Appropriate Regulations And Vigilant Agencies May Ensure Consumer Safety
Do you believe how easy it is for a single merciless individual to prey on thousands of consumers to achieve whatever purpose he may want to achieve, whether for profit, vengeance or, perhaps, sheer pleasure? You don’t believe me? Ask those who are involved in the Melamine scandal in China last 2008, which, based on official accounts, and affected some three hundred thousand children, killing six of them from kidney-related injuries. Of course, we do not discount the fact that it could be purely unintentional like what happened with Johnson and Johnson’s Tylenol more than two decades ago or the more recent tainted spinach from Dole. Either way, who can defend us from these deadly acts of bad faith or foolish error?
This is where the Consumer Protection Group comes in. It may be labeled differently in different places (e.g., Better Business Bureau, Consumer Protection Unit, etc.) but their purpose is similar – that is, to protect consumers and help them resolve complaints, whether big or small in scale. Other countries task these groups to handle cases in particular industries only like the airline industry in the UK or the housing sector in the United States. However, some nations assign them to attend to the general needs of the consuming public like that of Namibia or the Philippines.
But for these agencies to do their job effectively, consumer protection regulations must be solidly in place. Furthermore, these regulations must be constantly kept up-to-date with the changing global environment. That said, it will now serve to guide both manufacturers or merchandisers, and law enforcers to do their part in ensuring that the safety and welfare of the public is made a top priority.
