Los Angeles Times Newspaper:
“Study Finds High Levels of Chemicals in Infants Using Baby Cosmetics”
Among many of the chemicals found in infant’s toys, the most dominant chemical is lead. It is proven that lead exposure to infants causes brain and behavioral dysfunctions. Baby care products, by majority, are put on the market to make a profit off parents who are convinced through advertisements, and other means, that these products are a necessity in taking better care of their children. This article does not list any particular company, because I suppose that the information would lead to a boycott and the potential for a lawsuit filed by the identified company. However, it is important to note that Wal-Mart was accused about a year ago that their baby products/cosmetics contained high levels of lead – more so than those likely found in cheaper stores.
Even though we may have shopped in Wal-Mart once or twice, the dominantly targeted group is the family with a lower income. Thus, poorer families are subjected to cheaper products that are chemically harmful. This is an unfair disadvantage aimed at lower income children, whereas wealthier families can overcome this and buy “better products” for their children. The outcome of exposing children to these highly toxic toys and other products has the potential to cause male reproductive disorders, slow motor skills, higher urine concentration, and other mental disorders.
The social injustice here is the fact that there is no equal attainment of products, simply because the values are different. Considering that I am not “over assuming”, I believe that our wealth, as well as our health, is inherited through our families and their corresponding environments. Therefore, my point is that poorer families will live in a continuous pattern of dangerous chemicals when exposed to items brought from Wal-Mart, essentially causing harm to their children’s health – consequently leading to their learning abilities. Wal-Mart focuses most of their attention on their products ability to be produced cheaply and sold at a “bargain price” to reach a certain market that targets the “average” family (i.e. a specific class). This puts a disadvantage on the lower class by handicapping them with the contamination of their products, exposing them to dangerous circumstances.
In order to resolve this problem, I propose implementing a standard limitation of how high certain chemical levels can be present in a product. This law should be enforced strictly, and those found to be guilty, punished severely so that other companies will take proper notice, and ensure that they too will not disobey this law. Wal-Mart has already violated their ethical code of standards on the high substantial levels of chemicals present in their products. They’ve been violating this for years: the effects now affecting millions of people. How can people compete in school and in jobs fairly if they are affected from childhood baby cosmetics that have affected their health, brain, and motor skills? The disadvantage is unfair.
According to Brian Barry’s Why Social Justice Matters to sum up so far: “extreme poverty kills directly through malnutrition, poor housing, and so on, but it also kills, especially in rich countries, because the extremely poor constitute a stigmatized minority” (80), and in this country, stores are built around certain classes. Wal-Mart caters mostly to families who have a smaller income, which in this case hurts them with their cheap products – fundamentally putting families at disadvantages economically and medically compared to others.