March 23, 1973 - Sherry Chenoweth talks about a bill that would require octane rating to be disclosed to consumers. This would give consumers information about the minimum quality of gas required by a car, and would be actual factual information rather than meaningless descriptions such as ?regular, premium, super premium? that even the oil companies can?t agree about. She says Chicago is the only city in the nation where stations must post gas octane ratings. The city council there passed the ordinance despite strong opposition from car manufacturers and oil companies claiming this couldn?t be done. She said an FTC study finds average consumer overbuys gas which is too rich for car by $50 a year, which doesn?t do anything to increase car functioning, thus wasting that money. She answered a question about a connection with the rising price of gas saying if we know what we?re buying maybe we can buy lower grade and save money. She said the consumer today really does not know anything about the gasoline he is buying for his automobile.
March 23, 1973 - Sherry Chenoweth says there?s a need for a federal consumer protection agency. She says there are a number of federal agencies that are supposed to be working for the consumer, such as the FDA, FTC, Highway and traffic safety administration, Yet by the fragmentation and bureaucracy in Washington the consumer is not as well served as he should be. It?s a better idea to bring it all together. No state, city, county can do the whole job of protecting the consumer. We live in industrialized society, most goods move on interstate commerce,. She was asked about whether has she noticed any decrease in complaints coming to the state office from Minneapolis and St. Paul, which have their own consumer protection agencies, because they?ve been handled at city level? Chenoweth replies she supposes a slight decrease in both core cities, but both agencies are so new they don?t? have a large load of consumer complaints yet. There?s a problem with the local agencies because they don?t resemble each other, they?re in different units of government. She?d like to see a strong state agency with branch offices in areas of population concentration such as Mankato, Rochester, Duluth, Moorhead.
March 13, 1973 - auto mechanic regulation, fraud, consumerism. Bill purposed to make a consumer protection agency. DMA import part of AAPP grant]
March 2, 1973 - Bill purposed to make a consumer protection agency. Consumer protection agency