Several large manufacturers of infant and toddler products produced a product called an infant baby walker. An infant as young as four months can be placed in the walker and enjoy upright movements long before motor skills have developed sufficiently to permit such movements unaided. The result was that many infants injured themselves; nearly 30,000 injuries were reported in 1992. Some of these injuries occurred when babies maneuvered the walkers into open stairways. The American Medical Association (AMA) asked the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban and recall the walkers because of the clear dangers they present; but initially, the commission refused. The AMA has also expressed concern about possible long-term skeletal damage because infants who are not yet ready to stand unaided are standing in the walkers.
The industry continued to sell the walkers up to the time of the eventual ban in 1994. If the walkers are banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission here in the United States, how would you feel about serving as an agent to export them for sale in other countries? Discuss fully the ethical issues related to this case.
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