Consumer Issues (main)
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
Consumer Issues
Marketing practices, worldwide, have a tremendous impact on how producers influence consumers to purchase their products. To do their jobs, they have to have a good idea about what makes people want to buy and consume. Most often, their focus is on why a consumer would choose a particular brand of a product, at a particular time and place. Social science research, primarily from psychology and sociology, forms the basis for the standard marketing view of consumer behavior.
Consumers, on the other hand, increasingly are finding a real need for balanced, factual and science-based information about the products they want to make decisions about when they want and need something. Such consumer issues need to recognize and understand policy drivers related to such things as, for example:
- Toxic substance properties;
- Resource use;
- Recycling; and
- Impact and on climate change, or all among a variety of drivers.
The Encyclopedia's broad educational focus recognizes the need for balanced, science-based assessment and communication approaches in its reporting of "Consumer Issues” to its users.
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Featured Article 
Toxic Substances Control Act, United StatesThe Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to screen existing and new chemicals used in... More »
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Living in a contaminated worldHumankind is now in its third generation since the chemical revolution—circa 1940. The myriad dimensions and implications of this worldwide phenomenon and its actual and... More »
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Featured News Article 
Fall Colors 2011 (Consumer Issues)USDA Forest Service launches expanded Fall Colors 2011 website Hotline provides information for peak viewing and trip planning Fall Colors 2011 is underway with the U.S.... More »
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Aluminum (Consumer Issues)Aluminum is a silver-white metal, very low density (less than three times as dense as water), yet relatively strong. In addition, aluminum is ductile; that is, it can be drawn... More »
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Diethylstilbestrol (Consumer Issues)Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic form of the hormone estrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriage, premature... More »
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"ShakeOut" Earthquake DrillsDrop! Cover! Hold On! "ShakeOut" Earthquake Drills Take Place This Week "ShakeOuts" to be held in California, Nevada, Guam, Oregon, Idaho, British... More »
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Scented Products and VOCsA single fragrance in a product can contain a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, some of which react with ozone in ambient air to form dangerous secondary pollutants.This... More »
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Food and water safety after a disaster or...What do you need to know to keep your food and water supplies safe for use following a disaster or an emergency? Keep Food and Water Safe After a Disaster or Emergency Food may... More »
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Cats, Toxoplasma, and SchizophreniaIn humans, acute infection withToxoplasmosis can produce psychotic symptoms similar to those displayed by persons with schizophrenia. This article written by E. Fuller Torrey... More »
Recently Updated
Animal food (Consumer Issues) Last Updated on 2014-11-15 15:14:46 The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) defines Animal Food as: Any article intended for use as food for dogs, cats, or other animals derived wholly, or in part, from the carcass or parts or products of the carcass of any livestock, except that the term animal food as used herein does not include: Processed dry animal food or Livestock or poultry feeds manufactured from processed livestock byproducts (such as meatmeal tankage, meat and bonemeal, bloodmeal, and feed grade animal fat). More » 
Animal Agriculture and the Environment Last Updated on 2014-11-15 14:53:25 Animal production industries have seen substantial changes over the past several decades, the result of domestic/export market forces and technological changes. The number of large operations has increased, and animal and feed production are increasingly separated in terms of both management and geography. Concern that these changes are harming the environment has prompted local, State, and Federal policies and programs to control pollution from animal production facilities. Changes in the structure of livestock and poultry production are behind many of the current concerns about animals and the environment. Structural changes have been driven by both innovation and economies of scale. Organizational innovations, such as production contract arrangements, enable growers to access the capital necessary to adopt innovative technologies and garner economies of size in their efforts... More » 
Bacteria (Consumer Issues) Last Updated on 2014-10-12 18:54:28 Bacteria are any of a very large group of single-celled microorganisms that display a wide range of metabolic types, geometric shapes and environmental habitats—and niches—of occurrence. Normally only several micrometers in length, bacteria assume the form of spheres, rods, spirals and other shapes. Bacteria are found in a very broad gamut of habitats; for example, bacterial extremophiles that thrive in such places as hot springs, arctic environments, radioactive waste, deep sea oil seeps, deep Earth crustal environments, hypersaline ponds and within other living organisms. There are approximately 50 million bacterial organisms in a single gram of typical surface soil. The worldwide bacterial biomass exceeds that of all plants and animals on Earth. However, the majority of bacteria have not yet been characterised, Bacteria are members of the prokaryote... More » 
Ricin (Consumer Issues) Last Updated on 2014-06-30 13:49:34 The Director's Emergency Operations Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has assembled basic information about the toxin ricin. You can find more detailed information on the CDC's Ricin Homepage. Ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans. If castor beans are chewed and swallowed, the released ricin can cause injury. Ricin can be made from the waste material left over from processing castor beans. It can be in the form of a powder, a mist, or a pellet, or it can be dissolved in water or weak acid. It is a stable substance under normal conditions, but can be inactivated by heat above 80 degrees Centigrade (176 degrees Fahrenheit). Castor beans are processed throughout the world to make castor oil. Ricin is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made. Ricin has been used experimentally in medicine to... More » 
Healthy Community Design Last Updated on 2014-06-29 19:10:40 The way we design and build our communities can affect our physical and mental health. Healthy community design integrates evidence-based health strategies into community planning, transportation, and land-use decisions. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that healthy community design can improve people’s health by: Increasing physical activity; Reducing injury; Increasing access to healthy food; Improving air and water quality; Minimizing the effects of climate change; Decreasing mental health stresses; Strengthening the social fabric of a community; and Providing fair access to livelihood, education, and resources. According to the World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of infirmity. A healthy community as described by the U.S. Department of Health and... More » 
