THE ETHICS OF CONSUMER

PRODUCTION AND MARKETING

(SELLING PERSONALIZED GENETICS)

PRESENTED BY:
YOSOA PASARIBU
AINDRA BUDIAR
OUTLINE
Does the fact that companies know more
How far must manufacturer go to make about their products than customers
their products safe? impose on them a duty to protect customer
from injury or harm?

Is the Relationship between a business On the whole, does advertising help or

and its customer merely a contract, or is harm customer?
there more to it than that?

What responsibility do businesses have

Do companies have a duty to protect their
for customer injuries no one could
customer privacy?
reasonbly have foreseen or prevented?
MARKET AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

• Problems consumer face:

• Dangerous and risky products
• Deceptive Selling Practices
• Poorly constructed Products
• Failure to honor Warranties
• Deceptive and Unpleasant advertising
MARKET AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

• Market Approach to Consumer Protection:

• Claims safety is a commodity that should not be mandated by government
• Safety Should instead be provided through the market
• In a market, sellers will provide safety if consumer demand it
• In a market, the price of safety and the amount seller provide will be determined by
costs of providing it and the value consumers place on it
• Goverment intervention in consumer markets makes them unfair, infefficient and coercive
MARKET AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

• Problems with the market approach

• Buyers do not have adequete information when products are complex and information is
costly and hard to find
• Buyer are often not rational about product lrisk or probabilities and are often inconsistent
• Many consumer market are monopolies or oligopolies
THE CONTRACT VIEW OF BUSINESS FIRM’S DUTIES
TO CONSUMERS
• The view that the relationship between a business firm and its customersis
essentially a contractual relationship, and the tirm’s moral duties to the
customer are those created by this contractual relationship
• Moral Duties to consumers under contractual theory
• Duty to comply with express and implied claims of reliability, service life maintainability
and safety
• Duty to disclosure
• Duty not to misrepresent
• Duty not to coerce
THE CONTRACT VIEW OF BUSINESS FIRM’S DUTIES
TO CONSUMERS
• Problems with contractual Theory
• Assumes makers of products deal directly with consumers but they do not; however
manufacturer’s advertisements do form a kind of direct promise to consumers
• Seller can remove al their duties to buyers by getting them to agree to disclaimners of
responsibility
• Assumes consumer and seller meet as equals, but seller has more knowledge so consumer
must rely on the seller
THE DUE CARE THEORY
• The view that because manufacturers are in a more advantaged position and
consumers must rely on them, they have a duty to take special care to ensure
that consumers interest are not harmed by the products that they offer them
• Manufacturer duties in Due Care Theory:
• When Designing product, Research its risks in conditions of use, design it so risks are
minimized, take capacities of users into account
• In production, use strict quality control to eliminate defects and manafacturing do not add
defects or risks
• When marketing provide users with information about using product safely. Warn of all
dangers, do not market to those unable to avoid risk
THE DUE CARE THEORY

• Problems with due care theory:

• Does not limit what producer must spend to eliminate risk
• Does not indicate who should pay fot poduct injuries that cannot be foreseen
• Put manufacturer in paternalistic position of deciding how much risk is best of consumers
THE SOCIAL COSTS VIEW OF THE
MANUFACTURER’S DUTIES
• The view that a manufacturer should pay the costs of any injuries caused by
defects in the product, even if the manufacturer exercised all due care in
designing, making, and marketing it, and injury could not have been foreseen
• The Social Costs View
• Claims manufacturer should pay the costs of all injuries caused by defects in a product
even if the manufacturer exercised all due care and the injury could not have been
foreseen
• Argues product injuries are external costs that should be internalized as a cost of
bringing the product to market, this maximizes utility and distributes costs more fairly
THE SOCIAL COSTS VIEW OF THE
MANUFACTURER’S DUTIES
• Criticisms of the social Cost View
• Unjust to manufacturers since compensatory justice says one should compensate injured
parties only if the injury was foreseeable and preventable
• Falsely aassumes that the social cost view prevents accidents; instead encourages
consumer carelessness by relieving them of responsibility for their injuries
• Has increased the number of successful consumer lawsuits which imposes heavy losses on
insurance companies, and makes infurance too expensive fot many firms; however studies
shows only small increase in lawsuits and insurance firms remain profitable
ADVERTISING ETHICS

