A Case of Bad Ethics

The case of bad ethics that we found occurred in the diet market a few years ago. Companies selling diet pills and supplements with the additive ephedra in them posed a serious risk to consumers. The effects of long-term ephedra users include brain damage and serious heart problems. Several of these companies, including the extremely popular Metabolife and Stacker 2, found out of these effects long before removing their product from the market. These companies figured that paying the lawsuits would be far more beneficial to them than to recall and stop production of all ephedra-based dietary supplements.

These serious effects were spread throughout the general public, and many lawsuits ensued. Because of these companies' negligence, many diet pill producers are struggling to make a profit. For example, in only one case, Metabolife lost $7.4 million to a woman who sued because she had minor brain damage from this pill. The lack of ethics by these companies has achieved them so bad a position in both reputation and finances that many of them have not been able to stay in business. Examples like this prove the importance of an ethical company.