Velazquez 1
Andres Velazquez Jr.
Professor Sam Matt
Business Ethics
April 2016
Deontology
Introduction
This paper will analyze one of the important ethical issues on the induction of brominated
vegetable oil (BVO) in soft drinks by PepsiCo. The same chemical is used as flame retardant.
Company is adding this product in soft drinks because it ensures the sustainability of colors and
flavors of the product. On the consumer side, this particular product is said to cause some of the
devastating effects on health. Memory loss, nerve imbalances and skin injuries. The same
product is already banned in different countries like Japan and some of the EU member
countries. Instead of the formal commitments by PepsiCo about removal of this product from
soft drinks, it is still been added by the companies, because they calculate things based on cost
benefit analysis and not on ethical grounds.
Continues debate on the use of BVO in soft drinks, particularly mountain dew, has putted
the stakeholder into great trouble. The main concerned parties in this controversy were the
producer and distributer of PepsiCo products, and on the other hand the general public as a
whole. The user were deeply concerned of the issue, because they were been directly affected by
the use of soft drinks. The anti BVO campaign was greatly picked up by the general public, and
took 100000 signatures to show that they are parties in the controversy. The producers were not
only worried about the legal obstacles but they had to sell their products among the same
consumers. (Scheske et al, 2011)On the other hand, the suppliers of that particular product to
Velazquez 2
PepsiCo were concerned, as they do not want to have bane on BVO because this will put their
own business at risk. Private companies base their businesses on the principle of individualism;
that is they only want to increase their profits, regardless of the consequences. (Richard, 1979.
P.p 103-140)
Moral argument
The moral argument for the bane of BVO in soft drinks is that, it is a non- healthy
product that carries serious implication for human health in the form of memory loss, skin
diseases and nervous system disorders; hence it should be banned and removed from the
products being produced by PepsiCo.
Even the national institute of environmental health sciences conducted tests to see the
