Former schoolteacher Maureen Gayle wanted to add eight place settings to her family china collection that she originally purchased more than 50 years ago.

When the Franciscan Desert Rose china by Wedgwood arrived, she saw that the new dinnerware was a poor match to her original set. The painted patterns were not nearly as detailed.

She turned the pieces over and saw three words:

Made in China.

Franciscan Desert Rose chinaware was used by Jackie Kennedy. It's a classic, but a buyer worries about the product because it's made in China.

“I am very worried,” she said. “I know there’s lead in some ceramic paint.”

Lynn Breaux, who has a doctorate in public health, saw the same three words on the label of the Milk-Bone Two-Toned Mini Knotted Bones his wife had bought for their dogs, Charlotte and Scooter the Magnificent.

Breaux remembers when some pet treats made in China were recalled in 2007 because they were tainted with melamine. He decided to call the consumer information number on the box and ask whether the treats are safe.

The first time, he left a message. No response. He left more messages, but nobody ever called him back, he says. He turned to WatchdogNation.com.

“I’d like to know about these dog bones,” he said.

As a dog lover, I worry about the safety of the products I buy for Saige, my loving chocolate Lab. I called the number Breaux gave me. Someone picked up right away.

The staffer said she represented Pet Brands, which makes rawhide and bones, among other products. I told her about Breaux’s concerns.

“I can tell you they are safe,” she said. “I tell customers that our products are tested by a couple of independent labs, and we have to pay for that test.”

She said she would ask an executive to call me, but no one did.

However, I found several sources that can give pet owners the latest information on product safety.

First and most important, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for monitoring pet products, as well as dinnerware sets.

“Pet food products from certain companies in China have been placed on the FDA’s Import Alert list, meaning they will be confiscated at ports of entry,” FDA spokesman Ira R. Allen said.

“There are no recent confirmed cases of adverse effects from dog treats made in China,” he added.

The FDA maintains several Web sites that offer the latest information on product recalls. So, too, does the American Veterinarian Medical Association, which posts the latest alerts on its Web site and its Twitter feed for vets and pet owners. Those would be good sites to bookmark and check regularly.

Ceramic ware from other countries is routinely monitored at ports of entry for lead and cadmium leaching, Allen said.

The FDA reached an agreement with China in 1999 about standards for ceramics intended for U.S. import. But it turns out that pottery from countries that do not have standards can cause problems. The FDA looks at ceramics already in the U.S., too.

“Pottery made in small production settings or by craft potters tend to be more problematic for leaching lead into food because these producers are less likely to have adequate equipment,” the FDA spokesman said.

Home test kits that check for lead on surfaces such as pottery and also in paint and water are available for as little as $10 at hardware stores and elsewhere. Many of these promise immediate results. That’s what I would recommend for Gayle and her eight new settings.

Carolyn Lucas is an expert on antique china who owns Dishes From the Past in Fort Worth. She says that updated versions of traditional sets often look different from the original.

“They’re made differently. They probably don’t have the same glazes. That’s why we’re in business,” she said. “People can come here and get the older china, and it will match what they have.”

Her advice on handling fears of lead content in modern china sets? She likes the idea of using a home test kit. But she says she doesn’t believe that eating off these plates poses a health risk. To be safe, though, she advises against storing food on them.

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Imagine that you use valet parking at one of your city’s best known hotels. When it comes time to fetch your car, the valet pulls your vehicle under the overhang, steps out and walks away.

As you step toward your car, another man swoops in from nowhere, jumps into the driver’s seat and speeds away.

Your car is stolen.

This happened to Hunter Wilder of Azle, Texas in August.

He went to a wedding reception at the Fort Worth Hilton and left his 1997 Lexus with the attendant.

The front of the Fort Worth Hilton is known as the last place where President Kennedy made a public speech on Nov. 22, 1963. It's also where two cars in recent months were stolen in valet parking -- the same way.

When it came time to get his car, the attendant stepped away and another man jumped into his car. The driver almost ran over a group of girls standing near the traffic lane, Wilder recalls. “They had to jump out of the way.”

He yelled, “Hey, that guy just stole my car!”

“The guy runs the next red light, goes down a couple of blocks, hangs a left and it’s gone,” he said.

Then it happened again. Three weeks ago. Same situation. Same hotel.

Paul Carpenter, a minister from Gainesville, Texas told me how his Toyota RAV4 was stolen Jan. 29 while his wife waited for it: The valet attendant “got out and left it running,” he said. “Somebody ran up from the shadows on the driver’s side and drove off.”

Wilder filed an insurance claim with Towne Park, the outside company that runs the Hilton’s valet operations. But Towne Park’s insurance carrier denied the claim.

