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Consumer News & Alerts

April 23, 2007

FORECLOSURES: FROM LOSS COMES OPPORTUNITY
After years of rising steadily, home prices are starting to come down nationwide, while the foreclosure rate climbs dramatically. Over a million foreclosures are expected to be recorded this year. Of course, this is a personal tragedy for those who lose their homes but it's an opportunity for others. If you've been locked out of home ownership because of the past decade's skyrocketing prices, this could be your chance. You could buy a home that's been taken over by a bank or lender seeking to recover money still owed on the property and save 25 percent or more off the regular price. 

Sound too good to be true? It may be in many cases, but there are some real opportunities out there if you're willing to do your homework and assume some risk. You'll also have to work through any guilt you might feel about buying a home that's been taken away from someone else. Fred Yager has step-by-step help in this week's cover story, Buying a Home in Foreclosure: What You Need to Know.

Regulators Urge Patience The collapse of the subprime lending industry and the wave of foreclosures sweeping the nation is making politicians and regulators nervous. The federal agencies that regulate mortgage lenders are counseling patience and reminding lenders that immediate foreclosure is not required when a consumer falls behind.

But it's debatable whether the warning is having  much effect. The U.S. foreclosure rate is up 47 percent -- and rising faster than the price of gas. Banks started 149,000 foreclosures in March, the highest number on record.

Blockheads Bail Getting out while it still can, H&R Block has sold its Option One subprime mortgage lender to hedge fund giant Cerberus.

PET FOOD SCANDAL SPREADS TO THE TABLE
It had to happen and now it has -- the first evidence that the pet food contaminant that has killed and sickened animals worldwide has spread to the human food chain. A group of 100 hogs in California were fed animal feed containing rice protein tainted with melamine.  The hogs were butchered and sold as pork by the American Hog Farm in Ceres, Calif.  No human illnesses have been reported ... yet.

More pet food developments ...

• Latest List With so many pet foods being recalled, it's hard to keep a current list but we've tried to collect the entire set.

• Cooking for Your Pet If you've been following the cascading series of pet food recalls, you may be afraid to feed your pet packaged food. If so, Lucille Huffman has some recipes for nutritious and healthful pet snacks you can make at home. There's no text version yet but you can watch the video.

• Intentional Spiking Suspected in Chinese Pet Food Ingredients The recalled ingredients used in more than 100 pet foods may have been spiked to make their protein count appear higher.

• China Blocks U.S. Inspectors Seeking Answers to Pet Poisonings Congress accuses China of foot-dragging, demands FDA inspectors be admitted to the country. 

• Importer Recalls Rice Protein  Importer Wilbur-Ellis shipped the ingredient to five pet-food manufacturers.  Not all those companies have yet identified themselves or announced recalls.

LOSING GROUND
This is hardly news, but the latest government statistics find the U.S. has been backsliding on food safety.  When it comes to E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, we're back where we were in 1996. Budget cuts get the blame.

Congress Pressing for Better Food Safety Tempers were short as House members pressed for more action on human and pet food problems. Legislation is likely but the food industry says more laws aren't the answer.

$3 GAS - "THE NEW NORMAL?" 
Average gas prices now top $3 in at least five states but there's little of the public outcry that accompanied earlier rounds of sky-high prices.  Could it be, as some analysts have speculated, that consumers have accepted the higher prices as the "new normal?" A couple of partial solutions are gas-electric hybrids and the new, clean diesels that are soon to arrive on our shores.

Nissan is the latest to announce plans to introduce clean diesels in the U.S. Nissan has steered clear of hybrids, saying they're too expensive and complex to manufacture and maintain.  Time will tell if they made the right decision.

Prius Can't Get a Grip Nissan competitor Toyota, of course, has put its chips on the hybrid and has been on a winning streak so far. But there's one problem with the Toyota Prius that just won't go away -- the thing won't go in the snow. The little hybrid's traction control is so sensitive it shuts the car when it senses any -- and we do mean any -- wheel slippage.  This is bad news if you're trying to get up the driveway or pull out of a slippery side street, as Joe Benton reports.

NOT A MIRACLE FOOD
Sure, oatmeal is good for you, but it's not that good for you. So argued the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which was ready to sue Quaker Oats for going over the top with its claims about the health benefits of oatmeal. Quaker has now agreed to tone it down. CSPI has lately been wielding a legal club against food marketers, in the absence of aggressive federal action.

Breast Cancer & HRT Rates Fall For awhile there, the drug companies had just about convinced everyone that hormone replacement therapy was a healthful option. Then studies questioned HRT's effects on heart disease and usage dropped. Now a new study finds that a sharp drop in breast cancer rates parallels the drop in HRT usage.  This leads some to conclude the obvious. 

Hispanic Women & Breast Cancer Yes, the news that breast cancer rates were falling was good but a new study finds that Hispanic women are three times more likely to develop advanced breast cancer, and to be diagnosed at an earlier age, our Lola Quintela reports. Lifestyle issues, by the way, did not seem to be a factor.

New Test Detects Early Alzheimer's There's still no cure for Alzheimer's Disease but there are drugs that can slow its progress, particularly in the early stages. That's why it's good news that researchers have developed a test that detects early Alzheimer's with an accuracy rate as high as 90 percent.

College Drinking College students have been known to pack away the brew, with predictable results. One result you might not expect is heart disease later in life. Yet that's just what a new study finds -- elevated levels of C-reactive protein in heavy college drinkers, an indicator of trouble to come.

