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Toxic Protection / Confidence Shock / Forgembering / P&G Today |
Forgember: Verb
(combination ‘forget’ + ‘remember’) Definition:
1. To publicly go
through the motions of remembering, in such a way as to encourage others to
forget
2. To encourage others
to remember, but in such a way that they assign responsibility for past events
to the wrong parties
(see also: blaming
the victim)
3. To inadvertently bring about remembrance of
past events, without having had any intention of doing so
Forgembering,
forgembrance. Examples: Forgembered
history; solemn forgembrance; forgembering is easier than remembering
(see also: forgery,
forge)
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William
Procter and James Gamble, founders of the Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati,
1837. |
From the
P&G website, we learn that after arriving in Cincinnati, “William took
care of his ailing wife, Martha, who soon died.” Imagine that
Martha died in 1980, after using another company’s tampon. How do you think someone like William, a
company founder himself, would have responded? William signed
a “formal partnership agreement” with James Gamble on October 31, 1837. If Martha had collapsed at a Halloween
party, then died of tampon-related toxic shock syndrome (TR-TSS) the next day,
might he have insisted upon a “formal agreement” with the company responsible
– perhaps an endowment to establish the Martha Procter Museum of the Menovulatory
Lifetime? |
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At P&G’s
tampax.com website, there is a section devoted to “TSS & Tampon Safety.” Information is contained in the same “notepad” graphic used throughout
the site, requiring a visitor to both click on and scroll through to view. One might expect
information about an extremely rare but potentially deadly illness to be
presented in a less busy manner, on web pages that looked dramatically
different from the others on the site.
In this context, the
Tampax tag line of “Made to Go Unnoticed” is somewhat ironic. |
Tampax graphic as of September 2006 |
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"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et
dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation
ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure
dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui
officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." - Standard Lorem Ipsum passage, from lipsum.com |
The seemingly
handwritten text that serves as backdrop to the blue “notepad,” above, as
well as used throughout tampax.com, is known as “lorem ipsum,” a “standard
placeholder text used to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or
visual presentation,” according
to a Wikipedia entry. This “dummy” text is
based on an actual work, “The Extremes of Good and Evil,” written over 2,000
years ago by the Roman writer Cicero. Imagine a
plaintiff’s lawyer in a TR-TSS case quoting Cicero at trial’s start: |
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“...we denounce with righteous indignation
and dislike [people] who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure
of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and
trouble that are bound to ensue.” |
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Below Jay Gooch, “P&G spokesman,” quoted in
a 2003 newscientist.com
article. |
Below, Iris Prager, “North American Education
Manager for Tampax” and SMCR
member, responds to a question on tampax.com. |
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“TSST-1 is a superantigen, meaning that high levels
can trigger an immune overreaction, preventing antibody production. But the P&G team thinks the lack of antibodies could be
linked to a deficit of a protein called complement in the patients' blood. Complement
is made by a gene on chromosome 6 that might be defective in some people.
"We are discussing developing a test," says Jay Gooch, spokesman
for P&G. The work could complicate the legal situation for
the few dozen women each year who make claims
against tampon makers. Procter & Gamble is "probably trying to
develop a defence by saying 'but for a genetic component this would never
have happened, so don't blame the tampon'," says medical attorney Mark
Hutton of Hutton Law in Wichita, Kansas, who represented 1000 women in a
toxic shock class action suit in 1996. Whatever the merits of the argument, a good lawyer
might be able to convince a court, he says. P&G denies legal defence is the aim of the
research. "That's just not the motivating factor," Gooch says.
"It's difficult to speculate what scientific data is valuable and not
valuable in any kind of context," he adds.” – newscientist.com, September 24, 2003 [RED/BLUE/BOLDING/FONT SIZE by
MOLT] |
Dear Iris, I recently started using tampons. At
the beginning of my period I use a super tampon which lasts about 5-6 hours. I
would like to wear a tampon to bed since it is more comfortable (I sleep for
about 8 hours). Can I wear a super plus tampon to bed so it lasts 8 hours or
should I just wear a pad? Thanks, Jo
I think you can try to wear a super plus at
night as long as you are flowing heavily and you change the tampon not later
than 8 hours after you inserted it. - tampax.com,
September 8, 2006 [RED/BOLDING/FONT SIZE by
MOLT] |
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Below is what Tambrand’s
national counsel has to say about toxic shock
syndrome litigation. Note the use of
the word “extinct” to describe their success in defending Tambrands in
court. Compare the tone of voice in
the following with that found throughout tampax.com. Procter and Gamble acquired
Tambrands in 1997. |
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“Toxic Shock Syndrome. Our
earliest activity in pattern tort litigation was the defense of Tambrands
Inc., a leading manufacturer of tampons, in the toxic shock syndrome
litigation. Since 1980, we have served as national counsel for Tambrands in
defending several hundred toxic shock syndrome cases. In this capacity, we
handled every aspect of the Company's cases throughout the country, as well
as in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, including formulating
national strategy; preparing cases for trial and trying the cases; selecting
and preparing all company witnesses and expert witnesses; negotiating or
supervising local counsel in negotiating all settlements and handling all
related appellate work. This has been an extremely successful litigation-our client has not lost a single trial, and as a result the
litigation has become virtually extinct. We also successfully opposed the certification of a
nationwide Rule 23(b)(3) opt-out class of plaintiffs claiming to have
contracted toxic shock syndrome from tampon usage.” [RED/BOLDING/FONT SIZE by MOLT] |
Forgetting, remembering...or
forgembering?
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