世界十大产品召回案(双语图文)
日期:2010-07-01 13:48

(单词翻译:单击)


Toyota has said it will recall more than 9 million cars to fix faulty gas pedals and floor mats that can cause unintended acceleration. TIME recaps 10 of the largest — and most disquieting — recalls to date

丰田宣布将会召回至少900万辆车,对车辆出现问题的油门踏板和可能会无意识导致加速的地毯进行修理。《时代》总结了迄今为止十项最大规模也是最让人懊恼的召回。

Toyota's Faulty Pedals

Toyota is having problems. On Jan. 21 the world's largest automaker issued a recall — its second in three months — on 4.1 million vehicles sold in the U.S. and Europe to fix faulty gas pedals that have a tendency to get stuck, causing unintended acceleration. This is on top of a November recall of 5.3 million cars (and counting) believed to have ill-fitting floor mats that have a tendency to trap pedals. In total, more than 9 million Toyota cars worldwide have been pulled back for pedal-related flaws. That's a lot of cars. In fact, it's nearly the same amount as the total number vehicles all carmakers sold in the U.S. in 2009. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced plans to investigate the recall, and whether the Japanese-based automaker needlessly put the public at risk.
Honda drivers have no room to gloat: 646,000 Honda Fits, Jazzes and Cities (including 140,000 cars sold in the U.S.) have been recalled to fix a faulty window switch known to accidentally catch fire.

丰田宣布将会召回至少900万辆车,对车辆出现问题的油门踏板和可能会无意识导致加速的地毯进行修理。《时代》总结了迄今为止十项最大规模也是最让人懊恼的召回。



Cribs Recalled After Infant Death

More than 400,000 drop-side cribs made by Simplicity were recalled July 2 after an 8-month-old child in Houston suffocated. The Chinese-made cribs had a detachable side that easily broke, creating a gap between the side of the crib and the mattress where a child could potentially become trapped and suffocate. It wasn't Simplicity's first snafu with the cribs. In September 2008, the company recalled 600,000 cribs of the same type; in 2007 a million older-model cribs were recalled after two children became trapped and suffocated. In an interview on The Early Show, Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman Inez Tenenbaum said, "We have recalled 2 million of these in the past few years because the company would change the hardware, but it never worked."

婴儿床在出现幼儿死亡之后被召回

超过40万张由Simplicity公司生产的下拉式围栏婴儿床在6月2号一位在休斯顿的幼儿窒息而死后被召回。这种中国制造的婴儿床有一可拆开的边非常容易损坏,会在车的边缘和床垫之间产生缝隙,而这缝隙可能卡住孩子并有窒息的危险。这并不是Simplicity第一次因为婴儿床而被推上风口浪尖了。早在2008年的9月公司召回了60万张同款婴儿床;而2007年有100张老款婴儿床因为两个儿童被卡住并窒息而宣布召回。在访谈节目《The Early Show》中,消费者产品安全委员会主席Inez Tenenbaum说道:“我们在过去的几年因为公司希望会对床的硬件进行更换已经召回了200万张婴儿床,但却从没起到什么作用。”



China's Product-Safety Recalls

In 2008, China's largest provider of milk powder recalled 700 tons of baby formula after one child died and more than 50 others developed kidney problems. Melamine, a chemical used in the making of plastic, was found in the baby formula; it later emerged that unscrupulous manufacturers had been adding it to food products to cheaply boost protein values. Two men were eventually sentenced to death for their role in the scam. The revelations only further damaged China's reputation in production. Melamine had been a problem a year earlier, in March 2007, when the FDA recalled more than 60 million cans of cat and dog food after the death of 14 pets. In addition to spoiling food, Chinese-made toys were recalled later in 2007; Mattel took several of its Barbie and Polly Pocket products off the shelves because of concerns over toxic lead paint and hazardous magnet parts.

中国食品安全召回事件

2008年,中国最大的奶粉生产商在一名儿童死亡并且发现超过50个儿童发展成肾结石后宣布召回700吨儿童配方奶粉。三聚氰胺,一种用于制造塑料的化学添加剂,在这种儿童配方奶粉中被发现了。调查发现无良的制造商为了能廉价达到蛋白含量标准而将三聚氰胺添加到奶粉中。最终二人因为他们欺诈行为而被判死刑。这件事情的曝光影响了中国未来在制造业的声誉。三聚氰胺曾经在2007年3月因为14只宠物的死亡而被美国食品药物监督局召回了600万罐。除了中国的问题食品,中国制造的玩具也曾在2007年后半年被召回。美国玩具制造商Mattel因为人们对有毒铅涂料和含有危险磁部件有所担忧而让部分芭比娃娃和波利口袋下架。

One Bad Bump ...