The reason? Towne Park was not responsible because the car thief shoved the attendant out of the way and thus assaulted him, using force, to take control of the car, the carrier told Wilder.

Wilder says it didn’t happen that way. He says the attendant walked to the other side of the car and left the path to the car wide open for the thief.

Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ralph Swearingin could decide who is responsible. Wilder filed a small claims lawsuit against Towne Park, seeking $4,000 in damages. The court has invited both parties to mediation, but Wilder says he wants a trial.

He said that his car was damaged and that he suffered losses.

“I lost my laptop and laptop bag, radar detector,” he says. “My identity information was stolen off my laptop, along with my checkbook. Somebody tried to make a debit from my account, but I had already gotten LifeLock and locked everything up.”

He said he believes that Towne Park employees “had control of my vehicle at the time it was stolen, and we witnessed them leaving it running and unattended.”

Carpenter says he’s upset with the hotel because officials there passed the buck to the insurance company. The same happened to The Watchdog. When I tried to interview the Fort Worth Hilton’s general manager, Stan Kennedy, he said he could not comment since the hotel hires the outside company to manage its valet parking. He directed me there.

Towne Park, based in Annapolis, Md., has 6,000 employees who will park 10 million cars this year, says Tom Wickert, the company’s vice president of administration.

Although the two car thefts occurred at the same hotel within five months, Wickert said it was out of the ordinary. He questioned whether it was of importance to Watchdog readers, saying, “It’s like getting snow in Fort Worth on the Fourth of July. It’s so uncommon it’s probably not even worth telling them about it.”

Fort Worth has two ordinances that could apply here. It’s against the law to leave an unattended vehicle running. And leaving a key in a parked car is also against the law. Fines for each are $100.

The city renews the license of valet parking companies annually. A license can be denied if the city decides a parking company “endangers the safety of persons or property or is otherwise not in the public interest.”

How do you check out a valet parking company? Fort Worth police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Criado came up with a good method to test the professionalism of the service.

Criado says every valet attendant must carry a driver’s license because, obviously, he or she is going to drive your car. But he has learned that some attendants don’t have one.

He suggests asking an attendant who is going to take your car, “Do you have a driver’s license?” Follow up with, “Can I see it?”

It’s against state law to let anyone without a license drive your car, so Criado says you should ask the question to protect yourself. The fine for that violation is $152.

# # #

Valet parking safety tips

Don’t leave a car with the engine running. Turn it off. Step out and hand the key to the attendant.

Customers should use valet keys given to them by the car manufacturer.

Valet parkers are responsible for securing locks, windows and the alarm. Stored keys must be kept in a locked box, inaccessible and away from public view.

Always remove valuables or, if that’s not possible, place them out of sight.

Sources: National Valet Parking Association, Towne Park, Fort Worth police

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

President Barack Obama’s proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency came in with a bang. But it appears to be going out with a whimper.

Before the proposal was introduced in Congress last year, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said of the economic meltdown. “This crisis was caused, in part, by a lack of consumer protections.”

And?

Watchdog Nation checked in with several Washington, D.C., sources last week to learn what’s happening to the proposal in Congress.

The answer? Not much.

The bill passed the House but is stuck in the Senate.

“Opposition to financial reform is intense, coming in particular from big banks and other monied interests that seek to protect the status quo,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a recent statement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says a new agency would hurt small-business owners that rely on credit cards, home-equity loans, auto-title loans and other sources of consumer lending to finance their businesses.

“The idea sounds great on its face, but we need to have a serious discussion about what the CFPA would actually do and what authority it would have,” Ryan McKee of the chamber told me. “The potential for unintended consequences is great.”

The CFPA would give federal regulators power to oversee mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, finance companies, payday lenders and other nonbank providers. Businesses would be blocked from offering financial products that charge prepayment penalties, unjustified fees and excessive interest rates.

Supporters say the agency would provide the public with better information about how to avoid so-called abusive lending and credit problems, and would improve disclosure to borrowers.

It would merge the enforcement divisions of several government agencies into the new agency.

The chamber says it worries that small businesses would lose access to credit, something they already struggle with because they are either too small or too new. The predicted result? Business closures, fewer startups, slower growth and the loss of jobs.

The chamber is also concerned that the proposal would ban products that are abusive but doesn’t clearly define abusive, said McKee, senior director for the chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.

Another sticking point for the chamber: The bill requires “too much disclosure” to consumers.

“Having too much disclosure is like having no disclosure at all,” McKee said, adding: “We need to simplify the disclosures so people get straightforward information.”

The chamber’s solution: Close gaps in existing laws that kept regulators from finding major problems; increase authority for regulators to enforce existing rules; and make sure regulators from various agencies communicate better.

