Consumers Union (CU) publishes Consumer Reports magazine, a premier independent source of information for American consumers. Founded in 1936 by a group of concerned professors, labor leaders, journalists, and engineers, CU is known for its testing and rating of consumer PRODUCTs. To maintain its independence, CU purchases every product tested and does not accept grants. Instead it relies on member subscriptions, which were only 4,000 in 1936 but today exceed 5 million. A positive Consumers Union review can create significant impact in the marketplace. In the mid-1960s CU’s recommendation of the Toyota Corolla helped the Japanese manufacturer break into the U.S. market. Ralph Nader, author of Unsafe at Any Speed (1965), a highly critical assessment of General Motors’ Corvair, was a member of CU’s BOARD OF DIRECTORS for eight years. CU also supported the publication of Silent Spring (1963), Rachel Carson’s environmental classic, with a special CU edition of the book. CU’s National Testing and Research Center in Yonkers, N.Y., is the largest nonprofit education and consumer product-testing center in the world. CU’s safety and repair reports for automobiles are among their most widely used consumer-information service. CU also maintains three advocacy offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Austin, testifying before federal and state legislatures, petitioning government agencies, and filing consumer interest lawsuits.