The Legal News

A look at the ethics of product recalls.

  If if seeing a driver to your right on the interstate, gabbing away on his cell phone gets you ticked off, you’ve got a right to be. Multiple studies have demonstrated that operating a vehicle while talking on a cell phone can be as deadly as driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. Estimates of the number of U.S. traffic fatalities instigated by cell phone use while operating a vehicle  are normally in the 2,000 - 3,000 range with 100 times as many injuries.

The best fix for the plague of cell phone  collisions, would be common sense by many drivers and a realization that the common practice is rude and dangerous. Without a sudden epidemic of intelligence, law creation and strict enforcement need to be actualized. Bringing forth  legislation will be difficult given the lobbying ability of the cell phone industry. The effort, though, added to public education, can rescue thousands of lives annually .

As is the norm, product safety is a great burden for consumers. lately, the list of defective items imported from some foreign countries, namely China, has been receiving much needed press coverage. From the contaminated pet food fiasco to a smorgasboard of items meant for human consumption, the public is coming to the realization that they should consider twice before using any product that is brought in from China or any country where safety regulations are a far cry from regulations that are in place currently in America.

It is accurate that the amount of exports of food, drugs and consumer products has grown very rapidly in recent years. So much so, that it is progressivley arduous for inspectors in the States to catch contaminated  or potentially dangerous shipments. It has been divulged
that with so much money at risk, China will try  to center on product safety in an attempt to stave concerns about its faulty products. It is not, however, anticipated  to be an easy job given the level of corruption, pollution and product piracy problems are deeply embedded in that society.

What can we do to better protect ourselves? Starting  in 2008, money  to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission will be escalated. The greater financial contribution will allow the agencies to hire and field more inspectors. In addition, Legislators will also empower the FDA and USDA to issue food recalls, which is not something they are currently commissioned to do, and to declare stricter reporting and labeling.

Many Americans feel they are getting a “bargain” when buying imports. However, with the seriously defective products of late, it’s sure to leave one wondering whether they are really obtaining bargains at all.

The friends of Liberty State Park filed a lawsuit against the state to protect the views. The September 11th Memorial was placed in Liberty State PArk without a public hearing.

75,000 dollars was awarded to Virginia Cavender from a jury in St Louis. The maker of the diet drug Fen-Phen was found in liable when the drug damaged Cavender’s heart valves.

The jury needed just over 6 hours of deliberation before returning the verdict. The jury found the drug compnay failed to warn users and also guilty of breach of implied warranty.

Cavender states shes used Fen-Phen for 2 months in 1996 in an effort to lose weight. Fen-phen was pulled from the stores in 1997 due to growing evidence of links between heart damage and the drug.

cavender won her claims of failure to warn and also breach of implied warranty, but a US judge granted a motion to the drug  manufacturer as a matter of law, the judges dismissed cavender’s claim for negligent failure to test and also breach of express warranty.