The proposal for a CFPA was first floated in 2007, a year before the meltdown, by Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren. She noted that federal regulators won’t allow a toaster that could burst into flames to hit the market. But mortgages and other “dangerous financial products,” she wrote, are not similarly regulated.

Elizabeth Warren

With questionable loans, she wrote, families can suffer from “wiped-out savings, lost homes, higher costs for car insurance, denial of jobs, troubled marriages, bleak retirements and broken lives.”

Warren is considered a strong candidate to head the agency — if it ever comes into existence.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is carrying the ball for the CFPA. But he’s running into a strong defense put up by Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on that panel. Shelby has called the proposal “a folly and dangerous.”

It all comes down to whether Dodd and Shelby can agree on a compromise.

“We have reached an impasse,” Dodd said this month. “While I still hope that we will ultimately have a consensus package, it is time to move the process forward.” Dodd says he hopes to release a new proposal this month.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., explained last year why he believes it’s tough to get a proposal through: “The banks — hard to believe, in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis, that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Susan K. Weinstock, director of financial reform for the Consumer Federation, said she views that as the major hurdle.

“How much are senators hearing from individual consumers about this? How much do consumers know about this?”

What do you think? I’m most interested in your comments on this.

Better yet, contact your congressional representatives and let them know what you think. If you don’t know who they are, visit www.votesmart.org and type in your zip code — and you’ll quickly find out.

# # #

Do you want to learn more?

House Resolution 4173, known as the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is now in the Senate.

It merges regulatory powers of the Federal Reserve, Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Trade Commission and the National Credit Union Administration.

Here is where you can read more about the actual bill.

Here is where  you can watch videos and read more to learn about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s opposition.

Here is where you can learn about the Consumer Federation of America’s support.

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

By Dave Lieber

Fifteen states don’t allow payday lenders to operate within their borders, often because of outrageous interest rates charges to customers.

Other states allow them to do business, but many have some kind of state regulatory agency that oversees the business.

Then there’s Texas.

The payday loan business in Texas is unregulated.

Payday loans are usually small loans with high interest rates taken out by consumers until their next paycheck. Customers are often poor, lack credit cards and are unable to secure low-interest loans at banks or other lending institutions.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Cash America, for example, charges a $20 fee on each $100 borrowed. Customers are allowed to extend the loan up to four times if needed, a process that tacks on more fees. Interest rates, if calculated for an entire year, can reach more than 1,000 percent. But payday lenders say that calculation is unfair because the loans often last for several weeks or less.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, co-sponsored several bills in the Legislature last year that would have imposed regulations on the payday loan industry, but none got out of the Business and Commerce Committee.

State Sen. Wendy Davis wants to regulate Texas payday loans.

During a hearing on Davis’ bills last year, Leslie Pettijohn, the state’s consumer credit commissioner, testified that no state agency has regulatory oversight of payday lending. According to a summary of the hearing distributed by Davis’ office, Pettijohn said: “We don’t have any jurisdiction [over complaints]. We often try to pass them to the Attorney General’s office. They often try to send them back to us.”

At that hearing, Davis recalls, the room was packed with industry lobbyists. Few consumers attended.

“It’s the mighty against the weak, and as you can imagine, the mighty are winning out,” Davis says.

State law was changed several years ago to allow payday lenders to operate as credit service organizations, which allows them to avoid state lending and usury laws. Because of this, critics say, Texas payday loans are among the most expensive in the nation.

Cash America spends about $30,000 a year on political donations to Texas candidates, estimates Alex Vaughn, the company’s vice president of governmental affairs. Cash America’s vice president of government relations, William J. White, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to chair the Texas Finance Commission, which ensures that banks, savings institutions and consumer credit grantors operate as sound and responsible businesses. White’s term expires this month.

William White of Cash America has been chairman of the Texas Finance Commission.

Referring to that appointment last year, state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said: “The fox is not in the henhouse. The fox owns the henhouse.” Shapleigh introduced several bills with Davis trying to regulate the industry.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh warns about the fox guarding the henhouse.

Cash America’s Vaughn says that because White was appointed as the designated industry representative, it’s unfair to paint his position as anything negative.

Predatory lending is an unfair term, Vaughn says, because customers are not forced to do business with payday lenders.

“Our customers are intelligent,” he says. “They may not be the best in financial management, but they know the costs and the alternatives.”

Last year, legislators estimated that Texas payday lenders annually lend about $2 billion and collect $400 million in fees. But those numbers are difficult to pin down since payday lenders are not required to report their numbers to the state, something one of Davis’ bills would have changed.

The Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities has estimated that a $500 loan can end up costing a borrower $4,000 if it is not paid back immediately.

