Comments on: Of Sanitation and Insanity http://blog.operator-speaking.com/2009/01/27/peanut-corporation-of-america/ Sun, 01 Apr 2012 09:28:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: The Operator http://blog.operator-speaking.com/2009/01/27/peanut-corporation-of-america/comment-page-1/#comment-182 The Operator Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:52:10 +0000 http://blog.operator-speaking.com/?p=658#comment-182 My statement - that this incident is not newsworthy on the basis of being unique - has more to do with the fact that it is common practice for businesses to act with disregard toward the welfare of the public. While making an example of Peanut Corporation of America is all well and good for selling newspapers and inducing a little consumer paranoia, salmonella is hardly a leading killer of Americans. Companies with far better public relations campaigns and well-heeled lobbyists are presently getting away with the sale of products which make people sick and/or kill them - doctors routinely prescribe products whose FDA-mandated safety research is tainted (to say nothing of tobacco and fast food). My statement – that this incident is not newsworthy on the basis of being unique – has more to do with the fact that it is common practice for businesses to act with disregard toward the welfare of the public.

While making an example of Peanut Corporation of America is all well and good for selling newspapers and inducing a little consumer paranoia, salmonella is hardly a leading killer of Americans.

Companies with far better public relations campaigns and well-heeled lobbyists are presently getting away with the sale of products which make people sick and/or kill them – doctors routinely prescribe products whose FDA-mandated safety research is tainted (to say nothing of tobacco and fast food).

]]> By: Mike http://blog.operator-speaking.com/2009/01/27/peanut-corporation-of-america/comment-page-1/#comment-181 Mike Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:31:37 +0000 http://blog.operator-speaking.com/?p=658#comment-181 The insanity of this situation isn't whether or not it's newsworthy. It's not that an under-paid, under-trained, under-supervised employee slacked off. It's that the safety mechanisms put in place by the FDA, executed by the company's quality control, discovered that the batch was tainted--and management willfully and purposefully opted to take a gamble with the health and well-being of tens of thousands of people by releasing it anyway. It becomes newsworthy by default when the FDA needs to draw the attention of all the grocers with tainted product on the shelves, and all the people with tainted product in their cupboards, so that they can discard the product before getting sick. Without the public smearing of this company and its executives, what's to stop other companies from doing the exact same thing and continuing to ignore the regulations? The insanity of this situation isn’t whether or not it’s newsworthy. It’s not that an under-paid, under-trained, under-supervised employee slacked off. It’s that the safety mechanisms put in place by the FDA, executed by the company’s quality control, discovered that the batch was tainted–and management willfully and purposefully opted to take a gamble with the health and well-being of tens of thousands of people by releasing it anyway.

It becomes newsworthy by default when the FDA needs to draw the attention of all the grocers with tainted product on the shelves, and all the people with tainted product in their cupboards, so that they can discard the product before getting sick. Without the public smearing of this company and its executives, what’s to stop other companies from doing the exact same thing and continuing to ignore the regulations?

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