Driving Teachers Crazy Essay

Teaching is not just earning a buck, it’s a snap. At the beginning of a new school year with high school sophomores, Mr. Finn is working at his desk wondering what the first period is going to be like. While waiting for the bell to ring, most students stand in clusters talking quietly but a few the knock- upstairs are rather loud and boisterous around the room causing a commotion with every group they pass. Not wanting to be overly negative on the first day, Mr. Finn says nothing. By the time the bell rings most of the class has become loud and boisterous. Although, teaching is a snap. Some students make it rather difficulty. When he realizes that his class is going to be immature, he will need to learn self-discipline. He remembers the classroom management suggestion he learned in college. â€Å"Don’t simile until Christmas and be tough on the first day†. Therefore, he commands everyone to sit and get the class started. From the time of role call to the time Mr. Finn is passing out textbooks, and then thought the introductory lesson, several students are loud and sometimes obnoxious, others to the other side of the room are murmuring, swearing and don’t forget the corners someone is snoring. He tells the students to be quieter, but they don’t listen. By the end of the first period he wonders whether his going into teaching might have been a mistake. He wanted to teach and help young learn, but certainly lost he thinks, when you spend your whole day disciplining students rather than teaching them. As routine as it may sound, this is the experience that I go through everyday. Having twenty students a day that are as loud as action is never pleasant. By the time I get home I head to the fridge to get chocolate ice cream not just because I need it, but also because want it. Noise distracts other slow learners as well as teachers. It maybe that this student needs to be noticed and recognized. I have a friend who always shouts to be noticed, being loud seem to enhance her personality, and sometimes to appear tough. It is so irritating when you are reading and  someone shouts loudly keeping you off track. This student need to encouraged repeatedly, she requires redirection and always told to demonstrate mature behavior. Secondly, name-calling is also a common occurrence and very nefarious. It bothers me when a student calls someone a name just to be noticed or for attention. Although there are key problems that lead to this behavior there are key issues behind the scenes. One key major aspect is sexuality, a student may feel that he/she is an outcast or cannot make friends. He/she attracts attention from peers through name-calling. Some classmates are also amused by this behavior – as long as it’s directed toward someone else. Sometimes, a student may have a need for food and drink, and may be covering this need by name-calling. A teacher has to recognize why the student is presenting this behavior in order to be of help. There are things that can be done by the student. A close relationship with someone may reduce this student’s need to call others names. Another irritating behavior is making fun of other’s weakness. People need to belong and respected no matter what their weakness, if this is taken advantage of they might be hurt or discouraged. Last year, I had a friend in my health class, he had a domestic problem and that his parents were divorced. Now that he lived with his mother who couldn’t support him in any way, he thought he could the world it all belonged to him. This friend of mine was real dumb and ill tempered, even though you greeted he thought that he was being insulted. He also had problem with English since his home language is â€Å"French† sometimes he would pronounce words with an accent for example â€Å"wit† instead of â€Å"with†, other students thought that this was weird or even fun and they always made fun of him they even nick-named him â€Å"wit†. As time went by, he suddenly stopped talking. Early in the morning he could sit by the corner and sleep. There are students like my friend who have different weaknesses, it doesn’t mean that they are different although they seem that way. A teacher can help these kids by getting a translator or after school tutoring. A teacher may all own the class to establish rules regarding this behavior. Our goal is to make † making fun of other’s weaknesses† socially unacceptable. School time dozing is another major problem in history of the classroom. In the middle of a discussion, a teacher unexpectedly stops speaking. Everyone stops speaking, nothing is heard except a faint sound from somewhere in the corner. Noise that sound like†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.snoring? Suddenly with a loud thwack! The teacher claps a book shut and the snoring culprit is jarred from his sleep, lifting his head up with blear- eyes all ashamed! You would think times have changed. Falling to sleep among today’s teenagers is a common occurrence. Why do the sleep in class? An obvious reason is lack of sleep. IT bugs me when someone is snoring and I am studying or typing. I remember last yeast in my keyboarding class a boy who sat adjacent to me. He slept and snored real loud, that the ceiling could tremble. I could hardly contrite and since this was a keyboarding class that never cared much the rule was â€Å"Do all you can but turn in work on time†. The only possible cure to school time dozing is personating time for activities as well as schoolwork. I conclusion, being a teacher can be tiresome. No matter how routine the day, still teachers get away with it. Teaching is supposed to be a snap as you lock the door, driving by the countryside sing † I t was horrible, but I managed†. Although you spend all day disciplining instead of teaching them.

