Buy Safe Eat Well

Jean has worked on food safety and sustainability issues at in the Yonkers Office of Consumers Union for the last 25 years. She frequently speaks at conferences and to the media, who tap her expertise on subjects ranging from mercury in tuna fish to pending food safety legislation. She also works with consumer organizations globally and helped develop international standards for safety assessment of genetically engineered food at the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Mike has been sharing his scientific expertise with Consumers Union for more than 20 years. A biologist and ecologist who did his Ph.D. in the techniques of Integrated Pest Management, he has identified many an insect for concerned CU staff. He develops policy, testifies before government agencies, speaks widely at conferences in the US and abroad, and talks frequently to media on critical food safety and environmental health issues including mad cow disease, genetic engineering, and pesticide use.

A seasoned community activist, advocate and organizer, Meg has spent the past decade working to educate and mobilize the public on issues relating to public health and consumer protection. With Consumers Union since 2007, she has been involved in campaigns for safer prescription drugs, accessible and affordable health care, and food and product safety.

Ami Gadhia is Policy Counsel with the Washington, D.C. Office of Consumers Union. Her issues include product, food, and auto safety. Ms. Gadhia works with Congress and federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of her work. Ami graduated with a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., is the Director, Technical Policy for Consumers Union. Dr. Rangan joined Consumers Union in 1999 and developed the ratings system, database and website for evaluating environmental labels. As one of her roles at CU today, Dr. Rangan continues to decode the meaning of eco-labels for consumers and advocates for credible labeling in the marketplace including influencing government policy decisions at the state and federal level. She also conducts research for CU around consumer expectations of sustainable products and labels. A noted environmental health scientist, Dr. Rangan has a column in Consumer Reports' ShopSmart magazine and also serves as a top spokesperson for Consumer Reports in the areas of sustainable production and consumption practices. She has a wide area of expertise including organic standards, food safety issues, environmental pollution, toxics in consumer products, and environmental health concerns and has appeared in numerous national broadcast outlets. Her expertise is called upon to respond to breaking product safety news, speak on behalf of CU investigative test stories, and to discuss production problems and consumer solutions around a wide range of sustainability topics including food safety issues, organic food, risky ingredients in personal care products, misleading labels, electronics recycling, and energy efficiency for household products. Dr. Rangan received her Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1995; her post-doctoral work at the Environmental and Occupational Health Science Institute. She was an NIH fellow from 1990-97.