Antidepressant Benefits vs. Risks Parents have been worried that antidepressant use by children and teens carried an unacceptable risk of suicide. But Ohio State researchers report that the suicide risk is "not statistically significant" and that the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks.

Don't Overlook Glaucoma If you or someone in your family is over 50, the Healthy Geezer reminds you it's time for a glaucoma check. It's painless and takes just a few minutes. It's important to catch glaucoma early, as there are treatments that can slow its progress but no cure for the damage that's been done prior to diagnosis. See a real eye doctor, not an eyeglass dispenser in a shopping mall.

DOWN TO EARTH
It's a rare traveler who hasn't spent a few hours sitting  on the tarmac waiting for out a storm or airline traffic back-ups. But the ordeals that some have endured -- trapped for nine hours with crying babies, defecating dogs and irate fellow travelers -- have been, well, unendurable. Congress is taking note and, at a Friday hearing, there was little sympathy for the airline industry's protestations that it was doing all it can. Joe Enoch reports that at a hearing Friday, House members -- who, after all, are frequent fliers themselves -- left little doubt the airlines are flying blind on this one.

Sardine Summer It's not even summer yet and already, planes are stuffed with passengers. This, says our Dan Schlossberg, bodes ill for peak summertime travel.

Homeland Security Eases Up Rules requiring everyone entering the country to have a passport may be reasonable but they're creating big problems. Now, Homeland Security has relaxed the rules slightly, making it easier for children entering the U.S. by land or sea. International air travelers still need a passport regardless of age.

DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO? 
Ask any consumer and they'll tell you they withhold their business from companies that are careless with customers' personal data.  But is this true?  It doesn't seem to be. Witness TJX, Inc., which was at the heart of the biggest known data breach ever. It has just posted sales of $1.7 billion for April 2007, an 11 percent increase over the previous year. 

Texas Sues CVS for Dumping Customer Records "Don't mess with Texas," say the anti-littering signs in the Lone Star State. It seems to apply as well to the state's attorney general, Greg Abbott, who has been quick to slap suits on companies that are sloppy in disposing of customer records. CVS is the latest to feel the beady gaze of the eyes of Texas.

Congress May Outlaw Spyware A House committee is considering something called the Spy Act, which would outlaw malicious spyware programs. These are not to be confused with adware, a much more innocuous critter that is used to select ads likely to be of interest to Web surfers.

WHAT'S KILLING THE BEES?
You may not be a big fan of honey bees, and they certainly can be pests if you're trying to drink a Mimosa in the rose garden.  But as we all learned as children, honey bees are an important link in the great chain of being. For one thing, they pollinate every third piece of food we eat. Unfortunately, scientists are abuzz because something seems to be killing the busy little bees in huge numbers.  A British study suggests it may be -- you guessed it -- the cell phone. 

If this sounds far-fetched, consider that an earlier  German study found bee colonies behave differently near power lines. A Florida researcher says it's a serious issue; he fears the bees are the "canary in the coal mine."

FCC Takes a Closer Look at Broadband Deployment If you listen to AT&T and Verizon, they'll assure you that just about everybody has access to broadband Internet connections.  Of course, this isn't even close to being true and at long last, the Federal Communications Commission is at least going through the motions.  It has grudgingly launched a new inquiry to determine whether broadband is adequately deployed in rural areas.

Web Broadcasters Lose Out An appeals tribunal has refused to overturn an earlier ruling that Internet radio stations must pay sharply higher royalties on the music they play. Most stations say the ruling will put them out of business sooner rather than later but the music industry insists the royalties are needed to support the business in the style to which it's become accustomed. After all, we can't have starving artists playing in subway stations and on street corners, now can we?

RECALLS
Magnetix Building Set Recall Expanded Swallowed magnets are causing severe internal injuries to small children. At least one death has been reported. The problem is that, if accidentally swallowed by infants, the magnets clump together, possibly creating dangerous intestinal obstructions.

More recalls ...

NAIL GUN INJURIES SPIKE
It used to be that hitting yourself on the thumb with a hammer was par for the course when working around the house. But now, thanks to technology, Harry Homeowners are able to shoot nails right through their hand. The result is evident in a weekend visit to just about any  emergency rooms on weekends, a government agency reports.

SCAMS & OUTRAGES

• Oprah Scam Look out! Victims get a check and a letter telling them they're big winners.

• Card Processor Company used deceptive tactics to sell its card processing services, agency alleges.

SLANTING TO THE RIGHT?
Over the last few months, we've received puzzling reports from a few readers complaining that our pages are all scrunched up on the right side of their screen. We were never able to duplicate the problem until the other day, when we were loading the latest Linux desktop distro, Ubuntu, onto a spare laptop.

We booted it up and, sure enough, everything was shoved over to the right side. But just as obvious was the friendly reminder from our browser that an add-on was needed to run all the programs on our page. That add-on is none other than Adobe's Flash, which is used extensively on our site and just about every other site we can think of. 

We run across many consumers, some in our own office, who don't like to download updates to their computer because they're afraid of spam, viruses, etc. It works the other way, actually.  If you're running Windows, you need every update Microsoft offers as it continues trying to fill the many security gaps, holes, back doors and vulnerabilities. Other updates and plug-ins, like Flash, are not only benign but necessary as Web sites increasingly migrate from pure text to content that includes animation, video and other add-ons.

Next week ... more about why you need to know about Ubuntu and other flavors of free, community-supported Linux software.

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