
Suffocation warning for the tiniest of tots.
If you take a close look at them, nearly all plastic bags in the U.S. contain a suffocation warning. In fact, it’s difficult to find plastic bags without such a warning.
Because most adults presumably know not to put plastic bags over their heads, these warnings are aimed primarily at people with children, especially babies. Because children, and especially babies can’t or don’t read warnings, the warnings are directed at their caretakers.
The risk of suffocation from a plastic bag seems like an obvious risk and there is no duty to warn of obvious risks under U.S. products liability law. But with the cost of a warning and the downsides of including one both being quite low, most product makers take a “might as well include one” approach.
It’s a sensible approach, but was it really necessary to include this large suffocation warning sticker on a bag this small?
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