Tris-impregnated pyjamas were introduced to battle the concern of safety of young children incase there is a fire disaster during their sleep. These fire-retardant children’s pyjamas however, contained chemical that had been verified of causing kidney cancer in children and have been banned by Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Later on, many exporters are trying to buy those pyjamas at cheaper price and dump it to other countries. Based on this situation, the main ethical issue is whether is right to dump those carcinogenic pyjamas to other countries as what the exporters are trying to do. Dumping, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is defined as an action selling products at a very low price at a particular country that importing those products compared to the country that exporting those products. According to Mother Jones magazine, ‘the corporate crime of the century’ is called dumping where hazardous and dangerous products are banned in the USA but sold abroad. It is estimated about $1.2 billion worth of harmful products went overseas in a yearly basis (Dowie, 1979). There are many ongoing arguments whether to support the act of dumping or anti-dumping. For example some believe that we should allow dumping as we can enhance our way of life and financial power by spending on their lowered price final goods, and utilize their intermediate goods to cut our production costs for producers (Hummer, 1989). On the other hand, some groups that are in favour of anti-dumping view it as a threat to local companies especially infant companies that are trying to compete effectively with other well-established international companies (Muley, 2009).
The writer believes it is a mater of perspective as dumping can be viewed either economically or ethically and the writer would like to point out the concern of ethics. The writer feels that the action of dumping these life-threatening products is very unethical because these items can hurt other human beings. This action is definitely based on egoism theory as the exporters totally disregard others’ safety but only think about making profits. Egoism theory is a consequentialist theory that focuses on individuals that prioritize self-interest or organization and only does necessary actions for the sake of solely making the organization better (Shaw, 2014). The exporters are very inconsiderate and selfish as they are aware of the hazardous effects of the pyjamas but still intent to dump them to other nations. In other words, they are acting against one of the prima facie obligations introduced by W.D. Ross, which is the duty not to harm others. They are implying as if the lives of other human beings that are non-US citizens are not important and insignificant. This action of dumping can also be explained by the concept of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals conquer most production and distribution. The principle of capitalism looks at prioritizing the maximization of the shareholders’ profit and that outweighs other obligations (Vergara-Camus, 2017). In this case the exporters clearly wants to only earn profit and does not take other factors seriously such as health of the public. Furthermore, according to the case given, there are other hazardous products being dumped in other countries such as the baby pacifiers that cause chocking deaths and poisoned wheat and barley that caused 4000 deaths in Iraq. These are very serious issues and the fact that consumers of these pyjamas will also suffer the same fate and in this case via kidney cancer, really shocks the writer.
On the other hand, the fact that the manufacturers produce the hazardous pyjamas and decided to sell it to consumers is also an ethical issue. The manufactures completely disregard the due care theory. This theory focuses on creating a positive duty for the manufacturers and highlighting the rights of consumers especially when it comes to safety. According to due care theory, the manufacturers have the obligation to ensure that the products they made are safe and harmless. As for the consumers, they are entitled to specific rights concerning safety of the products such as a complete product label and instructions, fully tested products and usage of safe materials, which does not jeopardize their well-being. It is crystal clear that the manufacturers have not done enough research in producing the pyjamas, as a detailed and thorough research would not have resulted into hazardous pyjamas. Not only that, they are very irresponsible to get rid of their pyjamas to exporters when they actually know that those pyjamas will definitely be dumped somewhere else around the world. Government should be more responsible and take charge in ensuring these pyjamas are not accessible in all markets. Technically, government agencies should inform the state department on the existence of these hazardous pyjamas in order to further notifies other countries through US embassies. By doing so, these pyjamas could be blocked by entering other countries, as they are aware of the situation before hand.
If the writer were one of the manufacturers of Tris-impregnated pyjamas, the writer would definitely not allow dumping of these pyjamas to take place. Although the writer is aware that this situation is a cost to the company, but peoples’ health and safety should always be the priority. Manufacturers should consider utilitarian theory, where in this consequentialist theory, it looks at the highest benefits gained by the most number of people. This moral theory suggests that in search of alternative actions, the net worth of happiness against unhappiness by each selected actions must be the key indicator. In other words, if the choice of action does not produce happiness to greater sum of people, it should not be done. Thus, relating back to this case, dumping should not be done as it will not bring greater good to the public especially citizens of other country. In fact, it will only bring negative impacts and bad news for the children that use the pyjamas. Nonetheless, the manufacturers should discuss with relevant authorities on how to solve the problem that their company is facing. The authorities should help in giving certain incentives to ensure all pyjamas are returned so that the company can remanufacture the products to be sold and utilized as industrial usage instead. This course of action will definitely stop the process of dumping from happening as the health of other human beings is being defended and the problems are dealt professionally. The writer also believes that local legislators and high-level authorities must continuously make prevention programs and bolster them with reasonable financing, access to resources, and work assets. Furthermore, department staff must work with accessible assets to do the program and report achievements back to high-level officials. Local law and state laws may have existed or can be further enhanced to debilitate unlawful dumping. Nonetheless, laws are ineffectual without a dedication from high-level officials for implementation. For instance, the police division must have support of the court framework. Moreover, if illegal dumping is not seen as a major issue and only little effort is made, people will end up being disappointed and quit reaching the police or local authorities to report related issues.
In conclusion, dumping is not the only solution that is available to solve financial problems of a company in this kind of situation. Exporters must be more responsible in their action and always treat everyone equally regardless of his or her citizenship, race or religion. Manufacturers should also be more careful in producing goods or products so that consumers’ safety and well-being are well protected. Consumers are entitled to safe and harmless products regardless of where the products are made from.