The Ford Pinto was a famously bad automobile, but worse still might be Ford's handling of the safety concerns surrounding the '70s-era subcompact. Before the car ever reached the market, concerns emerged that a rear-end collision might cause the Pinto to blow up — the positioning of the fuel tank sparked fears it could be punctured in a crash and cause a fire or an explosion. But instead of fixing the Pinto's design, Ford, in a bit of morbid calculus, determined it would be cheaper to settle any lawsuits resulting from the Pinto's flaws. After several lawsuits and criminal charges (Ford was eventually found not guilty), the automaker recalled 1.5 million Pintos in 1978, retrofitting the fuel-tank assembly with additional protections to prevent the Pinto from going up in flames. Too bad the same couldn't be done for the car's reputation. In 1981 the Pinto was retired for good.

油箱的悲剧

福特Pinto车是一款臭名昭著的车型,但比这更惹非议的是福特公司对人们对70年代小型汽车的安全的担忧的处理方式上。在这款汽车上市之前就有对追尾可能导致Pinto起火的质疑——油箱布置在汽车尾部的做法可能会在追尾时刺穿油箱导致起火甚至爆炸。但是,福特并没有更改Pinto的设计,而是侥幸的认为,跟个别受害者打官司要比召回Pinto更省钱。在几次遭到起诉和刑事指控后(福特最终并没有被判有罪),福特在1978年召回了150万辆Pinto,并对油箱添加了额外的结构以保证Pinto不会起火。很遗憾,这无法弥补Pinto的声誉。在1981年Pinto永远的退出了市场。



Tires, Treads and Tragedy

In 2000, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. recalled 6.5 million Firestone tires involved in one of the most dangerous product faults in automobile history — a tendency for tire failure that caused nearly 175 deaths and more than 700 injuries. The treads on certain Firestone tire models would peel off, causing them to blow out — which could cause certain cars and SUVs like the Ford Explorer to roll over. Later that year, Firestone competitor Goodyear had its own tire troubles: tread separations in certain light trucks were linked to about 120 injuries and 15 deaths.

轮胎,轮胎面和悲剧

在2000年,普利司通/费尔斯通公司召回了汽车制造史上最危险的650万个轮胎——轮胎易损坏并造成了175例死亡和700多例伤病。特定的费尔斯通轮胎的表面易分离,容易造成爆胎事故——这会造成特定的车型和SUV翻车,如福特Explorer系列。当年晚些时候,费尔斯通的竞争者Goodyear的轮胎也出现了问题:某些轻型卡车爆胎导致120人受伤和15人死亡。



Slaughterhouse Snafu

In February 2008, the Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef after a California slaughterhouse was accused of improperly butchering downer cattle (those too sick or feeble to walk to slaughter). Most of the meat had already been consumed by the time the recall got out. It was the largest meat recall in history and included cattle that had been slaughtered up to two years prior, starting Feb. 1, 2006. Thirty-seven million pounds of the recalled beef had gone to the National School Lunch Program, much of which was identified and removed. Remarkably, no injuries or illnesses were ever reported.

大混乱的屠宰场

在2008年二月,农业部在接到对加利福尼亚州的一屠宰场不按规定而去屠宰跪倒不能起身的牛(这些牛多为有病或年迈而无法行走)召回1亿4千3百万磅牛肉。大部分牛肉在发出召回通知之前就已经被吃了。自从2006年2月1号开始,并屠宰了两年的牛导致了这历史上最大的生肉的召回事件。其中3千7百万磅牛肉已经卖给了国家学校午餐项目,不过其中的很大一部分已经被辨认出来并且处理了。值得注意的是,并无疾病报告。



Creamy, Chunky or Contaminated?

The case against Peanut Corp. of America reads like a veggie version of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. After a 2008 salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of people and may have killed eight, federal investigators traced the strain to peanuts processed at Peanut Corp.'s Blakely, Ga., plant. There the investigators found nightmarish conditions — mold lining the walls and ceilings, rodents and roaches running amok, and food supplies contaminated with waste. Worse still, the FDA found evidence that the company allowed products to ship even after internal testing discovered salmonella contamination. The result was a massive recall of the processed peanuts contained in everything from peanut butter to ice cream. The company, which denies the allegations, declared bankruptcy in the wake of the investigation. Federal criminal charges against the company are pending.

