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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Public Health

Asbestos Found in Claire’s Kids Makeup

Independent lab results confirm that makeup the CoPIRG Foundation and their national network, U.S. PIRG Education Fund found for sale at Claire’s retail stores across the country is contaminated with asbestos, which causes cancer. Parents and consumers need to know about these asbestos-laden makeup products. We alerted Claire’s to these test results more than a week ago and asked the company to recall these items immediately and to inform customers. Claire’s has responded, stating that it has not found asbestos contamination in its makeup products.

 

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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.

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Transportation

Denver Needs 1,200 More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations by 2030

With electric vehicles (EVs) hitting Colorado streets in record numbers, a new study by CoPIRG Foundation, Environment Colorado Research and Policy Center, and Frontier Group finds that the city of Denver will need to add 1,200 electric vehicle charging stations to public places by 2030 to be ready for the estimated 36,000 electric vehicles that could be on city streets by then. Currently, Denver has approximately 150 publicly-accessible charging stations on streets, in garages, and at businesses. The city of Colorado Springs will need to add 950 more stations to accommodate an estimated 26,000 EVs. Currently, Colorado Springs has approximately 50 stations. 

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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.

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Public Health

Common Lip Products Contain Chemicals of Concern

We should be able to trust that the products we buy are safe — especially ones our families use every day, applied directly to our lips. However, CoPIRG Foundation released a consumer guide titled “Kiss Off” which contains examples of lipsticks, lip balms, and children’s lip products which contain ingredients linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive problems. Popular brands such as Maybelline, L'Oréal, and ChapStick made the list.

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Solid Waste

Don’t Toss Your Pumpkins and Leaves, Compost Them

Recycling advocates have a message to residents who are dutifully raking and bagging up their leaves – don’t toss them in a trash bin, compost them. That goes for Jack-O’-Lantern’s too. At an event at Denver’s Recycling and Compost drop off site, they highlighted that organic items like leaves and pumpkins make up roughly 50% of residential waste that can be composted either by bringing them to a drop off site or by signing up for the city’s residential compost program and putting them in your own curbside green cart.  

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News Release | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG CONSUMER ADVOCATE MIKE LITT TESTIFIES AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON EQUIFAX

Our Consumer Advocate, Mike Litt, was invited by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, to testify this week at a Congressional hearing on the Equifax data breach. This was a continuation of the committee's previously held hearing on October 5th entitled "Examining the Equifax Data Breach."

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Transportation

41 Local Government Leaders Sign Letter Supporting Bustang

Today, CoPIRG Foundation Director Danny Katz delivered a letter to the Transportation Commissioners for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) celebrating the success of Bustang, the statewide bus service, and showing support for continued expansion. The letter was signed by 41 mayors, city councilors, trustees and county commissioners from communities along the Bustang routes including Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Idaho Springs, Summit County, Eagle County, Vail, Avon, and Glenwood Springs.    

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group | Consumer Protection

Colorado Ranks Ninth for Most Consumer Complaints Per Capita by Older Americans

Colorado ranked 9th for most complaints per capita by older Americans according to an analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) consumer complaint database. Mortgages were the leading source of 72,000 national complaints to the CFPB and the leading source of the over 1,300 complaints from older Coloradans. Complaints about credit reports, debt collection, and credit cards rounded out the top four according to the analysis from the CoPIRG Foundation and the Frontier Group. 

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

New Scorecard Grades Top Restaurant Chains On Antibiotic Use In Meat Supply

Denver: More than half of the largest 25 chain restaurants in the U.S. have taken steps to restrict routine antibiotic use in their chicken supply chains, according to a new scorecard released today by a group of consumer, environmental and public health organizations. That’s good news given that the misuse of antibiotics in meat production puts our health at risk by breeding drug-resistant bacteria.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation and Demos | Democracy

The Dominance of Big Money in the 2014 Congressional Elections

In 2014, large donors accounted for the vast majority of all individual federal election contributions this cycle, just as they have in previous elections. Seven of every 10 individual contribution dollars to the federal candidates, parties, PACs and Super PACs that were active in the 2013-2014 election cycle came from donors who gave $200 or more. Candidates alone got 84 percent of their individual contributions from large donors.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Democracy

Big Money Dominates in Congressional Primaries

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decisions undermining campaign finance rules, most notably Citizens United, our elections have become increasingly dominated by large donors, at the expense of ordinary Americans.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Democracy

Big Money Dominates in Congressional Primaries

Our analysis of fund-raising data from 2014’s congressional primaries examines the way these dynamics are playing out state by state across the country. While some states show markedly more inequity than others, the picture painted by the data is of a primary money race where large donors carry more weight than ordinary Americans. Nationwide, just under two-thirds of all candidate contributions came from the largest donors (those giving over $1,000). And fewer than 5,500 large donors matched the primary contributions coming from at least 440,000 donors nationwide.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Transportation

Millennials in Motion

Millennials are less car-focused than older Americans and previous generations of young people, and their transportation behaviors continue to change in ways that reduce driving. Now is the time for the nation’s transportation policies to acknowledge, accommodate and support Millennials’ demands for a greater array of transportation choices.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Transportation

Highway Boondoggles

Even though the Driving Boom is now over, state and federal governments continue to pour vast sums of money into the construction of new highways and expansion of old ones – at the expense of urgent needs such as road and bridge repairs, improvements in public transportation and other transportation priorities. Eleven proposed highway projects across the country – slated to cost at least $13 billion – exemplify the need for a fresh approach to transportation spending.

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  • Trouble In Toyland
    Our report highlights the toys that have been recently recalled, explains the hazards they pose, and shines a spotlight on those that may still be available for sale online.
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  • STOP UNFAIR INSURANCE RATE HIKES
    Our new Rate Watch project is pushing insurers to lower costs and cut waste. Find out how you can help.
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  • Changing Transportation
    Our researchers have documented a dramatic shift in how Coloradans get around. Now, we're pushing for more transportation options to meet growing demand.
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  • Energy Efficient Colorado
    As we rebuild after the floods, we have an opportunity to reduce electric bills by investing in smart upgrades.
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