2/03/2008

The American mind...

One of the first things you notice when you start living here is the effect of lawsuits on society!

When I checked into my apartment, the guest representative at the reception talked me through a host of mandatory 'disclosures' - information that they are legally required to give to every new tenant.

So he runs me through this series (4 or 5) of disclosures and asks me to initial my name on a sheet, as acknowledgement that the apartment company has made the disclosures as it is legally bound to.

In the list:
- the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) brochure on lead based paint and how it can affect the health of people (esp young children). From the size of the brochure you can tell that the US State department has been a defendant in and lost at least one MAJOR multi-million dollar lawsuit, by a family claiming that lead-paint has damaged the health of their kids! So you have this brochure that warns you against all the possible effects, and how to guard against them (watch out for signs such as scraped paint, etc). On the potential defendant's side, it appears that the act of having informed you about the use of lead-based paint in their apartment, limits or absolves them of, further liabilities, in case somebody sues...
- there was also stuff on mold formation in apartments, asbestos used in construction, and something on sexual predator behavior against teenagers...

Its not all bad! The good side is, it serves to protect society against blasé, purely profit-oriented manufacturers, who left to themselves wouldn't care about the effects of harmful substances on people.

I think we need a little of that kind of awareness back home too. Plaintiffs being awarded BIG compensations against potentially damaging and irresponsibly applied materials. A kick in the behind, gets the government and industry moving like nothing else... Sad but true? dunno...

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