沙门氏菌污染

公众与美国Peanut公司的较量看起来就像是素食主义版的辛克莱的《屠场》。在2008导致上百人生病和8人死亡的沙门氏菌事件之后,联邦调查人员根据花生的品种追查到了Peanut公司下属的Blakely, Ga公司。在那里调查人员看到了如梦魇般的场面——模具倚着墙或挂在天花板,蟑螂和各种昆虫大行其道,供应的原料被垃圾所污染。最坏的是,公司即使在国内检测发现沙门氏菌污染之后仍然让产品上市。最终,从花生酱到冰激凌凡是含有花生的所有产品被大规模的召回。然而,公司否认了所有指控并且在调查开始不久就宣布破产。联邦对公司的刑事指控就此搁置。



Tylenol Tragedies

In the fall of 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol laced with potassium cyanide. The crime — which has never been solved — sparked a citywide panic; for days, police cruised the streets, blaring warnings that residents should discard the product. The Tylenol poisonings also prompted a slew of copycats. Over the ensuing month, authorities tallied 270 different incidents of product-tampering, from pins unearthed in Halloween candy on Long Island, New York, to Excedrin laced with mercuric chloride in Colorado. Johnson & Johnson spent millions of dollars recalling Tylenol from stores nationwide. To prevent a recurrence, the FDA mandated new tamper-proof seals for over-the-counter drugs.

羟苯基乙酰胺的悲剧

在1982年的秋天,7名芝加哥人在吃了掺入了氰化钾的强效羟苯基乙酰胺胶囊后死亡。这罪行一直未得以解决,整个城市陷入悲伤之中。几天的时间里,警察上街用大喇叭提醒居民应当丢弃这种产品。这件有毒事件还促使出现了一批盲目模仿者。在随后的一个月中,政府发现了270多件产品问题事件,从纽约长岛发现的藏在万圣节糖果中的大头针到科罗拉多州掺了氯化汞的对乙酞氨基酚。强生公司花了数百万美元用来在全国范围内的商店里召回羟苯基乙酰胺。为了防止再次出现不慎或故意对药品额外添加东西,美国食品药监局要求所有在柜台销售的药品使用新的密封措施。

Merck's Vioxx Nightmare

On Sept. 30, 2004, pharmaceutical giant Merck announced it would voluntarily recall its worldwide stock of Vioxx, an arthritis drug that had brought in $2.5 billion in sales the previous year. Merck executives said the recall was a precautionary measure spurred by a study that found patients who took the drug for at least 18 months incurred more heart attacks and strokes. In 2007, Merck paid $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits from people affected by injuries or death associated with the drug.

默克万络(Vioxx)的噩梦

在2004年的9月30号,制药巨头默克公司宣布将自愿召回世界范围内的存货,这种治疗关节炎症的药物在过去的一年销售收入达25亿美元。默克的高级官员称此次召回是对一项研究结果的预防措施,该研究显示服药此药物超过18各月的患者将更有可能突发心脏病或中风。在2007年,默克公司为有关服用该药导致疾病或死亡的27000起诉讼付出了485亿美元。

You Might Want to Get That Checked Out ... Again

There was bad news in 2002 for anybody who had recently taken a gonorrhea test. (Well, more bad news.) Pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories Inc. recalled about 750,000 test kits believed to give false negative results. The FDA recommended that anyone who had tested negative over a period of nearly six months ask their doctor whether they should be tested a second time. The mishap carried serious potential health consequences: the disease can lead to sterility in women if left untreated. At least Abbott gave customers a refund.

你不想再去提起的事情……

在2002年接受淋病检测的每个人都得到了不好的消息(至少是大多数是坏消息)。制药巨头雅培公司召回了被认定产生错误结果的大约750000套检测设备。药监局建议在过去六个月被检测出坏结果的人们应当向他们的医生询问是否要进行第二次检查。这个小事故造成了严重的健康问题:如果不及时诊断疾病可能会导致不孕不育。至少雅培公司给予了消费者赔偿。

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重点单词
  • kidneyn. 肾,腰子,类型
  • switchn. 开关,转换,鞭子 v. 转换,改变,交换,鞭打
  • sterilityn. 不生育,贫瘠
  • identifiedadj. 被识别的;经鉴定的;被认同者 v. 鉴定(id
  • eventuallyadv. 终于,最后
  • potentiallyadv. 潜在地
  • interviewn. 接见,会见,面试,面谈 vt. 接见,采访,对 .
  • negativeadj. 否定的,负的,消极的 n. 底片,负数,否定
  • mishapn. 不幸之事,灾祸,恶运
  • feebleadj. 虚弱的,无力的