I asked Davis whether she plans to reintroduce her bills next year.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

If you want white teeth, you face a dilemma. Do you go to a dentist and take advantage of his or her expertise — and pay a little more? Or do you visit a spa, non-dental clinic or even a mall kiosk to get it done at a lower price?

Dentists say only they have the expertise to find problems with your teeth and mouth that could adversely affect the whitening process. Owners of non-dental establishments and the companies that supply them with “laser” lights and bleaching materials say their process is just as safe. In most cases, dentists charge more, but you get their expertise, too.

About 10 states regulate non-dental teeth whitening procedures.

For the rest, it’s the buyer beware.

I don’t know what it says about our culture — I’ll leave that to cultural anthropologists — that Americans feel the need to have the whitest smiles possible. But I do worry that this is a relatively new business that is unstudied, unregulated in most places and, like the Internet, has to be looked at in the coming years.

The sign outside Lottie Holmes' clinic

For help with this, I visited a spa in my neighborhood that has a white banner outside announcing “Laser Teeth Whitening” hanging outside. Owner Lottie Holmes of Lottie’s Skin & Hair Clinic in Watauga, Texas says the banner is working: more customers are coming in to improve their smiles.

For more than a year, she has offered laser teeth-whitening services in her salon, part of a growing, relatively new industry that is stealing business from dentists.

“We jumped on it because it’s painless, noninvasive and safe,” Holmes says.

The service uses a light, not a laser, although most call it that. The staffers who use it receive one day of training.

My home state of Texas has no rules about who can perform laser teeth-whitening. Holmes is a licensed cosmetologist, but she doesn’t need any type of license to operate the light machine.

And because there are no state rules, if anyone complains about teeth-whitening practices at a clinic, spa or any other place (like a mall kiosk), state officials have no choice but to turn them away.

Lisa Jones, director of enforcement for the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners, says, “We do get complaints about these clinics operating, but since we don’t have jurisdiction over them, what we do is refer them to local law enforcement authorities.” Legislation would be needed to regulate teeth-whitening businesses.

Members of the Texas Dental Association say they are frustrated not so much by the independent operators but by the state dental board, which could enforce the state’s dental law more forcefully. Some dentists say they believe these businesses operate an illegal dentistry practice.

Austin dentist Mark Peppard is chairman of an association task force studying the illegal practice of dentistry in Texas, “specifically tooth-whitening,” he says.

Dentists, he says, are concerned that nondentists won’t recognize tooth decay, gum disease or other maladies before applying bleaching agents and what’s called accelerated light to stimulate the chemicals to clean the teeth. Long-term damage is possible, they say.

“It’s simple to say, ‘I drink Coke or coffee.’ But what if disease or a massive cavity is causing a tooth to get darker?” Peppard says.

Nondental technicians, especially those at malls, he says, ask customers to place substances and trays in their own mouth so that the technicians are not actually touching the mouth area — and, technically, not practicing dentistry.

Dentist David Tillman worries that the “caustic chemicals” used in treatments can harm patients if applied by someone other than a trained dentist or dental staffer.

Mary Swift, a dentist at Dallas Laser Dentistry, says dentists are allowed to offer a higher concentration of the bleaching chemical than nondentists. Dentists can offer hydrogen peroxide at 35 percent, but nondentists must offer 10 percent or less.

“Protecting the gums, controlling sensitivity, the concentration of bleach, the type of light source — those are all questions you should ask the guy around the corner,” she says.

Swift charges $600 to $1,000 for teeth-whitening services.

At her clinic, Holmes charges $249, although a follow-up visit, if necessary, may cost an extra $50.

Holmes says that she is well aware of dentists’ concerns but that she knows what she is doing. She protects gums from damage, and her clients don’t suffer from teeth sensitivity problems because of the equipment she uses, she says. Her facility is sanitary, she adds, and she hasn’t heard any complaints.

Lottie Holmes and her laser teeth whitening machine

Tillman says that “until complaints are brought forth, these businesses are probably going to keep going.”

A quick check at the Better Business Bureau found very few complaints, but no specific state agency takes complaints about this.

Joshua Granson, vice president of Beyond Dental & Health, the company that sold Holmes the machine and trained her staff, explains: “We sell to medical spas and salons, people that have training in hygiene. We still want our products represented in an environment that is clean and nice. We don’t want to sell to just anybody.”

Peppard, of the Texas Dental Association, warns: “Just because you see it on TV or in a magazine doesn’t mean it’s safe. It’s not as safe as you think it is. Significant problems can arise from this.

“Instead of just doing something on the spur of the moment, think about how it will affect your teeth. Ask yourself, ‘What should I be worried about? Why shouldn’t I go to a dentist about this?’”

Many customers think about price before anything else, but he figured out a way to combat that argument. He only charges $300.