Agricultural Products Defamation Laws: An Ethical & Constitutional Assessment

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS DEFAMATION LAWS: AN ETHICAL ASSESSMENT

This research examines agricultural products defamation laws. These laws are assessed from an ethical basis.

Several years ago, the public affairs and news television program "60 Minutes" on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) televised a segment concerning the use of the pesticide Alar on apples by producers in the State of Washington. The implication of the report, if not directly charged in the presentation, was that the pesticide could be dangerous to human health and that the apple producers had failed to warn consumers. Apple sales did suffer in the wake of the telecast of the segment on "60 Minutes." The apple producers in the State of Washington brought suite against CBS for monetary damages. The charge was that the "60 Minutes" telecast had libeled their product. CBS successfully defended the charge in court because the apple producers were not able to establish without question that the reduction in apple sales was caused by the telecast. Thus, they could not prove that the telecast had caused them actual damage. Further, CBS has the truth on its side in that the apple producers did use the pesticide on their product. The claim by the apple producers that the amount of pesticide used was not harmful to human health was not sufficient for the courts to find against CBS' First Amendment rights to telecast the story.

In the wake of this case, agricultural

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tural products. The second major problem according to most critics of the laws is that plaintiffs are not required to establish that they suffered any harm as a consequence of "negative statements" made against their products. The third criticism of the laws is that they provide financially strong parties to use the law to stifle the free speech of citizens and organizations that have access only to limited financial resources. The fourth criticism of the laws is that they will be used by producers of agricultural products to put profits ahead of food safety by assuring that no meaningful criticisms of their operating procedures or the damages caused by their products will be heard. Each of these criticisms, if validated, should be sufficient to cause the laws to be deemed unconstitutional. Assessing the Agricultural Products Defamation Laws Ethically The agricultural products defamation laws are assessed in this section from a perspective of ethical principles. Ethical principles create a framework wherein conflict may be anticipated in relation to decisions required of business managers. Such conflicts may arise through the consideration of a potential action within the context of a single ethical principle, and throu

Category: Science - A