Johnson & Johnson raise concerns about quality control

Johnson & Johnson raise concerns about quality control

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/business/new-recalls-by-johnson-johnson-raise-concern-about-quality-control-improvements.html?ref=health&_r=0

Level: National

Concerning: Families and product safety

Category: Consumer safety, product reliability and safety

Why is this important’/how does this affect individuals/families?

Families that purchase products from manufacturers are supposed to be guaranteed some sort of quality control and safety, especially if the manufacturers have families and children as their key demographic for their products.

My View: 

The United States government has departments in place in which their duties entail making sure that products distributed to American consumers are safe. The FDA is required to implement critical control points within the manufacturing process and the FTC is required to make sure that when these companies advertise these products as safe and sound, they actually are. When these products are proven to be harmful and have to be recalled, that is a matter of national safety that needs to have severe consequences, and not just a small fine and everything is okay again. Johnson and Johnson are a major company that distributes products geared at children. In the past few years, this company has had to recall numerous products for harmful effects on children, and recently has had two recalls of pretty well known products within a week. Having to recall “200,000 bottles of Motrin for infants” because of bits of plastic in them seems like a pretty serious recall. The FDA says that they have been closely monitoring them, since they are a leading manufacturing company, but they still have pieces of plastic in medicine for infants to choke on. I may seem harsh in my thinking but if a company is not following safety protocol and seems to have these recalls over and over again, why is the FDA not taking serious legal action to make sure that this company follows the rules? Or should there just be stricter safety policy enacted for the well being of the consumers? How many other companies that are not being as closely scrutinized are doing the same thing? In the future I hope that the FDA takes recalls more seriously and punishes the manufacturers more seriously so these mistakes are not taken so lightly.