Criticisms of Plato’s Theory of the Forms Essay

Plato’s theory of forms, also called his theory of ideas, states that there is another world, separate from the material world that we live in called the â€Å"eternal world of forms†. This world, to Plato, is more real than the one we live in. His theory is shown in his Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic, Book VII), where the prisoners only live in what they think is a real world, but really it is a shadow of reality. According to Plato, to the prisoners in the allegory and to humanity in the material world â€Å"truth would be literally nothing but shadows† and he believes us to be as ignorant as the people in the cave. Plato followed the belief that in order for something to be real it has to be permanent, and as everything in the world we live in is constantly changing, he assumed there must be something else. In his eternal world of forms, there is an ideal form of every object there is in this world. Plato answers the question â€Å"what is beauty?â⠂¬  by discovering the essence of true beauty. The reason one recognises something has being beautiful is because we have an innate knowledge of something that is beauty, i.e. we know of the form of true beauty in the eternal world of forms, and everything we see compares to that. Something is only beautiful if it shares characteristics with the form of beauty in the other world. The most important form is the form of the good, portrayed by the sun in the allegory of the cave. Aristotle was Plato’s main critic and was once a pupil of Plato. Aristotle and many other philosophers who came after Plato criticised Plato’s view that these ideal forms had an independent existence. Many people believe that there must be something to which we compare all objects and something that makes something what it is and not something else. But that doesn’t mean that it exists separate from our bodies. Plato does not prove, or even try and prove that these perfect forms are self-evident. It is Plato’s disability to prove this that causes people to criticise his theory. As Aristotle was one of his pupils, he does not totally reject Plato’s theory but argues that it may not be the only logical reason towards how something is classified. Another criticism made by Aristotle. Linked to the previous one is that Aristotle does not believe that there can be an ideal form of Disease, or  Dirt, or anything bad. If these things are unwanted then how can there be a perfect form of these? A perfect form of disease would be one that does not harm anybody, and doesn’t cause death or suffering. Some concepts fit Plato’s system in better ways than others. For example, mathematical concepts are easier for us to understand than others. How are we to know what the ideal dog is like? Is it tall, short, fat, or skinny? The perfect form of a circle fits into his theory as we know what a perfect circle would be like. It is hard to believe that there is a perfect form of a piece of paper, or a plastic bag. But, as can be seen, this criticism is again not totally dismissing Plato’s theory but is finding loopholes in it. Another problem with his theory, which is again related to the last, is how far the ideal form relates? Plato does not make it clear whether the perfect form in the other world is very specific or whether it isn’t. If we take for example a dog; is the form in the eternal world of forms just an ideal animal, or an ideal dog? Perhaps it goes further to the breed of dog, or even whether it is male or female. As Plato doesn’t elucidate this, we could go on and on until we have a form of every animal, so a shortsighted, over-weight, female dog. This means that the forms are no longer universal and therefore end up having no meaning. If both Aristotle and Plato were aiming to reach the highest from of the good then they should both agree on how to reach it. Plato claims that the highest form of the good is like the sun, â€Å"seen only with an effort†, and is the one thing that makes other things the way they are as it is â€Å"the universal author of all things†¦and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual†. Goodness is something that cannot be defined, when asked, different people have different ideas about what is good, or right and wrong, whereas if everybody was asked to point to the sun they all would. This disproves his theory as not everybody has a true understanding of the Form of the Good. Plato fails to set out his theory clearly and allow the reader to realise it is a theory. Nowhere in his dialogues does he state that he is describing a theory of forms, and so people may have misunderstood his writing s and he  may not have meant it to be a theory at all. He has elements of his theory in many different dialogues and is inconsistent. In Book I of the Metaphysics Aristotle claims that Plato had a â€Å"system† to the effect that â€Å"the many sensibles which have the same name exist by participating in the corresponding Forms.† This quote from Aristotle’s work suggests that Plato did have a theory of forms but this is not believed by all people. None of these criticisms totally disallow Plato’s theory but argue against it and suggest other possibilities. Although there are many critics of Plato there are also many people who follow him, and even in this day and age Plato’s ideas are understood and followed and he has ended up being one of the most influential philosophers although his Theory of Forms is slightly over the top and hard to understand. To a certain extent these criticisms are valid, but in other ways they are not. In my opinion they are valid as far as criticisms are concerned but are not valid if they are meant to oppose Plato’s theory. In my view they are invalid to go up against Plato’s theory of forms because they do not supply us with any other options but simply point out the flaws of his arguments. For example, Aristotle’s criticism that these ideal forms do not have to exist independently from this material world is valid. But he does not give us a reason why it is impossible for them to be self-evident or explain to us how they could exist in this world. This causes the criticisms to be less valid in my view as there is no significant reason for Plato’s theory to be untrue. Likewise with the second criticism about how there cannot be an ideal form of dirt. I believe there can be. Just as good things can have ideal forms, bad things also must have something to which we compare them. The form would produce a definition of disease and there is no reason why this cannot exist. When Plato talks about something ideal, he does not mean it is ideal in the context we want it and need it, but just that it is the form to which we will compare things and it is the perfect form of a bad thing. Although people criticise Plato’s because it is hard to believe that there is an  ideal form of some things that aren’t mathematical concepts, it doesn’t mean they are not true just because we don’t understand it. I therefore, do not think that this criticism is valid, as I do not see a reason why it cannot be true. One criticism I do think is valid is that Plato does not make it clear about whether the ideal form is of a certain animal, a species or breed. But, Plato may not have thought it necessary to make this clear to us as he may have thought it obvious. This, however, is really giving Plato the benefit of the doubt, and so I think this is a valid criticism. Even if Plato and Aristotle were both aiming for the same thing, in my view it does not mean they have to do it in the same way. Aristotle did believe many of the things Plato taught him, but just expanded his ideas a bit more. I do not believe this to be a valid criticism as there are always many ways to reach an end and not everybody has to follow the same path to reach their goal. Plato criticises his own theory a few times but eventually reaches answers to the things he criticised. This can either cause other people’s criticisms to be more valid or less valid depending on the way you look at it. Often, when people criticise their own work before somebody else does, it lowers the value of the criticism as it shows Plato already knew people would criticise him for that. On the other hand, it makes me think that there is reason to criticise if he himself criticises his theory. This causes later criticisms of his theory to be more valid. There are many reasons for the criticisms to be valid, and many why they are not. I personally think that most of them are not valid and if even nowadays many people believe Plato’s theory then there must be some truth in it. Bibliography *Foundation for the Study of Religion – Libby Ahluwalia *Plato – R.M.Hare *Philosophy: an Introduction – Mel Thompson *Encarta – Plato

PROBATION PRACTICE IN ENGLAND Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

PROBATION PRACTICE IN ENGLAND - Essay Example Racism produces its effects through segregation, socioeconomic stratification, and marginalization as well as through the individual experience. Institutionalized racism produces discriminatory effects on health through public policy, the physical environment, social and medical services and preventive health policy. The studies conducted by various organizations and individuals shows that the practice of racism is prevails in the criminal justice system also. There is recent evidence (from the 2000 British Crime Survey) that black and particularly Asian people are more likely than whites to say that the criminal justice system is effective in bringing offenders to justice, dealing with cases promptly and efficiently, and meeting the needs of crime victims. But at the same time Minority ethnic people were less confident that the system respected the rights of suspects and treated them fairly, and black respondents especially were less likely than whites to believe that the police treated witnesses well (Mirrlees-Black, 2001)(1). Whatever it is, it is important to explore the field of probation practice and the treatment of minority ethnic groups in the criminal justice system, to identify the criminogenic needs of black and Asian offenders, and to explore their views about probation supervision, and to inform decisions about appropriate service provision. Thereby we can have a deep look into the probation practice to diversity in working with these Black and Asians .Moreover we can corroborate the possibility that people from minority ethnic groups may be subject to disadvantageous treatment at all stages of the criminal justice process, even if this does not result from overt racist discrimination (Phillips and B rown, 1998).(2) Before going to explore the areas of diversities in the probation practice regarding the black and Asian offenders, it will be helpful to have look on the scope of probation practices and criminal justice

