Product Warning Labels-Do They Protect Manufacturers? We have all purchased a new consumer product with several labels, stickers, and product inserts containing warnings, disclaimers and oversimplified directions. The warnings can actually be humorous at times as illustrated in the following examples: On Sears hair dryer: Do not use while sleeping On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding: Product will be hot after heating. On Rowenta Iron: Do not iron clothes on body. On Nytol (a sleep aid): Warning: May cause drowsiness. On a Swedish chainsaw: Do no attempt to stop chainsaw with your hands.(http://www.tagmag.com/spam)Obviously, with a little common sense, your average consumer can avoid the injuries that the above statements are attempting to warn against. One can argue that these warnings provide protection to the manufacturers against lawsuits based upon personal injury. There are many infamous cases where damages were awarded to consumers due to a personal injury resulting from what is claimed to be negligence, failure to warn or a product defect. According to public opinion, some of these lawsuits are frivolous and are causing the decline of our civil justice system. An examination of cases against tobacco companies will provide us with some conflicting information regarding product warning labels. Do they provide manufacturers with adequate protection against this type of lawsuit?By law, product manufacturers are responsible to give a reasonable warning when the product they manufacture poses a foreseeable risk of injury or harm. Courts use the following factors to consider a manufacturer's duty to warn: "the magnitude or severity of the likely harm, the ease or difficulty of providing an appropriate warning, and the likely effectiveness of a warning" (Mallor, etal. 377) in addition to the manufacturer's ability to reasonably foresee the risk. Are people drying their hair while sleeping or ironing clothes ...
