The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tries to be proactive in protecting the public from harm caused by drugs, medical devices, food, etc. They do a lot of testing and try to prevent things from slipping through the cracks. Still, there are always recalls happening, which makes the FDA react. For example, just last week Wegman's had to recall their butternut squash ravioli because it contained cashews and almonds that were undeclared. For people with allergies to those nuts, there can be significant harm, especially when nothing on the box suggested that the product had those nuts in them.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), similarly is both proactive and reactive because, like the FDA, although it tries to ensure safety before any harm occurs, there is always something that happens that results in a product recall. For example, just a few days ago, glass jar candles were recalled by the CPSC because the glass lid can break when the jar is opened, which can cause cuts. So far, there have been 16 reports of cuts, one of which involved stitches. The CPSC seems to be a little slow in reacting to this issue. One report of this happening should be sufficient. It should not take this many cases in order to create a recall. Fifteen reported cases, and countless others that went unreported, could have been prevented if they acted quicker. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) is a little slower in their response time because they essentially need to wait until a company reports an issue before they can react. The NHTSA is responsible for safety performance standards involving motor vehicles. A recent example of their recalls involve the brand new 2016 line of BMWs. The affected vehicles have an inboard lower anchor for child restraints on the left rear seat that may have been bent downwards, preventing the child seat from fully engaging both lower anchors. As such, these vehicles may fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 225, "Child Restraint Anchorage Systems." In other words, if the child seat is not properly attached to the lower anchors, it can increase the child's risk of injury in the event of a crash. The regulator can try to influence the level of production or consumption of the product by imposing an excise tax or granting a subsidy. I have seen the subsidies or tax credits are an excellent incentive for large corporations to do something for the greater good. Many companies pour money into low income housing solely because of the tax incentives, for example. Increasing taxes don't act as much of a deterrent because those are usually insulated by tax credits and other tax saving vehicles that offset those costs. The best way to influence the level of production or consumption is through tax credits from a corporate standpoint. From a consumer perspective, New York City and San Francisco are two cities that tried to deter bad behavior by limiting the amount of ounces in soda and trying to make happy meals more nutritious to mitigate the risk of childhood obesity, respectively. Corporations are simply too large and have significant money invested in lobbying efforts that make such minor deterrents not a huge barrier for such large corporations. Still, they try and hopefully they will one day succeed in these efforts. The best method remains to change corporate behavior as opposed to consumer behavior by providing those tax credits to promote well-being.