Saturday, June 28, 2008

"Oops! Never Mind!"

Remember the big "tomato recall? They thought a certain kind of tomato was responsible for an outbreak of salmonella, and subsequently ruined many tomato growers and sellers. Then they said, "Never mind." It might not be tomatoes after all. This practice of attempting to lay blame for such things before all the facts are in isn't right. They say they have to "keep ahead of it" so people don't die. Sounds good. But that doesn't keep the people who are now out of business because of mistaken early estimates of blame. So should they wait before attempting to lay blame while people die? No. People should be told. But they should be told with a proviso that what they "suspect" might not really be the cause. (Statesman)

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