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Consumers Union is a non-profit organization based in the United States whose mission is to advocate on policy issues related to telecommunications, mass media, vehicle safety, health care, product safety, financial services, investing, food safety, housing, and energy and utility deregulation. The organization published the Consumer Reports magazine since its founding in 1936 until 2012. In 2012, Consumers Union created a spin-off company named ''Consumer Reports'' to continue its mission of product research, testing and reporting via its Consumer Reports magazine (as well as via an online website), while the Consumers Union company dedicated itself exclusively to advocacy matters.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About Us )〕 Consumers Union has four advocacy offices that attempt to influence policy that affects consumers. They are located in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, California; Austin, Texas; and Yonkers, New York. Employees based in these offices "testify before federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies, petition government agencies, and file lawsuits on behalf of the consumer interest."〔 == History == Consumers Union's predecessor, Consumers' Research, was founded in 1926. In 1936, Consumers Union was founded by Arthur Kallet, Colston Warne, and others who felt that the established Consumers' Research organization was not aggressive enough. Kallet, an engineer and director of Consumers' Research, had a falling out with F.J. Schlink and started his own organization with Amherst College economics professor Colston Warne. In part due to actions of Consumers' Research, the House Un-American Activities Committee placed Consumers Union on a list of subversive organizations, only to remove it in 1954. Prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader was on the board of directors, but left in 1975 due to a "division of philosophy" with new Executive Director Rhoda Karpatkin. Nader wanted Consumers Union to focus on policy and product advocacy, while Karpatkin focused on product testing. Karpatkin was appointed Executive Directory in 1974 and retired as President in the early 2000s.〔 Consumers Union has helped start several consumer groups and publications, in 1960 helping create global consumer group Consumers International and in 1974 providing financial assistance to Consumers' Checkbook which is considered akin to ''Consumer Reports'' for local services in the seven metropolitan areas they serve. At the start of 2009, Consumers Union acquired ''The Consumerist'' blog from Gawker Media〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Consumers Union Buys Consumerist )〕 for approximately $600,000. In 2012 the publishing organization began doing business as "Consumer Reports", which is also the name of the magazine published by the organization. The reason for the name change was that the name of "Consumer Reports" this means that it was more familiar to the public than the name "Consumers Union".〔 The name "Consumers Union" became reserved for the subsection of the organization which participates in political advocacy.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Consumers Union」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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