>Although, to be fair, given the number of objects compared to the number of failures, we're pretty close.
Did you ever pause to think why that's the case? That wasn't the case 100 years ago, when Radium was a fun new chemical to paint your teeth with.
We are pretty close because of government regulation, warnings, and yes, lawsuits that punish the companies for being negligent on safety.
>Obviously manufacturers should attempt to minimize the risk but they'll never reduce it to zero.
And obviously, the manufacturers need incentives to do so. Safety warnings aren't just for the consumer - they also make safer products more marketable. And penalties for not doing due diligence won't happen by themselves unless the consumers take an active position, report safety violations to CPSC, and sue to recover the damages.
Someone has to enforce the rules. In the US, the enforcement is shifted to the consumer and the legal system. We have CPSC, NHTSA, FAA - and their reach is still limited, the justification being that it should be up to the courts.
