The Civil Justice System and the Media: Americans' Last Watchdogs

For the third time this summer, Mattel has issued a toy recall.  This time its 645,000 Barbie accessories pulled from shelves because they contain excessive levels of lead paint.  This move follows the 1.5 million “Thomas and Friends” railway toys recalled in June as well as the 200,000 Pixar trucks and 967,000 Fisher Price items.  Just a couple weeks ago, Toys-R-Us recalled crayon and paint box sets because of their lead content.

It’s a scary phenomenon.  When lead-based paint was banned from homes in 1978 and word of its dangers spread, most people were able to keep their children safe from lead poisoning.  Now, almost 30 years later, the relatively simple tasks parents had of getting a home inspection and making sure kids don’t eat paint chips turn into a Herculean chore of monitoring every plaything a child handles. 

The government continues to relinquish its role in promoting our and our children’s general welfare.  Without this federal protection, the only things that exist to relieve these parents of fears that “safe” products are actually harmful are the watchful eye – and heavy hand – of the civil justice system and the media.

We’ve seen again and again how consumer action in instituting lawsuits or the fear of bad press has encouraged a greater sense of corporate responsibility.  It’s clear it was this pressure that prompted Mattel’s recalls. It’s not just lead-painted toys either.  Other unsafe products, corporate fraud on shareholders, environmental contamination, unhealthy health care, and other injurious actions are also taken to task by the civil justice system and the media.

The government may have been behind the lead-paint ban in 1978 but it was the lawsuits against paint manufacturers in the mid-1980s that really sent a shockwave through the industry, reinforcing more than any law could the imperative of lead-free paint.  With the media’s help, the civil justice system will continue exposing corporations’ misdeeds to ensure not only the safety of children playing with toy trains, but the safety of every American citizen.   

Comments

[John Morgan]

Americans continue being victimized by the unregulation of businesses in China. This, along with the pet food fiasco, illustrates how easily we could be poisoned by a foreign power without any oversight by DHS.

Companies like Mattel outsource their production to China and other places with no regard for the safety and health of their customers. The fact this is the third recall by Mattel shows they must be complicit in the substandard manufacture of these toys.

[Michael]

Thanks, John, for that insightful response.

[Lee Levan]

Michael

What you have pointed out about the civil justice system is precisely why the Republicans and big business support so-called tort reform. If they are successful in adopting tort reform, the civil justice system will be emasculated and no longer able to provide a check to the driving force of profit-above-all.

[Joyful Alternative]

Maybe now American parents can be persuaded not to buy any junk toys for their children, which would benefit the children, the family finances, the balance of trade, the environment----

[Michael P]

Lee, that is precisely what the civil justice system - in its current form - provides: checks and balances on what has become a corrupted government.

Joyful Alternative, while I appreciate your comment, I don't think the solution is telling parents to stop buying toys for their children - remember, we need these type of transactions to sustain our ecomony. I think the more accurate way to solve the problem is to punish corporations for their misdeeds and make them wholly accountable, this way ensuring parents, if its within their means, the ability to purchase a safe, and enjoyable, plaything for their growing child.

[Wooden toys]

I think this is an example of lack of regulation and responsibility on the side of the manufacturers. It is easy to blame on the workers who have no idea about the company's regulation and it is really unfair for them to get blamed...