WASHINGTON, D.C. October 30, 2023 – Despite promises to ramp up enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted only 99 corporate offenders in 2022, a small uptick from the previous year’s 90 prosecutions, according to a new report from Public Citizen. President Joe Biden’s second year is thus tied with former President Donald Trump’s second year for […]
Public Citizen
Posted inLife
Books: The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future and What We Can Do About It
Long-time corporate accountability crusaders Robert Weissman, Public Citizen president, and Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen president emeritus, investigate how giant corporations corrupt the policy making process to block reforms favored by overwhelming majorities of the American people, and to enrich themselves through far-reaching corporate welfare schemes. The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future And What We Can […]
Posted inUS
FDA Can Curtail Antibiotic Crisis by Ending Misuse in Livestock Animals, Say Health Advocate Groups in New Lawsuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. January 24, 2023 – To protect the safety of consumers, meat processing workers and farming communities, a coalition of public health advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and its Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), challenging their refusal to phase out unnecessary uses of antibiotics in […]
Posted inUS
Advocates Call for Public Ownership of New Biden Vaccine Production Project
WASHINGTON, D.C. March 9, 2022 – A new report from PrEP4All, Public Citizen and Partners In Health lays out a vision for public ownership of the billion dose mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity included in the President’s National Covid-19 Preparedness Plan last week. The Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO) model envisioned in the report is the […]
Posted inWorld
New Research: Equitable Global mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Access Could Save Over A Million Lives
A new study released today by Public Citizen and researchers from Yale University, Stanford University, Brown University, and the University of Maryland estimates that reversing inequities in global COVID-19 vaccine access by providing two doses of mRNA vaccine to everyone in low and lower-middle-income countries (LIC/LMIC) tomorrow could avert 1.3 million deaths. Global vaccination would […]
Posted inUS
40,000 Petitioners Urge Secretary Yellen to Lead Strong Climate Action Plan in Upcoming Report
WASHINGTON, D.C. October 15, 2021 – Public Citizen, Sierra Club, 350.org, Americans for Financial Reform, Evergreen Action, and Action Center on Race and the Economy today delivered more than 40,000 petition signatures to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding that an upcoming report highlight the gravity of climate threats to our financial system and identify […]
Posted inWorld
Ahead of Tokyo Olympics, People’s Vaccine Alliance Urges World Leaders to #StopPlayingGames and Vaccinate the World
Today, the People’s Vaccine Alliance is launching #StopPlayingGames, a global campaign using the power of sport and the platform of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to demand that world leaders launch an urgent and ambitious plan for equitable, universal access to COVID-19 vaccines. The Alliance is calling on world leaders to live up to the Olympic […]
Posted inUS
Letter: Acting FDA Commissioner Woodcock, Other Top Officials Must Resign Following Indefensible Aducanumab Approval
Top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials responsible for the reckless approval of aducanumab for Alzheimer’s disease, including Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, should immediately resign, Public Citizen said in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Last week, the FDA announced its approval of aducanumab for treatment of […]
Posted inUS
66 Global Health and Development Orgs: Biden Must Launch A Global Vaccine Manufacturing Program to End the Pandemic
WASHINGTON, D.C. April 13, 2021 – Public Citizen and 65 other global health, development and humanitarian organizations today called on President Joe Biden to announce and implement a global vaccine manufacturing program to end the pandemic and build a globally-distributed vaccine infrastructure for future pandemics. “Much more ambitious U.S. leadership is needed to end the global […]
Posted inUS
Federal Court Throws Out USDA Rule Lifting Line Speed Cap in Hog-Slaughter Plants
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a major victory for workers in America’s pork industry, a federal district court in Minneapolis today ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully when it eliminated limits on the speeds at which plants run their slaughter lines without considering the increased risk of injury to plant workers. “The court’s […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Robert Weissman: Keep Track of Trump’s Lame Duck Temper Tantrum
WASHINGTON, D.C. December 15, 2020 – President Donald Trump’s administration may be winding down, but his cruelty, recklessness and cronyism are not. Today Public Citizen unveiled a new web tool tracking some of his most corrupt, norm-breaking, dangerous and unjust actions during the lame duck session. (See our Twitter thread about it.) From attempting to […]
Posted inUS
USDA, Meatpacking Industry Collaborated to Undermine COVID-19 Response, FOIA Docs Show
WASHINGTON, D.C. September 15, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the meatpacking industry worked together to downplay and disregard risks to worker health during the pandemic, as shown in documents uncovered by Public Citizen and American Oversight through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. “While we knew that the meatpacking industry was lobbying the […]
Posted inUS
Poultry Workers, Already at Risk From COVID-19, Sue USDA Over Dangerous Line Speeds
WASHINGTON, D.C. July 28, 2020 – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and five of its local unions represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a federal lawsuit today to end U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) waivers allowing poultry plants to increase production line speeds and further endanger workers already facing elevated […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Lisa Gilbert: McConnell’s Proposal Would Leave Tens of Millions of Americans to Fend for Themselves, Is DOA
July 23, 2020 – Note: Details of the agreement between the White House and U.S. Senate Republicans on a coronavirus response package have emerged. The proposal was negotiated by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) McConnell has taken the wrong approach in almost every way. Instead of using the last several months to negotiate […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Robert Weissman: WHO Withdrawal Is Contemptible, Reprehensible
July 7, 2020 – Note: President Donald Trump today officially withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO), according to news reports. The coronavirus pandemic calls for global solidarity, with countries joining together to address a common public health threat. The world needs lots of information sharing about how to mitigate the spread of […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Robert Weissman: COVID-19 Medicine Pricing, Transparency Bills Are a Matter of Life and Death
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2020 – Note: Today, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Peter Defazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Pricegouging (MMAPPP) Act and the Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge (TRACK) Act. President Donald Trump’s sycophancy to drug corporations is endangering the nation’s […]
Posted inEnviro
Analysis Finds 65% of Top Interior Meetings Included Oil, Gas, and Coal Groups, Lobbyists
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 30, 2020 – Nearly two-thirds of top U.S. Department of the Interior meetings with the private sector have been with oil, gas and coal groups or their lobbyists that may benefit from coronavirus bailouts, a new Public Citizen report finds. The report comes as President Donald Trump signed an executive order on […]
Posted inOp-Ed
David Arkush: The Federal Reserve Should Not Bail Out the Failing Fracking Industry
April 30, 2020 – Note: The Federal Reserve today unveiled an expanded “Main Street” business lending program that could allow failing, highly indebted oil and gas companies to borrow money at low rates. In doing so, the Fed heeded a call by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as well as fracking companies to make it easier for […]
Posted inUS
Hostility to Global Cooperation, Limited Production Threaten Coronavirus Response
WASHINGTON, D.C. April 23, 2020– Open science, ramped-up manufacturing, fair pricing and sharing of technology, among other actions, are urgently needed to reduce loss of life during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 254 groups including Public Citizen said today. The groups released a list of principles calling for action from governments, international agencies, manufacturers, donors and […]
Posted inUS
Public Citizen: Ban on Internet-Connected Voting Systems Moves Forward
Note: The Technical Guidelines Development Committee of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission voted unanimously to recommend passage of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 requirements including a ban on internet connectivity in voting systems. The requirements, if adopted by the Commission after a review and public comment period, will shape the development of new voting […]