When Big Companies Hurt The General Public

No one wants to have a health procedure done to them only to have the problem turn into something worse. Far worse. Often the issue is just a problem that wasn’t known. Something unforeseen. Unfortunately, there are other times when the problem was known and nothing was done because the big company saw a greater expense in pulling the product than settling lawsuits.

You read that correctly.

The purpose of this article is to make you aware so you can ask the right questions before a buying a product or having a medical procedure. By doing the research yourself to ensure what you are getting will benefit you and not cause major issues later.

There are some companies who marketed products KNOWING the tips they were giving would lead to certain types of cancer. Others knew a certain procedure would cause long-term health issues, but they kept doing the procedure without change. Yet others kept research hidden from the general public to keep their record-setting profits safe.

This is the world we live in where profits and stock price are more valued than human life. Shameful.

Instances of Corporate Harm to the Public:

1. Medical Devices: Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific faced lawsuits over vaginal mesh products causing severe injuries in women which caused severe injuries and complications such as pain, infections, and organ damage in women. These companies settled thousands of claims, with Johnson & Johnson alone paying over $300 million in verdicts and settlements. Boston Scientific agreed to pay $188.6 million to resolve state lawsuits over deceptive marketing practices

   Similarly, Medtronic’s faulty defibrillator leads resulted in unnecessary surgeries and deaths.
   (Drugwatch.com)​​ (Consumer Notice, LLC)​​ (AboutLawsuits.com)

2. Automotive Industry:
   • Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, known as DieselGate, caused environmental damage and health issues. Volkswagen was found to have installed software to cheat emissions tests, causing their diesel vehicles to emit up to 40 times the allowable levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx). This resulted in significant environmental damage and adverse health effects, including increased rates of respiratory issues and premature deaths​ (EarthTalk.org)​​ (Penn LDI)​​ (Justice)​.
   • General Motors’ faulty ignition switches led to numerous accidents and deaths before a recall was issued. GM’s defective ignition switches could unexpectedly shut off the engine and disable airbags, leading to numerous accidents and fatalities. The company recalled millions of vehicles and paid substantial settlements to victims’ families and regulatory fines. The scandal revealed that GM was aware of the defect for years but delayed recalling the affected vehicles. GM ultimately agreed to a $900 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and set up a victims’ compensation fund totaling nearly $595 million. (Wikipedia)​​ (Fox Business)​​ (Justice)

3. Financial Fraud:
   • Enron’s accounting fraud involved hiding debts and inflating profits, leading to the company’s collapse in 2001. This resulted in massive job losses and financial ruin for employees and investors, significantly damaging public trust in corporate governance. The scandal led to the dissolution of Arthur Andersen LLP, one of the largest accounting firms at the time, and resulted in new regulations to promote financial transparency, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (Investopedia)​​ (Harvard CorpGov Forum)​​ (FBI Archives)​.
   • Between 2002 and 2016, Wells Fargo employees, pressured by unrealistic sales targets and incentivized by compensation programs, created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts. This fraudulent activity led to significant harm to customers, including unauthorized fees, damage to credit scores, and misuse of personal information. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) (theweek)​​ (Voice of America).
4. Pharmaceutical Industry:
   • Purdue Pharma played a significant role in the opioid epidemic through its aggressive and deceptive marketing of OxyContin. The company, owned by the Sackler family, launched OxyContin in 1996 and heavily promoted it to doctors, claiming it was less addictive and safer than other opioids. Purdue’s marketing tactics included misleading information about the drug’s risks, incentivizing sales representatives with large bonuses, and sponsoring medical conferences to push their narrative​ (ProPublica)​​ (UW Homepage)​​ (Ethics Unwrapped)​​ (Nature)​.
   • Mylan Pharmaceuticals faced widespread criticism and regulatory scrutiny for its significant price increases on the EpiPen, a life-saving medication used to treat severe allergic reactions. Between 2007 and 2016, the price of a two-pack of EpiPens rose from around $100 to over $600, making the drug unaffordable for many patients who relied on it for emergency situations.

     The price hikes led to public outrage and congressional hearings, where Mylan’s CEO defended the increases by citing improvements to the product and costs associated with manufacturing and distributing the EpiPen. However, these justifications were widely viewed as insufficient given the financial burden placed on consumers and the lack of substantial changes to the product itself. The scandal highlighted issues of drug pricing and access to essential medications​ (ProPublica)​​ (UW Homepage)​​ (Ethics Unwrapped)​​ (Nature)​.

5. Environmental Disasters:
   • The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill, began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This disaster resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history, releasing approximately 4 million barrels of oil over an 87-day period before the well was capped on July 15, 2010. The spill caused extensive environmental damage, impacting marine and wildlife habitats, and had severe economic repercussions for the fishing and tourism industries along the Gulf Coast. The cleanup efforts were extensive and costly, involving controlled burns, skimmer ships, and the application of oil dispersants​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (US EPA)​​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​.
   • The Bhopal gas leak, which occurred on December 2-3, 1984, at a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal, India, is considered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. A methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak exposed hundreds of thousands of people to toxic chemicals. The immediate death toll was estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 people, but subsequent illnesses and long-term health effects raised the death count to over 20,000. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of survivors suffered chronic health issues. The incident highlighted severe lapses in safety standards and corporate responsibility​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (US EPA)​​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​.
6. Tech and Privacy:
   • The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal involved the improper harvesting of personal data from millions of Facebook users by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. This data was obtained through a Facebook-linked app named “thisisyourdigitallife,” which collected data not only from users who installed the app but also from their friends, affecting up to 87 million users. The data was used to build detailed voter profiles and target political advertisements, raising significant privacy concerns and sparking global outrage. The scandal led to multiple investigations and substantial fines, including a $5 billion fine imposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)​ (Wikipedia)​​ (TechRadar)​.
   • In 2017, Equifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies, experienced a massive data breach that compromised the sensitive personal information of approximately 147 million people. The breach exposed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some cases, driver’s license numbers and credit card information. This breach was one of the largest in history and highlighted significant vulnerabilities in Equifax’s data security practices. The company faced widespread criticism, multiple lawsuits, and regulatory scrutiny, resulting in a settlement that included up to $425 million for affected consumers​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (US EPA)​​ (Encyclopedia Britannica)​.
7. Food Safety:
   • The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was involved in a major salmonella outbreak in 2008-2009, which caused over 700 reported cases of salmonella poisoning across 46 states and was linked to nine deaths. This outbreak resulted from PCA shipping contaminated peanut products despite knowing they were tainted, and even falsifying microbiological test results to cover up the contamination. The company permanently shut down its operations following the outbreak. In 2015, Stewart Parnell, the former owner and president of PCA, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for his role in the scandal, the largest criminal sentence ever in a food safety case​ (Justice)​​ (Food Safety News)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (CDC Archives)​.
   • Nestlé faced significant criticism for its aggressive marketing of infant formula in developing countries, which discouraged breastfeeding and contributed to malnutrition and increased infant mortality rates. The marketing practices often involved distributing free samples of infant formula to hospitals and new mothers. Once breastfeeding was disrupted and the mothers returned home, they had to continue purchasing the formula, which was often mixed with contaminated water due to lack of clean water access. This led to severe health issues among infants. The controversy over these practices led to widespread boycotts and prompted the implementation of the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in 1981, which aimed to regulate the marketing of infant formula​ (Justice)​​ (Food Safety News)​​ (Wikipedia)​​ (CDC Archives)​.

These cases demonstrate how corporate malpractice across various industries can significantly impact public health, safety, the environment, and economic stability. They underscore the importance of corporate responsibility, regulatory oversight, and consumer awareness.

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