UNSAFE PRODUCTS Even though corporations do not wish to cause harm to consumers, they have in fact all too often done so when the drive to maximize profit or survive in the marketplace has taken priority over concern for consumer safety. An massive range of consumer products including many foods, drugs and medical devices, vehicles, domestic products, and cosmetics have been acknowledged as dangerous to various degrees. Around 70,000 Americans are suspected to die yearly from product-related accidents, and millions more suffer incapacitating injuries at a cost of over $100 billion in property damage, lost wages insurance, litigation, and medical expenses. Even though certain products are intrinsically dangerous, much evidence suggests that corporations, in their almost single-minded pursuit of profit, have been negligent- sometimes criminally- in their disregard for consumer safety. …show more content…
In the novel were references to rats and workers falling into tubs of meats, which inspired disgust and helped to bring the Meat Inspection of 1906 to life. Since then the public has come to assume that meat is inspected according to government standards to protect consumers, but much evidence indicates that throughout the time bribery of government meat inspectors and deception has resulted in the imposing of much unhealthy meat on the American public. In the end of the 20th century, reports of unclean conditions in meatpacking plants, marketing of unsafe mat, and paid-off inspectors were still imminent, and millions of Americans were suffering from food poisoning as a result of such