Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Eureka is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, between St. Louis, Missouri and Pacific, Missouri along Interstate 44. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 7,676. The city is two miles (3 km) west of the former site of Times Beach, the site of dioxin contamination discovered in the 1980s; the area was cleaned up and became Route 66 State Park. Since 1961, Eureka has been known as the home of the amusement park formerly known as Six Flags Over Mid-America and now called Six Flags St. Louis. Local news coverage for the town and some of its neighbors is provided by the Tri County Journal and the Washington Missourian.