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Comment by Tozen | Hacker News Reader

People and companies knowingly contaminating food products with poisons like lead, should be put in jail. Companies knowingly selling such products, should be at least heavily fined, possibly prosecuted as well. Bottom line, this is clearly poisoning (and killing people) to make a few extra bucks. There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

54,000 hospitalized and 6 dead from intentional milk contamination

> A number of trials were conducted by the Chinese government resulting in two executions, three sentences of life imprisonment, two 15-year prison sentences, and the firing or forced resignation of seven local government officials and the Director of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The former chairwoman of China's Sanlu dairy was sentenced to life in prison.

China does a lot of things wrong, but they're closer to right than the US on this stuff!

>There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.

Normally I'd call this sort of language hyperbolic, but in this case I'm not sure it is.

You know people are consuming this product. Literally poisoning people to save a few dollars? It's inexplicable.

Jail is too lenient, this is the sort of offence where I want to see heads on spikes

This sounds extreme, but someone is destroying the health of and potentially killing thousands of people to safe a small amount of money. It's hard to think of a worse crime. I wonder if this is similar to the old adage that one death is a tragedy and a thousand are a statistic. If someone violently kills a single person and we learn all the details, in some places they'll face capital punishment. You low-key poison thousands of people and jail is suddenly controversial.

A corporation of any size caught doing this with any amount of knowing about it (i.e. not sabotage by a troubled lone wolf) should be seized, sold for parts, and the proceeds from the fire sale going to the victims and if anything is left over afterwards, the state.

There is no fine value appropriate that isn't "considerably more than the company is worth" for that kind of blatant violation.

You should not get to continue to exist after poisoning people for profit margin.

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