Following our previous blogs on ‘new enforced laws’ for social media companies to be held accountable for illegal materials being shared on their platforms, leads us to question whether other companies should be held accountable for the effects of their products on the public.

We are more aware these days of the side effects of chemicals in our products and foods. Cautious consumers are looking for chemical free and organic products. But does “organic” and “chemical free” actually mean the food is chemical free? Technically speaking, everything has a chemical in it.

Highly toxic chemicals like pesticide DDT were used by farmers on our food and pastures, but luckily thanks to environmentalists who founded the Environmental Protection Agency, such chemicals are no longer used and replaced with alternatives. However, it is still not uncommon to see our food washed in poisonous chemicals along with many every day items such as sunscreen, flame resistant pyjamas, and even BPA-free plastics

Global chemical giant Monsanto is being urged by the cancer council https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-11/cancer-council-monsanto-should-come-clean/10109760

to admit fault that their weed killers are linked to cancer. Mosanto denies that their weed killer ‘Roundup’ contains cancer forming chemicals even after they were ordered to pay out $396 million in compensation to a former Californian school gardener who is suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monsanto is denying the links between one of their chemicals glyphosate and cancer and are appealing the decision.

There are many cases that have been exposed and the series Stink has exposed a number of companies, including fire retardant pyjamas containing cancer forming chemicals.

So if companies such as Facebook are liable for the spread of violence and terrorism on social media, shouldn’t other companies also be held accountable for producing products that are cancer forming? Monsanto lost their case, but there are thousands of companies worldwide who continue to manufacture with these chemicals.