Enterprise and Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Enterprise and Innovation - Essay Example We can categorize age structure as per preferences of the population in a particular age group. Thus we can have the various sub-groups as – 15 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 49 and 50 and above. We can safely assume that people falling in these sub-categories of age groups will have more or less similar preferences and hence we can target our products as per these 5 segments. An important point to note is that the population in the segments 15 to 19 and 50 and above will have more leisure time as compared to the other two which fall in working age group. These segments will have more time during the week-ends. Looking at the timings of the games, we have 3 week-ends between 27th July and 12th August 2012 (the period scheduled for the games). Thus, we can introduce products as per following plan: Based on the tastes of the various age group segments different flavors have been introduced. People in the age group of 15 to 19 would prefer the flavors mentioned above. People above 50 years tend to get digestive problems and hence the products mentioned for their category will appeal to them. 20 to 29 years age people are more experimental and nor very money conscious. Hence, new flavors not introduced so far will appeal to them. And finally people in the age group of 30 to 49 are generally more health conscious and hence would prefer fruit based drinks which do not have the ills of carbonated drinks and at the same time will also be healthy. The Price elasticity of Demand (PeD) determines how sensitive the demand for a product is to changes in prices. We will look at the general factors impacting all products as well as factors that are specifically impacting Coca-Cola at Olympics. 1. Substitute availability: Coca-Cola has direct competition with its substitute – Pepsi. Both are similar in taste and thus have very high PeD. Moreover in UK Coke has a direct rival Robins. This

War is the Last Resort of Resolving Disputes Essay

War is the Last Resort of Resolving Disputes - Essay Example These include protecting American citizens and interests from foreign aggression, liberating people from oppressive regimes, promoting democracy and human rights especially in autocratic countries in addition to protecting the American society from the adverse effects of drug abuse (Zycher 74-76). In spite of the vast resources invested in the wars and heavy loss of human lives, United States still remains under imminent threats of terror attacks and abuse of human rights is rampant at both local and international levels. Currently, United States military is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars have been ongoing for about ten years and the targeted countries are yet to attain political and economic stability. However, the numbers of the American soldiers and civilians killed and wounded in the conflicts are increasing. According to The Washington Post, 4,474 and 2,038 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively up to date since the emergence of the c onflicts. In addition 33,184 servicemen have been wounded in Iraq alone. However, the number of wounded servicemen does not include those suffering from psychological problems such as post traumatic disorder. Over 6,440 service members have lost their lives in both â€Å"operation Iraqi freedom† and â€Å"operation enduring freedom† in Afghanistan (The Washington Post). ... At the beginning of the â€Å"operation enduring freedom† in 2001, United States lost 12 service members in that year (icasualties.org). However, in 2010 alone, 499 service members were killed and an additional 418 the following year in 2011 (icasualties.org). Afghanistan has been experiencing some of the worst forms of violence for the last several years in form of suicide bombing, improvised explosive devices and resurgence of the Taliban rule. Therefore, it is apparent that the wars have made the world more insecure than before considering the number of service members and civilians killed in the conflicts. The war in America is costly to the United States, the targeted country and the global economy. According to Gholz (35), wars interrupt international trade, which result to reduction of global wealth. Gholz indentified four mechanisms through which wars interrupt global economic growth and development. The first way is interruption of trade between the targeted country a nd its existing trading partners in the world. This was evidenced in Iraq, where the United States invasion disrupted oil production and trade in the country. Secondly war could interfere with trade between countries not involved in the conflict. This could occur as a result of increasing the cost of doing business due to disruption of oil production and high insecurity (37-41).Gold estimated that 20 to 40 percent increase of the oil price in global markets since 2003 was caused by anticipated decline of oil production in Iraq after the American military invasion(7). Wars interrupt capital flow and foreign direct investment especially in the targeted country because of the increased risks of

Role of BBC in Broadcasting Britishness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Role of BBC in Broadcasting Britishness - Essay Example BBC has been in the forefront in covering stories on Britishness which is aimed at fostering unity since it is the work of media to educate, inform and bring the people together. Britishness entails that which explains the lives of the British people with an aim of uniting them. Britishness is associated with national symbols, people, culture and beliefs, geographical features, language, values and attitudes, national identity or citizenship and their achievements1. The Union Jack and the Royal family symbolized Britishness. Its geography is related with the Scottish highlands, Welsh valleys and the British Isles. The British people maintain their cultural values which include the kind of food and drinks they consume for instance the English breakfast, fish and chips, cucumber sandwiches and Yorkshire pudding, sporting activities by promoting2. Holding a United Kingdom passport was a perception that the minority ethnic groups associated with Britishness. British people were united by the fact that they spoke English with varied intonations due to geographical regions and the social classes. Advancement in several sectors for example industrialization, discovery of sporting activities and medicinal products is associated with Britishness3. ... or representing UK and its countries, initiate and promote innovativeness and cultural success by providing financial support for creativity, uphold citizenship and the general society and to expose United Kingdom to the world as well as to introduce the world to the United Kingdom4. BBC mission is to ensure that every activity they take part in meets at least one of its intended purposes. BBC took upon its mandate to unite the people of Britain by exposing the diverse cultures and identity of Britishness. BBC has been seen to represent Britishness through its programs; it has aired harmonized and mixed information that portray the image and identity of British people. BBC covered information about the empire and the monarchy highlighted shared practices among the people living in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales5. BBC brought to light family and societal living among the British people by addressing that the empire was one family led by royals who instilled discipline, tradition s and peaceful coexistence. BBC did this by airing information on cultural ceremonies and overseas visits and by requesting kings to take part in Christmas broadcasts as they believed it would strengthen household Britishness values, practices and attitudes anywhere6. BBC initiated regional programs in Scotland and Wales. For example, a program on folk culture was aired with a focus on exposing the identity and the cultural practices of Scottish people although it was interrupted by the World War II7. BBC regional services contributed towards identity of the inhabitants of Northern Ireland by strengthening Britishness and establishing Ulster identity. BBC being the largest media broadcasting in the world has promoted Britishness by educating the Britons8. BBC has developed several learning

Women and Girls Trafficking for Jihad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Women and Girls Trafficking for Jihad - Essay Example The practice has raised eyebrows and worldwide concern when it was alleged cases of women and young girls trafficking were reported. In this case, women and other young girls are forcefully captured and held as captives for sexual Jihad notoriously propagated by the Tunisian women. It stresses on some of the major sins that are condemned by the Islamic religion. One of them is adultery. It is considered one of the greatest sins in the eyes of Islam. Thus anyone who commits this sin is said to have done a grievous deed and therefore he or she must be punished for the sin committed. This becomes even worse when the girls or women who are used in the performance or propagation of this sin are trafficked and forced into the acts (Rashid, 2000). Adultery is strongly condemned in the Muslim faith since it is regarded as an evil that breeds other evils in the society. This is indicated in the words of Allah in the Quran, which states that â€Å"Do not go near to adultery. Surely it is a shameful deed and evil, opening roads (to other evils).† (17:32). It is an indication that regardless of the gender, Muslims must refrain from adultery which is regarded as the most evil and shameless deed. In addition, besides the evil in itself, adultery is also shunned because it also breeds other forms of evil in the society. In this case of the jihadists, adultery creates the need to traffic women and young girls in an unlawful manner. Therefore, it acts as a start of the circle of more new evils. In addition, although the Quran acknowledges the act of slavery, it prohibits trafficking of girls and women and in particular does not condone any sexual relations with the abducted girls. In this sense, the Tunisian women who are involved in these activities greatly go against the Islamic laws and are eligible for punishment (Kassam, 2010).   

