Three One Five: a global consumer movement
ICC COLUMN: The Voice of the Patient

Three One Five: a global consumer movement

Lawrence Grouse

International COPD Coalition

Correspondence to: Lawrence Grouse, MD, PhD, Executive Director of the International COPD Coalition. Department of Neurology, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1959 NE Pacific Ave., Rm RR650, Box 356465, Seattle, Washington 98195-6465, USA. Email: lgrouse@uw.edu.

Submitted May 08, 2014. Accepted for publication May 08, 2014.

doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2014.06.23

During 2014 and 2015, ICC will be promoting patient consumerism through the Three One Five Initiative. San Yao Wu (3 1 5 in Chinese, which refers to March 15) is a global pro-patient and pro-consumer movement. It is highly active all over China and has been active for many years. People can consult with San Yao Wu to see their assessment of what products are unsafe. Due to the booming economy in China, some merchants seek the biggest profit and neglect consumers’ health and rights and having a group that asserts consumers’ rights is necessary. Consumers’ rights activities are needed throughout the world!

The San Yao Wu program is conducted by China Consumers’ Association (CCA, http://www.cca.org.cn/english/index.jsp). The topic for groups to promote for 2014 is “New Laws to Protect Consumers: Rights and Responsibilities”. In 2013 the topic was “Increase Consumers’ Strength”. The Chinese government supports this consumer movement through the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

The CCA has branches throughout China that meet with companies to emphasize consumer respect and service. They coordinate between companies and consumers with questions or complaints, and if problems occur then the government through the SAIC has the right to take action against companies.

San Yao Wu/Three One Five is not active in the US or in many western countries. ICC would like to make more health care professionals and patients familiar with its valuable mandate. ICC looks forward to input from its member organizations, which will be writing to ICC about their plans for 2015 patients’ rights promotion, and their articles will be published in the ICC Column in JTD. We also look forward to JTD readers’ thoughts about patient rights. ICC will be working with our member organizations to work with their governments in passing “New Laws to Protect Consumers” There are many laws that could benefit COPD patients.

Acknowledgements

Disclosure: The author declares no conflict of interest.

Cite this article as: Grouse L. Three One Five: a global consumer movement. J Thorac Dis 2014;6(6):E132. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2014.06.23

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