You are an employee for ChemCon, a corporation that makes various chemical products. You have recently been asked to appear on a local news program to discuss the economic growth stimulated by your company’s presence in that area. You are to make a two-minute presentation about the company.

This will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Two hours before you are to be interviewed on television, one of ChemCon’s tanker trucks overturns and spills hundreds of gallons of toxins into a rural riverbed. You are told about the spill by an executive officer of the company who asks you to refrain from discussing the issue and indicates that the situation is under control—there is no need to cause a scare. You recognize the spilled chemical as one of the deadliest made by your company. You know that the chemical does not break down quickly or easily (so it will dissipate or dissolve), and you know that it is virtually impossible to

“clean up” because it spreads rapidly in water flow. You also know that farmers graze cattle and grow crops using that river as a primary water source.

It is time to give your speech. What does your ethical code compel you to say?