You are a vice president of a multinational chemical corporation. Your company i
ID: 397230 • Letter: Y
Question
You are a vice president of a multinational chemical corporation. Your company is the sole producer of an insecticide that will effectively combat a recent infestation of West African crops.
The minister of agriculture in a small developing African country has put in a large order for your product. Your insecticide is highly toxic and is banned in the U.S. You inform the minister of the risks of using your product, but he insists on using it since his people might face famine due to the threat of insects. He claims it will be used “intelligently.”
The president of your company believes you should fill the order, but the decision ultimately is yours.
(cited from Bateman, T.S., & Snell, S. (2013). Management: Leading & Collaborating in a competitive world. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.)
Your decision will be to fill the order. You should defend your decision by listing out the ethical issues involved, the related ethics theories, the process and rationale of your decision making, the potential risks you may face, and how to minimize such risks. Cite sources to support any facts you state or points you make in your argument. Make sure you are using sources that are reliable and unbiased, and preferably scholarly.
Explanation / Answer
The ethical issue involved here is to choose between the two harmful alternatives, both against the interests of users. In this case, it is better to chose the one which is less harmful and in the interest of maximum number of people ( utilitarian ethics). If the company decides not to export the insecticide, it may cause widespread famine due to destruction of the crops and subsequent events like malnutrition, hunger and worse, starvation deaths. The ill effects caused by the use of insecticide, though can not be eliminated, but can be minimised with exercise of precautionary measures to minimise the human exposure.
The potential risks involved are health issues caused by exposure to the chemical to the users ( farmers) or to the people who consume the insecticide laden foodgrains. Other issues are contamination of soil and other types of environmental deterioration, harmful effects on the friendly organisms and creatures, surface water contamination, reduction of soil fertility etc.These issues can be minimised by providing information to the users and educating them to minimise exposure related effects and suggesting the least dose of application that may kill the insects but is least harmful for the consumers. There should be guidelines to the users regarding storage, use and disposal of chemical to minimise the environmental impact. Later on, if a long term association is established, the company may research on the harmful effects of its chemical and make it customised to suit the African conditions in a better way and making it less harmful to the users.
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