The toy industry in America is among the largest in the world with a global value that is estimated at $22 billion a year. Each year a total of 3.6 billion toys are sold through the market to consumers, making it one of the most vibrant industries in America; three quarter of all toys in the world including these are made in China under degrading conditions.
The adverse effects of this flourishing business has wide ramifications not only to the workers who are mostly affected, but to the consumers as well as. The nature of working conditions for most workers employed in toy manufacturing industries in China can be described as demeaning and inhuman to say the least.
In addition, the very safety of these toys to consumers has now become a big issue since they are a health hazard to children who are the target group of the multibillion dollar industry. Just recently, Mattel manufacturing Company which is one of the toy industries in China recalled more than two million toys that it had made because they contained high levels of lead in their paints.
The working condition for people employed in these industries amounts to human rights abuse that Chinese government officials admit but which they appear powerless to address. These two are the ethical issues expounded by the case study, in general the ethical issues that comes out can be summarized in one sentence; abuse of human rights, exploitation of labor and production of goods that are harmful to the intended consumers.
There are four cardinal principles of ethics that have so far been advanced; beneficence, justice, least harm and respect for autonomy, others that are commonly applied include the principles of common good and of human dignity among others. From a medical perspective, the principle of beneficence states that a medical practitioner shall at all times undertake actions in good faith and in best interest of the patient in mind.
More generally it is a principle that is used to guide someone in doing what is right; under the circumstances presented in the case study, this principle will require the owners of the toy manufacturing Companies to act with the best interest of their workers and consumers in mind. This means that the need to make profit should not supersede their responsibility of providing safe working environment, humane work durations, standardized wages and safe toys to the children who use them.
The second principle of least harm states that where there are two equal situations that are neither beneficial, a person must opt for the choice that causes least harm. Based on the case study this would seem to be the case since the options available for solving the problem goes down to two options; boycott the toys and contribute to unemployment of millions of people or continue buying toys made in china and continue to propagate the injustices and human rights abuses being done by these Companies.
Since the injustices does not affect all the workers in the industry and does not cause a lot of death as would be the case when people are unemployed and therefore unable to feed themselves; the second choice would therefore be a better choice based on this principle.
Finally on the third principle of justice, the toy manufacturing Companies are expected to be fair and just in their engagement with employees and their consumers.
For instance, the employers would be expected to adequately compensate the workers by paying them acceptable rates based on the profit that they generate instead of paying them peanuts when they are making billions. In conclusion, application of these ethical principles would be very effective in enabling all the stakeholders that are involved in this industry such as the consumers, employers and labor officials to arrive at fair decisions that addresses the injustices that are being propagated by the toy industry.