Military Sciences 4 Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Military Sciences 4 Questions - Essay Example On the other side, the interim government in Afghanistan was helpless because it was facing a number of internal and external problems like corruption, illegal trade of opium, underdeveloped economy and security breach. At the same time, Taliban was seeking cooperation with al-Qaida and to subdue the interim government in Afghanistan. In National Defense Strategy document, the defense secretary (2008) makes clear that â€Å"Violent extremist movements such as al-Qaeda and its associates comprise a complex and urgent challenge† (p.2). As the Middle East (say, especially Afghanistan) is considered as the core of international terrorist plots, the national interest of the United States is at risk in this area. To be specific, the 9/11 incident proves that al-Qaida in Afghanistan is behind the global spread of terrorism. So, the U.S. government must deal with the grass root level reason behind the global spread of terrorism. Almost all the world nations face the problem of terrori sm and religious fundamentalism. In addition, the problem of terrorism can be dealt with military involvement because other ways prove ineffective. Our military involvement supports the vital national interest because the ultimate aim of the US forces in Afghanistan is to interrupt and dismantle the international terrorist groups which operate from Afghanistan. ... So, one can easily identify that the situation in Afghanistan is worse and US security is at risk. Besides, military involvement in this area aims to keep pressure upon the terrorist groups like Taliban and al-Qaida. In short, military involvement in Afghanistan is unavoidable because it supports the vital national interest of the United States. 2. The Department of Defense (DoD)’s tendency to focus on conventional conflicts is based upon the Cold War strategy. One can easily identify that this strategy is not practical and is impossible to implement in irregular wars. For instance, the international terrorist groups make use of irregular warfare and conventional warfare based upon military power cannot withstand the same. So, the 2008 National Defense Strategy (NDS) is vital to counterbalance DoD’s tendency to focus on conventional conflicts. Within this context, NDS aims to implement a number of measures. One can see that the NDS provides ample importance to long-term effort by confronting the challenges faced by conventional warfare, which proved to be ineffective. From a different angle of view, NDS’s aim to adopt innovation into the context of contingency planning, development of different forces, and intelligence work are utmost important to amalgamate innovation into DoD. In National Defense Strategy document, the defense secretary (2008) makes clear that â€Å"We must tailor deterrence to fit particular actors, situations, and forms of warfare† (p.12). Besides, the NDS is aware of the importance of irregular warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, irregular warfare tactics and partnership can be helpful to win wars in the Middle Eastern regions. One can see that NDS put forth innovative ideas to equip the security

Response to Intervention-RTI Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Response to Intervention-RTI - Research Paper Example In 2004, Learning Disabilities (LD) Roundtable partnership was formed by various learning national organizations such as the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities and allied organizations and they defined the critical features of RTI process (Klotz, 2007). The roundtable asserted that instructional and behavioral support offered in general education must always be based on high-quality research. RTI process also calls for universal behavior and academic screening of all students to allow for identification of the students that require enhanced interventions and closer monitoring. An effective RTI process should also be implemented in a tiered approach informed by scientific research to meet the needs of each individual student. The other feature of RTI is that it relies on the collaboration of the staff at the school to develop, implement and monitor the intervention process (Suckla et al., 2008). The Learning Disabilities Roundtable also explained that monitoring of the progress of a student under intervention must be carried out continuously and objectively to assess whether the student is able to meet the defined goals (Suckla et al., 2008). RTI process must also allow for carrying out follow-ups to ensure that the intervention is implemented properly and in accordance to the required consistency. Furthermore, RTI process must allow for the documentation of the parent involvement and adherence to special education assessment criteria as outlined in the IDEIA 2004 and other state regulations. (Suckla et al., 2008). Universal screening which is recommended in RTI and should be undertaken by school staff as an academic year begins to identify students who are not likely to meet the state grade level or the ones having emotional and behavioral problems which can negatively learning (Klotz, 2007). Universal screening is accomplished by either reviewing the current state test results or by giving academic and behavioral screening tests to students with a given grade. The students who score marks below a certain level are categorized as requiring specialized behavioral and academic interventions. According to Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs and Barnes (2007), scientific and research-based instruction refer to particular curriculum and education intervention which have been identified as being effective, that is, it has been reported in

