Smell this

Ever wonder why some things are SO much more expensive in the US, than other places?  Case in point:

The following are excerpts from an AP wire article posted on Yahoo! News...the accent/bolding is all mine.

'...NEW YORK – Johnson & Johnson issued a massive recall Friday of over-the-counter drugs including Tylenol, Motrin and St. Joseph's aspirin because of a moldy smell that has made people sick.

The FDA said about 70 people have been either sickened by the odor — including nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea — or noticed it.

The FDA said McNeil knew of the problem in early 2008 but made only a limited investigation.

"McNeil should have acted faster," said Deborah Autor, the director of the FDA's Office of Compliance of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "When something smells bad, literally or figuratively, companies must aggressively investigate and take all necessary action to solve the problem."...'

OK.  Now then, some McNeil/J&J products allegedly shipped on wooden pallets that smelled funny.  No warehouse workers get sick.  No truckers get ill.  Nobody stocking shelves gets ill.  Customers walking isles crammed with dozens of boxes of smelly pills do not get sick.  BUT, about 70 people taking the pills get sick from the smell? Or notice it?

Does this really mean if I call up the folks who make, say, Miracle Whip(tm) and tell them it smells like feet, that they have to recall 7.4 million jars of the white stuff?  Who decided that in the US, people should walk around with their fingers in their noses, secure in the knowledge that somebody else is responsible for their safety?  What the fuck is wrong with a little personal responsibility?   Why is that if something smells funny, a company has to recall millions of dollars of stock?  This article says the FDA listes about 70 people who got sick from the smell of the pills, when nobody handling them by the thousands and tens of thousands did.  If anyone reading this believes that, please send me $127 and I will give you the keys to the kingdom.  I will tell you the secret to unlocking the mysteries of the universe.  I will give you the knowledge you need to bring yourslef riches, happiness and the power to anything, be anything you ever wanted to be.  Really.

PS.  Do not take fish oil pills.  They DO smell like feet.