Bob Blake is the chief executive officer of Bisbee Dog Food Company, a manufacturer of dry dog food. Bisbee is located in Florida. Its dog food is sold throughout the U.S. and in other countries. Bisbee's products contain a variety of natural ingredients. One ingredient is QX7, a natural protein found in orange peels. QX7 is inexpensive to produce from the abundant supply of orange peels which are available in Florida from producers of orange juice. By using QX7 which it extracts from orange peels, Bisbee is able to produce high protein dog food at low cost, and generate significant profit.

Recently, a U.S. federal regulatory agency announced the results of research which shows that QX7 contributes to liver disease in mammals, including dogs, and shortens an animal's life by an average of 10%. The government agency announced that a ban on the sale of all animal food, including dog food, containing QX7 would take effect on January 1. The ban does not prohibit the export from the U.S. of animal food containing QX7 and does not prohibit gifts of animal food containing QX7 to U.S. animal welfare organizations like animal shelters.

Bisbee is immediately changing the formula for all of its dog food to eliminate QX7 and maintain the same protein level by using more expensive ingredients. Bisbee is also buying back all unsold bags of Bisbee dog food containing QX7 from U.S. retail stores even though the ban has not yet gone into effect.

Bisbee estimates that it will have 20,000 bags of dog food containing QX7 in its warehouse in early January. At a recent meeting about what to do with the dog food containing QX7, Linda Lake, Bisbee's vice president told Bob that dog food containing QX7 could lawfully be sold in the island country of Atlantica, which is only a few hundred miles from Florida. Bisbee has a history of selling an average of 2,000 bags of dog food a month in Atlantica. The vice president said that he had already checked with Bisbee's lawyers who confirmed that sales of dog food containing QX7 will continue to be legally permissible in Atlantica for the foreseeable future. The lawyers also have confirmed that it will be lawful to make gifts of animal food containing QX7 to U.S. animal welfare organizations like animal shelters.

Bob is wondering what should be done. He is troubled by an article on the Internet which describes how poor people in some countries sometimes try to save money by mixing pet food into the food they eat. Although the article did not specifically mention Atlantica, Bob knows that a significant percentage of the people there are very poor. He also wonders whether donating the dog food containing QX7 to U.S. animal shelters is a good idea.

Write an essay analyzing this situation according to the multi-step ethical decision-making process set forth in the ethics material posted in Brightspace. YOU SHOULD ASSUME THAT THE LAWYERS' ADVICE IS ACCURATE AND SHOULD NOT SPECULATE ABOUT POTENTIAL LEGAL ISSUES REGARDING POSSIBLE DISTRIBUTION OF DOG FOOD IN ATLANTICA AND GIFTS TO U.S. ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS. Your essay should be written from the point of view of someone providing advice BASED ON ETHICS to Bob, the chief executive officer. The essay should conclude by recommending an ethically appropriate course of action for Bob to take on behalf of the company. Bob has final decision-making authority regarding the formulation of the company's products and how they are distributed. Bob is Linda's boss.