• Commercial Advertising => Communication between a seller and potential

buyer that is publicly addressed to a mass audience and is intended to induce
members of this audience to buy the seller’s products
• 2 features of commerical advertising:
• It is publicly addresed to mass audience as distinct from a private message to a specific
individual
• Intended to induce members of its audience to buy the seller products.
ADVERTISING ETHICS

• Critics on Commercial Advertising:

• Social Effects
• What does advertiser intend the effect of the advertisement to be?
• What are the actual effects of the advertisement on individuals and on socienty as a whole?
• Effect in Desire
• Does the Advertisement inform of does it also seek to persuade?
• If it is persuasive, does it attempt to create an irrational and possiby injurious desire?
• Effect in Belief
• Is the content of the advertisement truthful?
• Does the advertisement have a tendency to mislead those to whom it is directed?
CONSUMER PRIVACY

• Right to Privacy => The right of persons to determine what, to whom, and
how much information about themselves will be disclosed to other parties
• Importance of privacy:
• Protects individuals from disclosures that can shame, can encourage interference in one’s
private life, hurt loved ones, and lead to self incrimination
• Enables the intimacy that develops personal relationships, the trust and confidentiality
that underlies client professional relationships, the ability to maintain distinct social roles,
and the ability to determine how others will see us
CONSUMER PRIVACY

• Balancing Right to Privacy and Business Needs:

• Is the purpose of collecting information a legitimate business need that benefit the
consumer
• Is the information that is collected relevant to the business need?
• Is the information is being collected and the purpose?
• Did the consumer consent to the information accurate?
• Is the information accurate?
• Is the information secure and not disclosed to recipients or used in ways to which the
consumer did not consent?
 CASE
STUDY

SELLING GENETIC TEST

 SEVERAL COMPANIES ON THE INTERNET SELL GENETIC TESTS DIRECTLY
TO CONSUMER
 THE COMPANIES ARE 23ANDME, NAVIGENICS, DECODE GENETICS, DNA
TRIBES, GENELEX, SCIENTIFICMATCH, CONSUMERGENETICS, SALUGEN,
DNAPRINT GENOMICS, GENOVA DIAGNOSTICS, SURACELL, AND
MANYMORE.
 CASE
STUDY

GENETIC TEST PROCESS

 CUSTMER COLLECT A SAMPLE OF THEIR GENES WITH A CHEEK SWAB AND SEND IT
TO A COMPANY FOR TESTING.
 MOST TEST BY PUTTING THE CUSTOMER'S GENE SAMPLE ON A FLAT "DNA
MICROARRAY CHIP" THAT ALREADY CONTAINS PIECES OF DNA MATCHING KNOWN
GENES.
 IF ONE OF THE CUSTOMER'S GENES MATCHES ONE OF THE PIECES OF DNA ON THE
CHIP, IT BINDS TO THE DNA FRAGMENT WHICH CREATES A TINY FLUORESCENT
GLOW SHOWING THAT THE GENE INDICATED BY DNA FRAGMENT IS IN THE
SAMPLE.
 A COMPUTER THEN ANALYZES THE PATTERN OF GLOWING SPOTS ON THE CHIPS
AND PRINTS OUT A LIST OF THE GENES IN THE CUSTOMER SAMPLE.
 CASE
STUDY

GENETIC TEST RESULTS

 SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED A FEW GENES THAT ARE ASOSIATED WITH SPECIFIC
DISEASES OR PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
 STUDIES FOUND, FOR EXAMPLE, GENES THAT ARE LINKED TO CYSTIC FIBROSIS, TAY
SACHS DISEASE, AND LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE, GENES THAT INCREASE THE RISK OF
CERTAIN BREAST, CLON, AND THYROID CANCERS, AND GENES ASSOCIATED WITH
SENSATION SEEKING, EYE COLOR, OBESITY, LACTOSE INTOLERANCE.
 THEN, SOME GENES ARE MORE OFTEN FOUND IN PEOPLE WHOSE ANCESTORS
CAME FROM CERTAIN REGIONS OF THE WORLD.
 THE COMPANIES SAY BASED ON THESE STUDIES AND THEIR OWN GENE TESTS, THEY
CAN GIVE CUSTOMER VALUABLE PERSONALIZED INFORMATION.
 CASE
STUDY

