Toilet Brush Warning Wins Consumer Award Thu Jan 6, 7:31 AM ET The Associated Press
By DAVID N. GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer
DETROIT - The sign on the toilet brush says it best: "Do not use for personal hygiene." 廁所刷上的警告標籤——「不要用作個人衛生清潔]
That admonition was the winner of an anti-lawsuit group's contest for the wackiest consumer warning label of the year.
The sponsor, Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, says the goal is "to reveal how lawsuits, and concern about lawsuits, have created a need for common sense warnings on products."
The $500 first prize went to Ed Gyetvai, of Oldcastle, Ontario, who submitted the toilet-brush label. A $250 second prize went to Matt Johnson, of Naperville, Ill., for a label on a children's scooter that said, "This product moves when used." 兒童小型摩托車上的警告標籤 ---- [這產品在使用時會移動]
A $100 third prize went to Ann Marie Taylor, of Camden, S.C., who submitted a warning from a digital thermometer that said, "Once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally." 電子溫度計上的警告標籤 ----- [當你把溫度計放置在直腸後, 不要再把溫度計放置在口腔內]
This year's contest coincides with a drive by President Bush and congressional Republicans to put caps and other limits on jury awards in liability cases.
"Warning labels are a sign of our lawsuit-plagued times," said group President Robert Dorigo Jones. "From the moment we raise our head in the morning off pillows that bear those famous Do Not Remove warnings, to when we drop back in bed at night, we are overwhelmed with warnings."
The leader of a group that opposes the campaign to limit lawsuits admits that while some warning labels may seem stupid, even dumb warnings can do good.
"There are many cases of warning labels saving lives," said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy in New York. "It's much better to be very cautious ... than to be afraid of being made fun of by a tort reform group."
The Wacky Warning Label Contest is in its eighth year.
