Publication: The role of women has always been vital in the global fight for consumer rights. The latest edition of CI's Asia Pacific Consumer magazine takes an in-depth look at women in the food chain and how they are fighting for consumer protection in the region.
Download your free copy.
Consumer Protection: Consumers International and its member organisations in South East Asia are playing a key role in the continuing development of consumer legislation in the region. CI and its members helped devise the Bali Declaration at the recent Southeast Asian Conference on Consumer Protection 5-7 November, Indonesia. Visit our Consumer Protection section to find out more.
Obesity: Health and consumer organisations are calling on governments to introduce tougher measures to combat overweight and obesity as ministers gather for the first pan-European summit on obesity in Istanbul, 15-17 November. In a joint statement, non-governmental organisations are urging health ministers to take strong and decisive steps to halt the rise in childhood overweight and obesity.
Read the article and download the joint statement
Sustainable consumption: This month has seen the international theatrical release of a major new documentary feature film about the plight of the world's coffee farmers. Black Gold reveals the shocking inequality within the US$80 billion industry, where multinational coffee companies reap enormous profits at the expense of impoverished farming communities in the developing world.
Consumers International has been working closely with the makers of Black Gold to show coffee consumers how they can make a positive difference to the lives of the coffee farmers. Find out how in our coffee campaign section.
Pharmaceuticals: Some within the pharmaceutical industry have found CI's Branding the Cure report difficult to digest, not least the PR agencies that carry out much of the drug marketing dirty work. Read CI's response to one spin-doctor's attack on the campaign.
Consumer Protection: Representatives from eleven Latin American and Caribbean governmental consumer protection agencies, plus Spain and the US, have established an Information Exchange and Early Alert system to protect consumers in the region from faulty goods.
In the Letter of San Salvador (Spanish only), the final declaration from last month's Latin American Forum of Governmental Consumer Protection Agencies held in El Salvador, the governmental agencies also committed to campaign for the rights of telephone consumers for next year's World Consumer Rights Day.
With Spain accepted as a full member, the forum will now be known as the Ibero American Forum of Governmental Consumer Protection Agencies. Consumers International will continue as the Technical Secretariat of the Forum along with representatives from Mexico and Spain.
Pharmaceuticals: Consumers International's groundbreaking study into the marketing practices of the world's top-twenty drug companies is now available in three languages. Branding the Cure finds that the pharmaceutical industry provides next to no information to consumers about the US$60 billion it spends annually on marketing, contradicting many drug companies' claims of social responsibility.
Find out more, download the report in English, French or Spanish, and read The Guardian's front page coverage of the report.
Accountability: Consumers International, together 10 other leading international NGOs, has publicly endorsed the first global accountability charter for the non-profit sector. The Charter, launched in London on 6 June 2006, seeks to demonstrate that NGOs deeply value public trust, do not take it for granted and are committed to transparency.
Read the Accountability Charter and the joint press release
Intellectual Property: Consumers International made a Statement at the May 1-5, 2006 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The Statement raised CI's research findings on how the use of copyright laws was restricting access to knowledge, and articulated concerns about the proposed WIPO Treaty on Webcasting. Find out more about CI's work on Intellectual Property.
