In an article from Cnnmoney.com, it discusses how Tylenol recently had to recall some medications that had an "unusual moldy, musty, mildew-like" odor. It says how the FDA is having a hard discussion with the Johnson and Johnson Company trying to figure out with all the warnings and compliments they had from customers, why did this recall happen so late? The division, McNeil-PPC, which manufactured most of the products had compliments back in 2008, but did nothing about it because it was a very low number of customers. The FDA is being very hard on this division because so many people have gotten sick over the past few years and with all the warning letters they received, they acted very slowly because they did not want to lose profits or the division. With this second recall of Tylenol products, Johnson and Johnson is looking very bad to everyone in the medication industry.
The ethical issue of not being true to the customers and warning them of the hazards of using the products so they do not lose their products is very true to what Aristotle has said in Book 1 of Politics. He says, "intent upon living only, and not upon living well" which is very true in this article. Johnson and Johnson Company realized if they told customers of the potential harm a medication that is designed to relieve their pain was instead causing them more harm, they would lose their profits and be sued. They were trying to live well instead of just living because they wanted to be better than everyone else. They do not believe what Aristotle said about just living, they wanted to push themselves an extra mile to achieve their own set of happiness. I believe by not warning the public, they have caused more harm to themselves in the long-run because now people will have a hard time trusting them when it comes to medication.
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They did indeed push their happiness an exra mile. It really does not surprise me that J&J is one of the many companies doing this. You would think that they would recall the medications on time and prevent people from getting sick. Greed is what Aristotle might say caused this company's actions. Like you said they have caused themselves more harm because people will think of that incident in the future.
ReplyDeleteI feel like any problem like this that happens to a business always plays out this way. No bunsiness wants to recall a large amount of products and lose money if they can just try to ignore the complaints coming their way. I really likedf that you quoted Aristotle in your blog and the connection was very clear. Aristotle believed in morals and satisfaction to the customers and community. By J&J covering themselves, they clearly only made their situation worse and now they have to face the consequences.
ReplyDeleteThe Johnson and Johnson scam contradicts Aristotle's ideas of morality. The Johnson and Johnson Company has had numerous scandals in the past. The multi-billion dollar company is obviously more concerned with making money through faulty products, which is contrary to the message they portray to the public. This article also directly relates to St. Thomas Aquinas' views: selling a faulty product is unlawful; Johnson and Johnson are guilty of a fraudulent sale, and they are bound to restitution.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting article, which I actually came across as well. I agree that Aristotle would consider this type of business committing usury in a sense that they are attempting to make their profits and wealth unlimited, which is an unnatural art of acquisition. I think this article speaks directly to what St. Thomas Aquinas argues. The Tylenol is a faulty product, and like Callyn said, Aquinas claims that selling a faulty product is unlawful. Johnson and Johnson not only are running a business unethically, but are striving for a goal of gaining wealth instead of something higher than that and of more importance.
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