January 9, 2011

• Glaxo Pharmaceutical Exposed Choosing Profits over Known Human Safety Risks

   

  Time and time again we see the result of loosely regulated companies that ultimately end up with disastrous consequences. Toyota had received numerous warnings about an acceleration problem with their cars and actively ignored/suppressed the issue until news broke that a 911 call captured the horrific details of a Highway Patrol Officer frantically describing the problem before a crash at an intersection killed all four occupants in the car. Another case is the Massey Energy Mine explosion that was the deadliest in 25 years. Follow-up investigations showed Massey had ignored numerous safety violations, with 57 additional violations being reported the month prior to the explosion. BP Oil followed the same route as well. In these cases the common denominator points to the corporate attitude of being unwilling to spend additional money on safety issues that would impact the bottom line profits.  They made the conscious choice to put corporate profit ahead of human safety concerns until some disaster made it impossible for the problems to be quietly swept under the rug.

  The latest case in point is pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, who has been criminally convicted of producing adulterated and mislabeled drugs at one of their subsidiary plants. 60 Minutes interviews the whistle blower that alerted the FDA and brought the issue to the forefront.

  The details she describes are appalling- numerous SERIOUS violations she reported that went unheeded month after month. The whistle blower was in charge of quality control and the violations were so severe that she recommended the plant be immediately shut down until the problems were resolved- which fell on the deaf ears of corporate management. When confronted with a report of a child getting very sick with a mislabeled drug, it was again ignored and blame was deflected somewhere else besides the plant. 

  Thankfully, a major tragedy was averted due the whistle blower alerting the FDA after 9 months of being ignored, and ultimately fired by GlaxoSmithKline. The details of the incident are in the video:

   

   

  Note that GSK still "pretends" to be all concerned about safety and quality- which doesn't add up based on all the details of them ignoring all severe concerns that were brought up over and over again for MONTHS.

  All these known occurrences should make you wonder how many other companies are sacrificing safety over the almighty dollar. The mantra that the "free-market" free of regulations is the best way to go may sound well in theory but has proven to be disastrous in practice. It's clear that the temptation to put corporate profits ahead of everything else is too great. Despite companies paying "lip service" to the importance of quality control, when push comes to shove, safety and quality often go out the window to meet deadlines and save money.

  It should also be clear that we as a nation are in big trouble since our Government (Democrats AND Republicans) is so reliant on corporate campaign funds to get elected to office. In return for their corporate dollars, regulations are far less stringent and in some cases, nonexistent. 

  Think about these things the next time you hear economists or politicians arguing in favor of LESS regulations and MORE corporate "free-market" independence.

   

   

  • 3:08 pm
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