The Bureau of Consumer Protection investigates and litigates claims regarding consumer rights in the United States. It is a division within the Federal Trade Commission, which opened in 1914. The bureau enhances consumer confidence by enforcing federal laws that protect consumers. It also gives free information so that consumers can exercise their rights. The bureau also provides a way for consumers to complain.http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtmlThe bureau coordinates FTC actions with criminal law enforcement agencies through its Criminal Liaison Unit that litigates civil actions against those who defraud consumers and develops, reviews, and enforces a variety of consumer protection rules. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/about.shtm

Consumer protection began to be a priority for the U.S. government after author Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, published 1906, where he told about the unsanitary conditions at a Chicago meat packing plant. He wrote about what he saw: sausage meat stored in the open, on the floor in piles, with rodent dung on it–prior to being processed for sale to consumers.http://www.america.gov/st/usg-english/2007/October/20071009171007liameruoy0.6069757.html President Theodore Roosevelt sent federal agents the meat packing plant that year and found conditions worse than described. Congress in 1906 passed laws regulating food, drugs and meat.http://www.america.gov/st/usg-english/2007/October/20071009171007liameruoy0.6069757.html

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy outlined the basic tenents of consumer rights; which are the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to be heard. President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 created the post of Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, and in 1967 formed the Consumer Federation of America, which served as the national organization of consumer, cooperative, and labor groups.http://law.jrank.org/pages/12503/Consumer-Protection.html In this tradition, President Barack H. Obama appointed September 17, 2010, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to set up the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/17/AR2010091706828.html