Fetal Alcohol Synodrome Essay Example for Free

Fetal Alcohol Synodrome Essay Introduction It sounds simple: women who drink excessively while pregnant are at high risk for giving birth to children with birth defects. Therefore, to prevent these defects, women should stop drinking alcohol during all phases of pregnancy. Alternatively, women who drink alcohol should not become pregnant unless and until they can control their drinking. More than 20 years ago, when fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) was first described in the published medical literature, there were high hopes for its prevention. In fact, this has not been simple, and the biomedical and public health communities are still struggling to eliminate a birth defect that should be absolutely preventable. HISTORY Although references to the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol can be found in classical and biblical literature, fetal alcohol syndrome was first described in the medical literature in France by Lemoine et al. in 1968. Researchers in the United States soon also published a landmark report describing a constellation of birth defects in children born to alcoholic women (Jones and Smith, 1973). FAS has since been described in most countries of the world. Briefly, FAS refers to a constellation of physical abnormalities, most obvious in the features of the face (see Figure 1-1) and in the reduced size of the newborn, and problems of behavior and cognition. These latter features lead to the most concern. The degree of abnormality in any one measure can vary greatly between individuals and can change with time in the same individual. For example, people diagnosed with FAS can have IQs from well within the normal range to the severely mentally retarded range. The physical anomalies can be slight or quite striking. Some people with FAS live fairly normal lives if given adequate and structured support throughout their lives, whereas others are severely impaired. The defects may or may not be apparent or easily diagnosed at birth. Although the manifestations of the damage might change with age, FAS never completely disappears and, as with many developmental disabilities, there is no cure, although there might be some amelioration in some individuals. FAS does not refer to signs of acute alcohol exposure or withdrawal at birth. Newborns can have blood alcohol levels high enough to affect acutely their central nervous system function and not have FAS. Newborns can also have no alcohol in their bloodstream at time of delivery but still have FAS. FAS is not a drunk baby. The costs of FAS and related conditions can be quite high—for the individual, for the family, and for society. Three groups have tried to estimate these costs, and these estimates vary greatly (Bloss, 1994). These estimates are problematic, because of uncertainties regarding the incidence and prevalence of FAS and uncertainties related to the full extent of health (and other) problems experienced throughout the lifetime of people with FAS. Estimates of the occurrence of FAS in North American communities range from 0 per 1,000 (incidence; Abel and Sokol, 1987, 1991) to 120 per 1,000 (prevalence; Robinson et al. , 1987), although rates in several of the most complete studies are similar—on the order of 0. 5 to 3 cases per 1,000 births. Assuming an annual birth cohort of approximately 4 million, this translates into 2 to 12 thousand FAS births per year in this country. As described in the report, there is a lack of longitudinal data on the extent of possible problems of adults with FAS. Therefore, cost estimates for the United States range from $75 million (Abel and Sokol, 1991) to $9. 7 billion (Harwood and Napolitano, 1985). The total lifetime cost per typical case of FAS for a child born in 1980 was estimated to be $596,000 undiscounted1 (Harwood and Napolitano, 1985). These incidence and cost figures are offered not as established facts but they are intended to emphasize that regardless of the details, or any one specific estimate, the costs of FAS to the individual and society are high. FIGURE 1-1 Photographs of children with fetal alcohol syndrome. SOURCES: Figures 4C and 4D: Reprinted with permission from Jones et al. (1973). Copyright 1973 by the Lancet Ltd. Figure 4B: Reprinted with permission from Clarren and Smith (1978). Copyright 1978 by the New England Journal of Medicine, Massachusetts Medical Society. Since publication of the papers by Lemoine and by Jones and Smith, the biomedical, public health, research, and public policy communities have devoted much time and energy to a fascinating problem of teratology (the study of the effects of chemical exposure on the developing fetus), neurobiology, disease prevention, and social disarray. The U. S. Public Health Service has spent millions of dollars in research, public education, and service programs related to the topic. Important concepts have been established through research. For example, well-controlled research studies on rats, mice, and nonhuman primates have demonstrated that alcohol exposure causes FAS. However, while alcohol is the necessary teratogen, it alone may not be sufficient to produce FAS in humans or birth defects in animals. As with most teratogens, not every fetus exposed to significant amounts of alcohol is affected. The outcomes might be modulated by numerous biologic and environmental factors, such as nutrition, threshold, timing, genetic susceptibility, pattern of alcohol exposure, or fetal resilience. Further research is needed to fully elucidate the factors that influence the expression of alcohol teratogenesis. Public education campaigns have taught many women and their partners, as well as the medical community and society at large, that excessive alcohol consumption is dangerous during pregnancy. Reduction in the occurrence of substance abuse during pregnancy, reduction in the incidence of FAS, and an increase in the questioning of patients by health care providers about alcohol and other drug use are goals of the Public Health Services Healthy People 2000 initiative (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1991). See Table 1-1. Prevention of birth defects as a salient public health goal presents some exemplary success stories. A good example is the advocacy for and impact of rubella immunizations for children and women of childbearing age with no history of natural rubella or rubella immunization. An outbreak in the United States in the mid-1960s resulted in an estimated 20,000 children born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). CRS occurs in 20 to 25 percent of babies born to mothers who get rubella in the first trimester of pregnancy and results in congenital heart disease, deafness, mental retardation, and other fetal abnormalities. An estimate of the lifetime cost of CRS is about $330,000 per case. With widespread introduction of rubella vaccines in the late 1960s and the requirement for rubella immunization prior to school entry, the number of reported cases of CRS in the United States hit a low of 225 in 1988. As another example, new findings that folic acid deficiency during pregnancy can result in neural tube defects have led to recommendations that grain be fortified with folic acid to prevent these birth defects. Availability of effective prevention strategies led to public policy debates and recommendations for action. The emergence of crack cocaine as a major medical and public health problem in the 1980s led to worries about a generation of crack babies who would cost the medical care system, primarily neonatal intensive care wards, huge amounts of money and who would overburden the education and social service systems with problems attributable to prenatal exposure to cocaine. Further research has shown that crack cocaine can lead to serious obstetrical complications and that some of the exposed newborns do have problems. TABLE 1-1 Examples of Healthy People 2000 Goals Relevant to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Objective 1987 Baseline. Target 2000 Incidence of FAS (per 1,000 live births) 0. 22 0. 12 Abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy 79% Increase by 20% Screening by obstetrician/gynecologist for alcohol use 34% 75% Referrals by obstetrician/gynecologist for alcohol treatment 24% 75% Screening by obstetrician/gynecologist for drug use 32% 75% Referrals by obstetrician/gynecologist for drug treatment 28% 75% Cocaine-exposed children have not been followed as extensively or for as long a time as alcohol-exposed children; what data have been published show some effects of prenatal cocaine exposure at three years of age, but the problems do not seem to be nearly as devastating as predicted, nor as severe as the long-term problems associated with alcohol exposure. In fact, some of the long-term effects associated with prenatal cocaine exposure may be due in part to the concurrent use of alcohol during pregnancy. The federal government invested millions of dollars in demonstration projects for services for substance-abusing women. Some of these programs included services for women who abuse alcohol, but the emphasis was usually on drugs, particularly illegal ones, other than alcohol, or on polydrug use. The attention to crack cocaine and its effects on the fetus is curious given that the percentage of pregnant women who drink (approximately 20 percent) far exceeds the percentage who use cocaine (approximately 1 percent; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1994). At the time, however, the cocaine epidemic and its potential risks to unborn children led to heated public policy debates. Policies of mandatory urine testing in delivery wards, and subsequent removal of a child from the care of a mother who tested positive for illegal substances, were instituted in many places (Blume, in press; Chavkin, 1990). The unintended negative consequences of these actions have led to a reconsideration and reversal of these policies more recently. THE FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAS RESEARCH As will be described in many parts of this report, FAS is a complicated health and social problem, involving many different sectors of the government. The U. S. Public Health Service (USPHS) contains the agencies with primary responsibility for research in the area. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has the lead role in research on FAS. However, NIAAA is a relatively small institute of NIH. The NIAAA appropriation in 1993 was $177 million, compared with more than $400 million for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and slightly less than $2 billion for the National Cancer Institute (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1993). NIAAA programs related to FAS include very basic animal research, which has been the mainstay of research in this area; clinical and epidemiologic research on the effects of low to moderate alcohol use by pregnant women; and prevention research. The alcohol and pregnancy program at NIAAA included $9. 