Product Warning Labels

Product Warning labels which are meant to protect you from dangers are being put on products after people try things and they get hurt. These people then sue the company for not having a warning label telling them they shouldn't have done the stupid thing they did in the first place.

That's why manufacturers have to be liberal with their warning labels now a days because they are afraid of getting sued. Some warnings on labels seem so obvious to most of us and we laugh at them as we read them, but the sad fact is the warnings are there because someone, somewhere did it and now we have to be warned not to do it again.

Take these warnings for instance:

"For external use only!" --which was on a curling iron.

"This product not intended for use as a dental drill."-- Which was on a rotary tool.

"Do not eat toner."-- Which was on a toner cartridge for laser printers.

"Do not use orally"--Which was found on a toilet cleaning brush.

"Do not use for drying pets."--Which was found in the manual for a microwave oven.

"Beware! To touch these wires is instant death. Anyone found doing so will be prosecuted." --Which was
found on a sign at a railroad station.

"Do not orally after using rectally."--Which is in the instructions for an electric thermometer.

Now is it just me or do these seem obvious? But Americans are too eager to sue when something goes wrong so Manufacturers put these warning labels on products to save themselves from viscous lawsuits from the not so smart among us. Lawsuits brought on by people who have used the product in such a way that even a first grader would know not to do it. These lawsuits are leading to labels so strange that most people laugh at them or ignore the warning labels all together.

Is that what we really want? As the labels get longer and more laughable people are going to get hurt because they aren't going to take the time to read the warning labels. While most of us are thinking, "Duh!" when we read these labels the fact is that they have been deemed necessary because of the actions of some who weren't smart enough to know better.

I guess Americans are the dumbest people on earth or at least it seems that way from the amount of warning labels we have now and will have in the future.

People think these warning labels are so laughable that there was even a Wacky Warning Label Contest. The first place winner won $500.00 and a copy of "The Death of Common Sense," By Phillip K. Howard. His winning entry was a label on the toilet brush.

Judges need to be tougher on these frivolous lawsuits so our warning labels don't get longer than they already are.