Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 6

Business law - Essay Example by Chemie Grunenthal GmbH in the 1950s and it was an anti-convulsive drug that made users sleepy and relaxed and was seen as a substitute for tranquilisers (Kelsey, 2012). During the testing, there were no issues identified, it was tested on animals and it became apparent that the drug could be used as a means of expanding the portfolio of the company that developed it (Jacoby and Youngson, 2004). The drug eventually became available to the members of the public and it became popular with pregnant women. This is because it had the ability to suppress morning sickness during pregnancy. So more and more pregnant women used it during pregnancy. In May 1961, a baby was born in a hospital in Australia and the baby died shortly (Jacoby and Youngson, 2004). In a space of three weeks, two other babies were born in the hospital and they all died. The obstetrician managed to identify the commonality in the deaths was Thalidomide (Jacoby and Youngson, 2004). However, Nobel Laureate, Sir Ernest Chain stated that â€Å"of course, it was a tragedy... it could not be foreseen... no one was to blame... even if you do all these things (drug tests)... there is still a risk factor... you cannot guarantee safety in any case – safety is an illusion† (Kalter, 2003, p172). In the United States, the Thalidomide case formed the basis for the authorities to place a strict liability rule framework for the design, bystander and workforce risk issues (Stapleton, 1994). In English law though, the Law Commission report showed a strong support for placing a strict liability on companies and producers and this called for claimants burden of proving fault to be eliminated (Giesen, 2009). After much debate in the United Kingdom, the European Commission Council Directive 85/324/EEC was released to member states and they were required to introduce strict liability on manufacturers (Giesen, 2009). Based on this, the UK implemented Part 1 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (Roach, 2012). Prior