8 million to $13. 5 million for approximately 70 grants in each of fiscal years 1990-1994. Most of these research grants were RO1, investigator-initiated awards. NIAAA funds one fetal alcohol research center. In addition, many research programs sponsored by NIAAA have ancillary importance to FAS, for example, the research it funds on the epidemiology of drinking by women or on general approaches to the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse. As an example of the level of commitment by NIAAA to this issue, the prevention research program at NIAAA has ranged from $15 million to $19. 8 million annually in recent years. As the lead research agency on alcohol, the institute and the USPHS can serve as a bully pulpit for the prevention of FAS and other alcohol-related problems. In fact, this has been the case. The U. S. Surgeon General first issued a warning against the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy in 1981. In addition to funding and conducting research, NIAAA publishes information for the public on FAS, sponsors research workshops on FAS, and has its staff speak at public meetings. Other NIH institutes fund research relevant to, but not directly about, FAS. For example, NIDA funded a $4 million National Pregnancy and Health Survey on substance abuse, including alcohol, during pregnancy. The data on alcohol were a small part of the entire project. In addition, NIDA funds epidemiologic and clinical research on the effects of substance abuse during pregnancy, and alcohol is frequently one of the substances used by these populations. A rather large study funded by NIDA was the Perinatal 20 demonstration project assessing prevention of substance abuse during pregnancy. Although the major purpose was to look at the abuse of illegal substances, some data were collected on alcohol use, as well. Another key USPHS agency involved in FAS work is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The FAS Prevention Section is housed in CDCs National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. CDCs role is to collect data to define the scope of the problem; support the development and evaluation of FAS prevention projects; and build state capacity for coordinated, state-based FAS surveillance and prevention programs (CDC submission to IOM committee). The CDC maintains and analyzes surveillance programs that include FAS, such as the Birth Defects Monitoring Program. In addition, CDC sponsors and supports efforts to prevent FAS. The CDC currently has FAS prevention and surveillance projects supported through states and universities. As with NIAAA, CDC has ancillary programs related to maternal and child health, alcohol abuse, and epidemiologic surveillance that can support and inform FAS programs. Other agencies in the USPHS maintain important programs related to FAS, but these programs have much less emphasis on research. The Indian Health Service, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) fund services or demonstration projects directly or indirectly related to FAS. At this time, no agency has been able to support research on the clinical aspects of FAS, on the medical treatment of children with FAS, or on the education and remediation of these children. A notable USPHS program is the Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Infants (PPWI) initiative. This program was authorized by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, passed by Congress in 1988. The demonstration grant program focuses on the development of innovative, community-based models of drug prevention, education, and treatment, targeting pregnant and postpartum women and their infants (National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health, 1993). The program is funded jointly by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) of SAMHSA and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of HRSA. It has funded 147 demonstration projects. The most common drug addressed was cocaine, followed by alcohol and polydrug use. Because demonstration projects are rigorously evaluated only infrequently, the nature, utility, and transferability of their findings are difficult to assess. The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), a part of SAMHSA, was charged by Congress to support grants for residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants (information provided to the committee). CSAT funded 31 residential projects in 20 states in the PPWI program and 34 projects in 24 states in its Residential Treatment for Women and Their Children program. The five treatment programs that serve Native American women include comprehensive services specific to FAS. In addition, CSAT has other activities, such as its Treatment Improvement Protocols, relevant to FAS, but the abuse substance of focus is usually cocaine or opiates, not alcohol. CONGRESSIONAL INTEREST In recognition of the seriousness of this problem, which affects both the health and the societal functioning of many Americans, several times in the past few years, members of Congress have introduced legislation related to FAS (see Table 1-2). The bills have focused largely on creating an interagency task force on FAS and increasing resources for prevention programs and prevention research. These bills, with one exception, have never been passed. The U. S. Congress mandated in Section 705 of Public Law 102-321, the ADAMHA Reorganization Act, that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences conduct a study of FAS and related birth defects. TABLE 1-2 Congressional Bills Related to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or Women and Alcohol Bill No. and Date Introduced Bill Name Major Sponsor Overview H. R. 1322 3/7/91. Comprehensive Indian Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention and Treatment Act Campbell (D-CO) Authorize services for the prevention, intervention, treatment and aftercare of American Indian and Alaskan Native children and their families at risk for FAS and fetal alcohol effect (FAE). Authorization of grants to Native American tribes for training, prevention, and intervention programs. Convening of FAS/FAE task force including federal representation and representation from Native American tribes. Would have authorized $10 million annually for FY 1993-1995 and $15 million annually for FY 1996-2000. S. 923 5/7/93 Comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act Daschle (D-SD) Expand resources for basic and applied epidemiological research related to FAS/FAE. Establish programs to coordinate and support national, state, and community-based public awareness, prevention, and educational programs on FAS/FAE. Establish and facilitate a national surveillance program to monitor the incidence of FAS/FAE and the effectiveness of prevention programs. Establish a task force to foster coordination among federal agencies that conduct FAS/FAE research, prevention, and treatment. H. R. 3569 11/19/93 Women and Alcohol Research Equity Act of 1993 Morella (R-MD) Provide for an increase in the amount of federal funds expended to conduct research on alcohol abuse and alcoholism among women. Would have authorized up to $23,250,000 to enable NIAAA to increase such research. H. R. 3783 2/2/94 Comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act Richardson (D-NM) Establish a comprehensive program to help prevent FAS and FAE and to coordinate federal efforts to prevent FAS and FAE. CDC to coordinate and support applied epidemiologic research on FAS and FAE. NIAAA to conduct and support basic research targeted to developing data to improve prevention and treatment of FAS and FAE. Develop a plan to disseminate diagnostic criteria to health care and social services providers. Establish an interagency task force on FAS and FAE. SAMHSA to support, conduct, and evaluate training programs for professionals; and prevention and education programs for the public. S 170 1/5/95 Comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act Daschle (D-SD) Establish interagency task force on FAS and FAE. Organize a program of basic research on services and effective prevention, treatment and intervention for pregnant alcohol-dependent women and those with FAS or FAE [Originally introduced as S. 1821 in previous session but died in committee. ] H. R. 1649 5/16/95 Comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act Richardson (D-SD) Establish a program for the conduct and support of research and training and the dissemination of health information about the cause, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of FAS and related conditions. Establish an. Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Develop uniform criteria for the collection and reporting of data on FAS and related conditions. NOTE: CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; NIAAA = National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; and SAMHSA = Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health funded the project. This report is in response to that mandate. The Committee to Study Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was convened in mid-1994. Committee expertise included pediatrics, developmental psychology and neurology, obstetrics, nosology, teratology, epidemiology, sociology, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and psychiatry. The charge to the committee was to improve the understanding of available research knowledge and experience on: †¢ tools and approaches for diagnosing FAS and related disorders, †¢ the prevalence of FAS and related disorders in the general population of the United States, †¢ the effectiveness of surveillance systems, and †¢ the availability and effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs for these conditions. As part of its work, the committee assessed and reviewed U. S. Department of Health and Human Services agency research on the topic and provided guidance for the future. SOME IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS Before going further, some clarification of terms is warranted. Several terms are used in this report to refer to drinking patterns and problems. The terms used here are intended to be consistent in spirit with an earlier IOM report Broadening the Base of Treatment for Alcohol Problems (IOM, 1990), particularly in their emphasis on the heterogeneity of alcohol problems, the course of alcohol use disorders, patterns of consumption, and etiology. In this schema, alcohol consumption is seen as ranging from none to light to moderate to heavy. Alcohol-related problems (e. g. , medical, legal, social, psychological) also range from none to mild to moderate to severe. Research has pointed to a positive correlation between level of alcohol consumption and level of alcohol problems, with the most severe problems generally seen at the highest levels of drinking. This