Reckless
Mattel’s irresponsibility is classic to the character of many corporations that exist today.  Corporations have repeatedly been reckless with the health and well-being of consumers.  They are responsible for the deaths of not only their consumers, but citizens in general. The tobacco industry alone can claim responsibility for over a million deaths.  But it doesn’t stop there.

Supreme power
The power corporations hold grows everyday.  In fact, the largest 200 companies had sales that added up to more than a quarter of the world’s economic activity. Those firm’s total sales were larger than the combined economies of the world’s smallest 182 countries.  That kind of clout, and well-funded conservative think tanks and lobby groups are allowing corporations to have a massive influence on both public opinion and government policy.

Getting away with murder
The worst part is – corporations can cause an absurd number of deaths and get away with it – even after they are caught.  Here are a few examples:

Altria – Parent company of Philip Morris, tobacco giant, deliberately deceived the public for decades both directly and through front groups, about the deadly consequences of smoking.
Merck – Kept Vioxx on the market despite having evidence that the hugely profitable arthritis drug posed major heart attack risks.
ExxonMobil – Heavily funded fake grassroots organization and dubious experts to stall action on climate change, possibly jeopardizing all of humanity.
Dow – Refuses to compensate the families of the 20,000 killed and 100,000 injured by toxic gases leaked from an Indian chemical factory by Union Carbide, a wholly owned Dow subsidiary.
Monsanto – Found guilty by the courts of “conduct so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency” for polluting an Alabama town with toxic PCBs.

Mattel
I would not lump Mattel together with these corporate criminals, but who is to say that they shouldn’t be?  How do we know that they weren’t aware of the amount of lead in the paint on their product?  Does that even matter?  The bottom line is that their negligence could severely affect the lives of thousands of children and their families.

Change
Just like the issue of the environment, the issue of corporate responsibility is and will continue to see positive change.  Families, more and more, will discuss at the dinner table the negative impacts that many corporations have, and as a result, will not support them either through buying shares or purchasing their products.  However, something more needs to be done.  As is the case with the Mercks, Dows and the Exxonmobiles.  They still exist!  If any single citizen were responsible for a fraction of what these corporations have done, they would get the death sentence or life in prison (where they would likely be killed). 
Since these corporations have so much power – they can cover things up and its business as usual.  Laws need to be changed to ensure corporate leaders are held accountable.  Like the climate change issue, it won’t be an easy battle to win.

 

http://www.atkinsonfoundation.ca/publications/PDFCOR.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_%26_Co.#Vioxx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxonmobil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Chemical_Company#Union_Carbide_Bhopal_disaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporations

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_5460.aspx

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/FL/00068.html