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Responsibility. Most everyone thinks that one should take responsibility for their actions. This also applies to businesses. but to what extent do we take this responsibility for businesses? Recently, the tobacco and gun industry have been hit with major lawsuits claiming neglect of taking responsibility for their products. Let's first deal with the tobacco industry. The accusations weighed against the tobacco industry is that it did not release information about the harmful effects of their products. They settled out of court with the state attorneys in one case. Others are pending. So was the tobacco industry wrong to withhold information that smoking was harmful to oneself? Obviously most would feel that it is wrong to not divulge information that harms others. But is it right for the government to try to force the tobacco industry to take responsibility? To what extent should the government take its overseeing powers and execution of society's morals? Of course we all would hope that businesses would have the courtesy to warn its consumers of any possible harms that could occur from usage of their products. So was it wrong for the tobacco industry to not tell us all that they knew? And now we know what smoking does to someone. Is the tobacco industry to be held responsible for all the damage that their product has caused? We now have warning labels on packs of cigarettes about what they can do. But what about all those people who smoked before those warnings, when the tobacco industry kept secret the damages that smoking can do? I think the tobacco industry should have to pay for the medical treatment of anyone who smoked a large amount before warning labels were put on all cigarette packs. But, if a smoker did start smoking significantly after warning labels were put on packs, then it is there problem and responsibility for their health. Some would say that no public funds should be used to help them in their diminishing health since they knew what they were getting into. So the tobacco industry should take responsibility for their product up to the point of when they did not have warning labels and they had the knowledge of the possible damage caused by smoking. but what about the gun industry? They face similar lawsuits as the tobacco industry as to not taking responsibility for their products. But guns are not quite the same as smoking. Everyone knows the danger of using guns. And using guns does not cause harm to the user, it causes harm to others. So is it right for people to blame the gun industry of all murders based on their supposed lack of responsibility. One of the major arguments against the gun industry was their lack of care in whom they sold to. We can hold them responsible for selling to people with histories of violence, but that is all. We can not hold them responsible for selling to people with no history what so ever. both industries have different products and thus different responsibilities to consumers. But they both present an interesting question of what responsibilities should businesses be held to. |