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.
East Palestine is a city in Unity Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, United States, near the border with Pennsylvania. The population was 4,917 at the 2000 census. The town was founded in 1828 and incorporated as a city in 1875. Nearby clay pits supported a pottery industry; the W. S. George Pottery Company was formed in 1909 from the East Palestine Pottery Company and operated in the town until the 1950s. Formerly, East Palestine was called Mechanicsburg, but was changed to "East Palestine" as part of a religious nomenclature in that area such as New Galilee, Pennsylvania, Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, etc. Mechanicsburg is today a name given a village in Champaign County, Ohio, near the opposite border of the state from East Palestine.