For examples you might have been better choosing cases where the production rather than use by customers is problematic.
Radium paint and dials, asbestos, prior to 20th century regulations food and medicine fraud and adulteration so endemic that finding just the correct product was almost impossible. Which is what led those regulations in the first place.
Capitalism is what it is - an utterly amoral engine of profit. Without regulation and legal frameworks it will create slaves, destroy the environment, kill and maim people - there's almost no limit.
What the OP's anecdote illustrates is that there's also a deep cultural issue at play.
Many in the South abhorred slavery and segregation, but had no choice but to follow the law.
Killing and maiming people has been a State activity since they've existed. It's one of the things they're very efficient at.
Make no mistake, Slavery was an intended feature. Not a bug, nor a result of a state gone wild. It was considered part of their economy and part of their free market.
Slavery was only ended at the insistence of laws put in place by the state.