Ralph talks “vultures,” the auto industry kind with Clarence Ditlow of The Center For Auto Safety, the Big Pharma kind with Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, and then the good kind with environmental author, Elizabeth Royte.
Clarence Ditlow is the executive director of The Center for Auto Safety, which was founded by the Consumers Union and Ralph Nader in 1970. Every year the Center puts out a report called The Car Book, which is a comprehensive guide to buying a car. He co-authored with Ralph, The Lemon Book, about how not to get ripped off purchasing a car and was also the co-author of Little Secrets of the Auto Industry about the issue of “secret warranties.” Clarence Ditlow has been watchdogging the auto industry at the Center since 1976, and the New York Times described him as “the splinter the industry cannot remove from its thumb.”
Dr. Sidney Wolfe was the director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group from it’s founding in 1971 until he stepped into his role of senior advisor in 2013 and has been responsible for getting twenty-five dangerous drugs off the market. Dr. Wolfe has been a tireless watchdog of the medical device industry, dangerous toys, appliances, and other consumer products. He also founded the publication Worst Pills/Best Pills a comprehensive guide about the safety and efficacy of over 500 best- selling drugs.
Author Elizabeth Royte’s blog is entitled “Waste, Water, Whatever.” She is the author of Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale and Why We Bought It; Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash ; and The Tapir’s Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest. Her writing on science and the environment has appeared in Harper’s, Outside, The New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic for which she wrote “Vultures are Revolting: Here’s Why We Have To Save Them.”
Vultures!