relationship is, however, variable across individuals; that is, in some cases, severe problems can be seen at comparatively moderate levels of drinking. The fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV; 1994) defines alcohol use disorders as alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse. In general, these terms refer to maladaptive patterns of drinking and consequences which constitute a syndrome, usually associated with moderate to heavy alcohol consumption and moderate to severe alcohol-related problems (Edwards et al. , 1981; IOM, 1990). In DSM-IV, alcohol dependence is diagnosed when the individual meets three or more of the following seven criteria in a 12-month period: (1) tolerance; (2) withdrawal; (3) drinking in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended; (4) persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down on drinking; (5) a great deal of time spent drinking or recovering from alcohol effects; (6) declining involvement in social, occupational, or recreational activities because of alcohol use; and (7) use of alcohol despite knowledge of a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem caused or exacerbated by that use. Alcohol abuse is a less severe syndrome characterized by significant adverse consequences associated with alcohol use and is diagnosed when at least one of the following four criteria is met recurrently during a 12-month period: (1) failure to fulfill major role obligations because of alcohol use; (2) recurrent alcohol use in situations when it is physically hazardous; (3) recurrent alcohol-related legal problems; or (4) continued use despite social or interpersonal problems. In addition, the symptoms have never met the criteria for alcohol dependence (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence have fairly specific meaning in DSM-IV. However, these terms are frequently used as umbrella terms for maladaptive patterns of alcohol use. In this report on FAS, the committee has chosen to use alcohol abuse as an umbrella term to indicate heavy drinking, including binge drinking, that is risky for the given individual circumstances. If it is clear that a strict DSM-IV diagnosis is intended, it will be so noted. Similar conventions will be used for substance abuse, which is treated very similarly in DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). DSM-IV does not define the term alcoholic, but the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence does (Morse et al. , 1992). Alcoholism, too, is used but only occasionally in this report. It should be noted that there are no specific levels of consumption associated with alcohol abuse, either as used in DSM-IV or as an umbrella term in this report. Survey data from 1992 show that approximately 4 percent of all women and approximately 4 percent of women between the ages of 30 and 44 years of age could be considered to satisfy the DSM-IV criteria for alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence (Grant et al., 1994). As described in the report, the relation between levels and patterns of drinking during pregnancy and the risk of delivering an infant with FAS is complex. In this report, terms such as heavy drinking and heavier drinking are used to refer to levels of drinking associated with the highest risk for delivering an infant with FAS. Binge drinking is used to refer to a pattern of episodic heavy drinking, which is also associated with higher risk for FAS. Terms such as risk drinking, or moderate drinking are used to indicate lower levels of drinking, usually not associated with FAS, but which may be associated with alcohol-related effects in infants. It is important to note that definitions of these terms have varied across studies, settings, and samples. In particular, operational definitions of terms used to describe the level and pattern of drinking in studies of pregnant women frequently have not corresponded to definitions for women in general, which in turn often do not correspond to definitions for men. For example, a prospective study of the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure defines heavy drinking as an average of one or more drinks per day (Day et al. , 1989); a seminal FAS prevention intervention project defined heavy drinking as five or six drinks on some occasions and at least 45 drinks per month (Rosett et al. , 1981); large-scale surveys of drinking in women usually define heavy drinking as two or more standard drinks per day, where a standard drink contains approximately 0. 5 ounce of absolute alcohol); some clinical research projects define heavy drinking in women as four or more drinks per day (Wilsnack et al. , 1994), which differs from parallel definitions of heavy drinking in men (six or more standard drinks per day). The lack of consistency in terms regarding level of alcohol consumption across studies has led to confusion regarding the relationship between specific levels of drinking and risk for fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol-related effects (see Abel and Kruger, 1995 for a review of this problem). The committee defines the relevant history for diagnosis of FAS (see Chapter 4) as one of a pattern of excessive intake characterized by substantial, regular intake or heavy episodic drinking. Evidence of this pattern may include: frequent episodes of intoxication, development of tolerance or withdrawal, social problems related to drinking, legal problems related to drinking, engaging in physically hazardous behavior while drinking, or alcohol-related medical problems such as hepatic disease. REFERENCES Abel EL, Kruger ML. Hon v. Stroh Brewery Co. : What do we mean by moderate and heavy drinking? Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 1995; 19:1024-31. Abel EL, Sokol RJ. Incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome and economic impact of FAS-related anomalies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 1987; 19:51-70. Abel EL, Sokol RJ. A revised conservative estimate of the incidence of FAS and its economic impact. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 1991; 15:514-524. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: 4th Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. Bloss G. The economic cost of FAS. Alcohol Health Research World 1994; 18:53-54. Blume SB. Women and Alcohol: Issues in Social Policy in Alcohol and Gender. R. W. Wilsnack and S. C. Wilsnack (eds. ). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Center of Alcohol Studies, in press. Chavkin W. Drug Addition and Pregnancy: Policy crossroads. American Journal of Public Health 1990; 80:483-487. Clarren SK, Smith DW. The fetal alcohol syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine 1978; 298; 1063-1067. Day NL, Jasperse D, Richardson G, Robles N, Sambamoorthis U, Taylor P et al. Prenatal exposure to alcohol: Effect on infant growth and morphologic characteristics. Pediatrics 1989; 84:536-541. Day NL, Robles N, Richardson G, Geva D, Taylor P, Scher M et al. The effects of prenatal alcohol use in the growth of children at three years of age. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 1991; 15:67-71. Edwards G, Arif A, Hodgson R. Nomenclature and classification of drug- and alcohol-related problems: A WHO memorandum. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 1981; 59:225-242. Grant BF, Harford RC, Dawson DA, Chou P, Dufour M, Pickering R. Epidemiologic Bulletin No. 35: Prevalence of DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: United States, 1992. Alcohol Health Research World 1994; 18:243-248. Alcohol (wine, beer, or liquor) is the leading known preventable cause of developmental and physical birth defects in the United States. When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, she risks giving birth to a child who will pay the price — in mental and physical deficiencies — for his or her entire life. Yet many pregnant women do drink alcohol. Its estimated that each year in the United States, 1 in every 750 infants is born with a pattern of physical, developmental, and functional problems referred to as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), while another 40,000 are born with fetal alcohol effects (FAE). Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a condition that results from alcohol exposure during pregnancy. Problems that may be caused by fetal alcohol syndrome include physical deformities, mental retardation, learning disorders, vision difficulties and behavioral problems. The problems caused by fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child, but defects caused by fetal alcohol syndrome are irreversible. There is no amount of alcohol thats known to be safe to consume during pregnancy. Early diagnosis may reduce the risk of problems, including learning difficulties and substance abuse. Signs and Symptoms Fetal alcohol syndrome isnt a single birth defect. Its a cluster of related problems and the most severe of a group of consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure. Collectively, the range of disorders is known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Fetal alcohol syndrome is a common — yet preventable — cause of mental retardation. The severity of mental problems varies, with some children experiencing them to a far greater degree than others. Signs of fetal alcohol syndrome may include: Distinctive facial features, including small eyes, an exceptionally thin upper lip, a short, upturned nose, and a smooth skin surface between the nose and upper lip Deformities of joints, limbs and fingers Slow physical growth before and after birth Vision difficulties or hearing problems Small head circumference and brain size (microcephaly) Poor coordination Mental retardation and delayed development Learning disorders Abnormal behavior, such as a short attention span, hyperactivity, poor impulse control, extreme nervousness and anxiety Heart defects low birth weight failure to thrive developmental delay organ dysfunction facial abnormalities, including smaller eye openings, flattened cheekbones, and indistinct philtrum (an underdeveloped groove between the nose and the upper lip) . Epilepsy poor coordination/fine motor skills poor socialization skills, such as difficulty building and maintaining friendships and relating to groups lack of imagination or curiosity learning difficulties, including poor memory, inability to understand concepts such as time and money, poor language comprehension, poor problem-solving skills behavioral problems, including hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, stubbornness, impulsiveness, and anxiety. The facial features seen with fetal alcohol syndrome may also occur in normal, healthy children. Distinguishing normal facial features from those of fetal alcohol syndrome requires expertise. Doctors may use other terms to describe some of the signs of fetal alcohol syndrome. An alcohol-related neurodevel.

