No manufacturer, large or small, can be completely immune from a product recall and the business disruption that may result.
However, manufacturers owe consumers an obligation to be on the lookout for potential defects in a product line. Many defects only become evident after a certain number of products have been sold. Sometimes, the danger of a product is revealed because of an injury-causing accident.
The ever common pain medicine we ever bought can be found in Tylenol, this medicine is found in a variety of over-the-counter and prescription pain relievers. But as much as people often think that this medicine is very safe, this medicine can be very deadly.
If you own Johnson and Johnson stock you probably have enough problems on your hands. The company keeps getting hammered by lawsuits alleging that talc in baby powder has given women cancer. Now, this manufacturer discovered that someone had tainted these typical pain pills with potassium cyanide, a tragic, medical mystery that began in 1982. Following the 1982 Chicago area, Tylenol poisoning claimed seven lives; JNJ set to work issuing one of the largest product recalls in history.
They spent $100 million over a number of weeks to recall Tylenol that might have been contaminated.
In addition, for staggering recall, a stunning 6.5 million tires had to be recalled not long ago by Bridgestone/Firestone.
And if you ask why? Because in August 2000, the Ford-Firestone dispute blew up.
If we go back even further, as early as 1996, we find that personal injury lawyers were aware of accidents, injuries, and fatalities caused by the tread of Firestone tires separating from the tire at high speeds on various models of Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers.
In the end, in favor of maximizing profits, Ford was the business that made the fatal mistake.
Ford was advised to alter the tires by safety engineers since it was unsafe to use them as-is. Ford discovered their error, however, as tire after tire began to fail, resulting in more than 200 fatalities, 3,000 accidents, and other incidents. While Bridgestone spent $400 million on recalls, Ford was sued for $600 million.
Now, in September 2004, the pharmaceutical giant Merck withdraws their most lucrative medicine, geared toward a more senior population, Vioxx, after a colon-polyp prevention study, called APPROVe, shows that the drug raises the risk of heart attacks after 18 months. By the time Vioxx is withdrawn from the market, an estimated 20 million Americans have taken the drug.
According to research that was subsequently published in the medical journal Lancet, taking Vioxx caused heart attacks in 88,000 Americans, 38,000 of whom passed away.
The company said that people and estates who have already filed lawsuits would qualify if they show proof of a heart attack or a certain type of stroke within 14 days of taking Vioxx.
But Merck & Co. agreed to pay $4.85 billion to end tens of thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx. It’s one of the largest settlements involving prescription drugs ever.
For years, we all know that Batteries in electronic devices have been dangerous. However, lithium-ion batteries by Sony that were used to power Dell laptops were not just hazardous—they were also lethal. In order to power more than 4 million of their well-known laptop computers, Dell employed these hazardous batteries.
These lithium-ion battery packs can overheat, posing burn and fire hazards. There have been 16 reports of notebook computer batteries overheating, causing minor property damage and two minor burns. This latest in a series of glitches to have tarnished the electronic giant’s reputation, the Sony executives and Dell paid an estimated $400 million to get the dangerous products out of the market.
Discovering an atrocious reality around one of their manufacturers, the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency revealed an appalling reality not long ago that Sudan 1, a carcinogenic dye, was shown to be present in chili powder. It was found in 580 different goods, including Worcestershire sauce and Caesar dressing, posing a threat to the lives of millions of people.
Businesses lost millions of dollars as a result of the product recall owing to the dye in the chili powder. Affected brands included Birds Eye, whose costs to cope with the recall reportedly “went into double-digit millions” of dollars.
Sources: Awm, Awm (2), Awm, (3), Awm (4), Awm (5), Awm (6)
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