THE COMPANIES ADVERTISEMENTS

 ONE COMPANY, SCIONA, (NO LONGER OPERATING) SAID ON ITS WEB SITE: "SCIONA IS A LEADER IN
NUTRIGENOMICS, THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALIZING YOUR NUTRITION AND LIFESTYLE CHOICES TO
MATCH YOUR GENES"; SCIONA GAVE CUSTOMERS "A PERSONALIZED PREVENTATIVE DIETARY
REGIME" THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO PREVENT THE DISEASES THEIR GENES PUT THEM RISK FOR.
 ANOTHER SITE PROMISES: “BASED UPON THE...[GENETIC] ANALYSIS, SURACELL RECOMMENDS TO
EACH CLIENT A PERSONALIZED REGIMEN OF NUTRACEUTICALS [VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS].“
 ANOTHER STATES: "DNA TRIBES... USES GENETIC MATERIAL... TO MEASURE YOUR GENETIC
CONNECTION TO INDIVIDUAL ETHICS GROUP AND MAJOR WORLD REGIONS.“
 ANOTHER COMPANY CLAIMS TO DO IT ALL: “WITH A SIMPLE SALIVA SAMPLE WE’LL HELP YOU AGAIN
INSIGHT INTO YOUR TRAITS, FROM BALDNESS TO MUSCLE PERFORMANCE. DISCOVER RISK FACTORS
FOR 95 DISEASES. KNOW YOUR PREDICTED RESPONSE TO DRUGS, FROM BLOOD THINNERS TO
COFFEE. AND UNCOVER YOUR ANCESTRAL ORIGINS.”
 CASE
STUDY

PRO AND CONTRA

 CONTRA OPINION
CRITICS CLAIM, HOWEVER, THAT WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS, MOST STUDIES HAVE SHOWN ONLY
WEAK CONNECTIONS BETWEEN GENES AND SPECIFICS TRAITS, DISEASE RISKS, DRUG RESPONSE,
NUTRIONAL OR VITAMIN NEEDS, OR ANCESTRAL ORIGINS. MANY STUDIES THAT LINK SPECIFIC
GENES TO DISEASES ARE ONLY PRELIMINARY AND THE FULL PICTURE HAS NOT YET BEEN WORKED
OUT. MOREVER, CRITICS SAY, IT IS WRONG TO TELL CUSTOMER THEIR GENES PUT THEM AT RISK OF
A DEADLY DISEASE WITHOUT PROPER COUNSELING, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ARE
WEAK AND MANY OTHERS ENVIRONMENTAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND LIFESTYLE FACTOR DETERMINE
ACTUAL ONSET OF A DISEASE.
 PRO OPINION
BUT DEFENDERS OF THE TESTS SAY CONSUMERS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT GENES THEY
CARRY AND WHAT SCIENCE HAS LEARNED ABOUT THOSE GENES.
 23 AND ME
23andMe, IncType of site private Available in 48
countries
• Founded April 2006; 12 years ago Headquarters
Mountain View, California US. Created by Linda
Avey
• The company had a previously fraught relationship
with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due
to its genetic health tests, but as of October
2015, DNA tests ordered in the US include a revised
health component, per FDA approval. 23andMe has
been selling a product with both ancestry and
health-related components in Canada since October
2014, and in the UK since December 2014.
 INTRODUCTION
• What is genetic?

• What is genetic testing?

A genetic tester is a tool to screen for dozens of hereditary diseases, and also for social reason it also worked for tracking family line ancestry.
several companies on the internet sell genetic directly to consumer includin 23andMe, Navigenics, Suracell, etc.
• How this thing worked?
This tool requires personal data base privately by collecting a sample of saliva, blood, or cheek swab test and send it back to them
(23andME,Navigenics,etc) for testing then they will send it back the result.
• What is selling genetic?
Selling your DNA in our 'brave new world' ... The concept powering these so-called “bio-brokers” is to gather personal DNA in such quantities
so that it becomes valuable enough for an individual to sell (or rent) his/her genetic data to pharmaceutical companies
 VIDEO
• 23andMe How It Works!
HOW 23ANDME MONETIZING YOUR DNA
 VIDEO

• Your DNA Is Being Sold

• 3 Teori
1. Contractual Theory (who may profit?)
2. Due Care Theory (law)
3. Social Cost Theory (hacking)
• Unethical case
(Hacking, Profit, Law)
• Ethically Legitimate
• Video

• Ancestry.com can sell your genetic data you

have no legal recourse – attorney