Consumer Law & Policy Blog

New Study Shows Link Between Use of Tanning Beds and Deadly Skin Cancers; FDA Considering Regulatory Action

The New York Times reports on a study in the journal Cancer showing a causal link between indoor tanning and the most deadly form of skin cancer -- melanoma.

Those who used indoor tanning devices were 1.74 times as likely to develop melanoma as those who did not. Frequent users — who had more than 100 sessions or 50 hours of indoor tanning over 10 years — were at 2.5 times the risk of non-users, the study found.

If you want more details, read the study itself. Given that this blog covers consumer law, you may want to know the following: The Times reports that the FDA is thinking of revising its regulations and guidelines on the subject.

The Federal Reserve Posts Credit Card Agreements

The Federal Reserve has posted the "agreements" that consumers enter into with their credit card companies. You can find the agreements of each issuer by clicking in a lengthy drop-down menu containing all the issuers' names. Or you can search the data base of all agreements using search terms of your choice. As the Fed acknowledges, the website may not be all that useful for consumers because the posted agreements "are not specific or individual account agreements. If you want to get a copy of your personal account agreement, you should contact your bank--under the Board's credit card rules, your credit card issuer must make your credit card agreement(s) available upon request." I clicked in the drop down menu for a major issuer -- Bank of America -- and got back 10 different agreements.

In the Wake of Citizens United, Corporations Want to Fund Campaign Ads . . . Anonymously

The Washington Post explains today:

After a landmark Supreme Court ruling [in Citizens United] this year freed executives to spend unlimited corporate cash on campaigns, some predicted that businesses would flood television airwaves with pro-industry political ads -- but that just hasn't happened yet. Image-sensitive corporations are still trying to make sure that, if they jump into 2010 politicking, they do so as anonymously as possible, according to Republican political operatives and trade group leaders.

In the Post article, David Bossie, the head of Citizens United, acknowledges that corporations want to fund political campaigns without having to answer any questions: "You want to speak your piece without political retribution." 

Congressional democrats recognize that corporations that fund campaign ads want anonymity and so have proposed to do away with it. The DISCLOSE Act would, as the Post article explains it, "require chief executives to appear for a few seconds in campaign ads they finance, saying they personally endorse the message. Umbrella groups would have to list the top five corporate donors for an ad."

The Senate version of the DISCLOSE Act is S. 3295; the House version is H.R. 5175, which is accompanied by this Committee report.

Anyone know the DISCLOSE Act's prospects for enactment?