Do you know if your household products are defective and could cause injury to you or your family? Are your medicines doing more harm than good? Are the toys you are buying safe?
Under current law, many defective and hazardous consumer products are still on store shelves, in medicine cabinets, and around the houses of millions of Americans – and you’d never know they are dangerous.
Don’t Americans have the right to know that the products they purchase won’t hurt themselves and their families?
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How do the big corporations get away with keeping this information from us?
By sealing records in court cases, and keeping them a secret from the public.
Even when victims are successful in holding corporations accountable for defective and hazardous products, they are often forced to sign secrecy agreements which prevent them from informing other consumers of the injuries they suffered.
The Blog People Over Profits has a great Letter To Congress Set Up For Your Ease of writing to your Congress critters!
Tell Congress To Stop Letting Corporations Hide Behind Secrecy Agreements
Go To www.PEOPLEOVERPROFITS.org/courtsecrecy
Court secrecy enabled Mattel to hide dozens of Polly Pocket related injuries and two related deaths over a year and a half before the company finally issued a recall of the toys.
In the late 1990s, defective Firestone tires caused at least 271 fatalities – most of which involved cases settled secretly. Firestone continued settling cases for at least three years before recalling 6.5 million defective tires.
In 2005, drug giant Eli Lilly only agreed to settle more than 8,000 lawsuits after the victims agreed not to discuss the cases publicly. The victims, who had taken the drug Zyprexa, suffered such severe weight gain and increase in blood sugar that some developed diabetes. The public did not learn about dangerous Zyprexa side effects until two years later after another 18,000 cases had been filed.
The practice of Court Secrecy is a typical example of how corporations can legally put Profits Over People. In these cases, public disclosure would have allowed thousands of individuals to protect themselves and avoid harmful injuries.
We have the chance to prevent corporations from hiding their product’s defects. Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin has introduced The Sunshine in Litigation Act (S. 2449) which will restrict secrecy that impacts public health and safety.
Tell Congress To Stop Letting Corporations Hide Behind Secrecy Agreements
Go To www.PEOPLEOVERPROFITS.org/courtsecrecy
Write to your Congress Critters today and let them know that these agreements enable corporations to hide evidence of their dangerous and defective products. Congress must not continue to enable this practice which causes more Americans to become victims everyday.
If you prefer to Contact Congress Critters the old fashion way, you can get their contact info here at the Legislative Directory.
Here is a sample letter to congress that you can use to start or for a phone call.
Thanks so much on Shedding Some Light On this issue!!
Dear Member of Congress,
The American public has a right to know about hazardous and defective consumer products – especially when irresponsible businesses continue to profit from product sales at the expense of consumer safety. As a condition of settling court cases, businesses often demand that individuals agree to secrecy provisions which prohibit them from disclosing any public safety hazards uncovered during litigation.
Allowing the sealing of all litigation records, even when they involve matters of public health and safety, endangers consumers and encourages corporate wrongdoing.
That’s why I am asking you to support Senator Kohl’s (D-WI) bill, S. 2449, the "Sunshine in Litigation Act of 2007." This legislation restores public accountability in our judicial system by restricting court secrecy on matters that impact public health and safety.
Court secrecy is what enabled Mattel to hide dozens of Polly Pocket, a popular childrens’ toy, related injuries and two related deaths over a year and a half before the company finally issued a recall.
In the late 1990s, defective Firestone tires caused at least 271 fatalities – most of which involved cases settled secretly. Firestone, thanks to secrecy agreements, continued settling cases for at least three years before recalling 6.5 million defective tires.
Hundreds of child sexual abuse cases involving clergy were also settled secretly for years before the Boston Globe revealed the extent of the problem in 2002.
Earlier public disclosure of these incidents and many others would have allowed millions of Americans to protect themselves and avoid harmful injuries.
By restricting secrecy, companies unable to hide significant product hazards would be motivated to correct these hazards earlier instead of waiting until more product related deaths and injuries occurred.
Please support The Sunshine in Litigation Act today!
Sincerely,
Thank You For Helping Out With Your Activism!!