Published since 1936, Consumer Reports has established a reputation as a leading source of unbiased reporting about products and services likely to be used by the typical American. It counts itself among the ten most widely disseminated periodicals in the United States, with a circulation in 1998 of 4.6 million. In all of its more than sixty years of production, the journal has never accepted free samples, advertisements, or grants from any industry, business, or agency. Maintaining this strict independence from interest groups has helped make Consumer Reports a trusted source of information.

Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union, a not-forprofit organization based in Yonkers, New York. Along with the print monthly, Consumers Union also creates and distributes many guide books for consumers, such as the Supermarket Buying Guide and the Auto Insurance Handbook, as well as newsletters about travel and health issues, and a children's magazine called...