Made in the U.S.A-
Dumped in Brazil, Africa, Iraq…
In an uncertain world, capital budgeting attempts to determine what the future of a new product will bring and how then to act on that forecast. We never know for certain what the future will bring, but we do arrive at some idea of what the distribution of possible outcomes looks like. Unfortunately, when there is uncertainty, the outcome is not always a good one. For example, what happens if the government rules that our product is not safe? The answer is that we must abandon the product. The question then becomes what to do with the inventory we currently have on hand. We certainly want to deal with it in a way that is in the best interests of our shareholders. We also want to obey the law and act ethically. As with most ethical questions, there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer. The Case of ‘Made in The U.S.A.- Dumped in Brazil, Africa, Iraq…’ brings up the controversial issues of dumping, a term that refers to the practice of exporting to other countries products that have been banded or declared hazardous in the United States. Is it moral to dump U.S. banned products overseas? Both the manufactures and the consumers have valid arguments. As a consumer of these dangerous products being dumped on overseas markets one could argue the manufacturers lack of respect for life. It should be in the company’s best interest to take in consideration the health and safety of people and animals. These manufactures are knowingly making dangerous and even deadly products available to communities in third world countries. DowElanco sold its weed killer Galant in Costa Rica, although the Environmental Protection Agency forbade its sale to U.S. farmers because Galant may cause cancer. These companies need to take in consideration the burden/ benefit factor; the safety of others should be more important than the