for federal inspection of all meat-packing companies that sold meats across state lines. The FDA or Food and Drug administration protects us from improperly labeled foods and drugs. They inspect thousand of foods drugs and other products every year to keep us safe.





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  The federal Trade Commission (FTC) protects consumers against misleading and fraudulent advertising. They review all the claims made on the products advertisement and determine whether the advertisement is false or unfair. Because of FTC, cigarette manufacturers must put a health warning on the packages and all manufactures must list the contents of packaged product on the label. Congress also created the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect against unreasonable risk of injury from hazardous products. Therefore the CPSC investigates injuries caused by merchandise and creates standards of safety for each product. If they fail those standards the CPSC can order it of the market. In the year 2007, they imposed record setting of 473 recalls.




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  The government also protects small investor form being mislead about the value of stocks and bonds. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulate the trading of securities or stocks and bonds and licenses people who sell them to the national market.