The Manifestation Of Hedonism In Malaysian Entertainment Theology Religion Essay

The Manifestation Of Hedonism In Malaysian Entertainment Theology Religion Essay The objective of this paper is to identify the effects and degree of hedonism in Malaysia. The study is conducted using secondary sources. The finding of this paper is indicated that hedonism occurs in Malaysian entertainment industry via the excessive of exposure persuasive advertisements and tremendous amount of reality show in local television. 1. INTRODUCTION Entertainment is any activity that is designed to delight and, to a smaller degree, enlighten through the exhibition of the fortunes or misfortunes of others, but also through the display of special skills by other and or self (Bates Ferri, 2010). It has been part of cultures. People from different cultures have different ways to entertain themselves. For instance, the traditional Malaysians tend to amuse themselves by playing congkak, gasing and many more. Thus, entertainment has become the identity of ones culture. As the life goes on, entertainment and media industry have been developing since the introduction of electronic television in the late 1920s (Maggie, 2008). However, this transformation has resulted to several impacts toward the local entertainment industry. For instance, the recent analysis on Malaysian entertainment in electronic media specifically has showed that this industry has adopted excessive element of Western cultures or in other word it has been westernized (Shriver, 2002). As a result of this process, most local television programs tend to exhibit the element of hedonism implicitly. Recent researchers have proved that one of the hedonic needs is entertainment (OBrien, 2010). Hedonism basically derived from the ancient Greek term which is hedonà ©. It means pleasure, joy or lust (Mees Schmitt, 2008). Hedonism as defined by Crisp (2006) is the view that human action is motivated by a concern for the greatest expected balance of pleasure over pain. Further, according to hedonist, what is good for any individual is the enjoyable experience in ones life and what is painful considered as bad. Therefore, the life best for an indi vidual is that with the greatest balance of enjoyment over suffering. Entertainment in Islam Entertainment in Islam is an issue which has been debated across time. It has no certainty whether it is prohibit or permissible or in Islam is called dhan (Ø ¸Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒâ„¢Ã…  .(. However, this issue should not be the reason Muslim being divided and separated. According to Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in his book al-halal wa al-haram fi al-Islam, entertainment can be permissible and prohibited according the situation. It is nature of human being to be entertained and entertaining others. Entertainment is prohibited when it is associated with things which forbidden then it is prohibit. It is in line with an Islamic legal maxim which says what lead to haram than it is haram. With the advent of technology, the entertainment industry has flourished and become immensely popular. Combine this with the exponential advances in technology, and the result is an increasing number of ways to amuse ourselves. According to Pahrol (2011) in Solusi, Entertainment in Islam generally can be divided int o two; primary and secondary. Primary entertainment is the entertainment that is aims to pleasure Allah such as prayer, zikr, reciting Al-Quran and more. Secondary entertainment on the other hand is entertainment that intends to please oneself in permissible way. Nonetheless, how Muslims scholars define entertainment? In Malaysia, the entertainment has its own guidelines or regulation to be followed. According to Perlis Islamic Legislation Council (1970) entertainment is include the singing and music with instruments or without that is permissible as long it is not against the few conditions; i) The programs were organized has good benefits, ii) Dress modestly and cover themselves, iii) Not to mix boys and girls up to mischief and disobedience stimulate, iv) Lyrics quality and does not conflict with Islamic law and v) Place of performance that does not invite evil. If these guidelines is broken then it has reach the status of prohibition or haram. Thus, from these conditions we shou ld be cleared whether the entertainment today is according to Islam or not. This fatwa was done on Malaysian culture but is it still applicable nowadays? 2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Hedonism requires leisure time and personal wealth. No nation in all of world history has ever been as hedonistic as the United States now is. Americans now spend more money on pleasurable pursuits of all types than on religion and education combined (as cited in William S. Banowsky, 1969). Hedonism also occurs in Malaysia. Hedonism makes Muslims easy prey for Christians, growing hedonism, materialism and liberalism among Muslim have weakened their faith and made them easy for Christianization. (Malaysian insider 4 April 2012). Many research have been conducted to study hedonism, little is known about the drive behind their behaviour. Thus it is necessity for a study to be conducted to identify the manifestation of hedonism especially in Malaysia. 3. RESEARCH QUESTION What are the effects of hedonism toward Malaysian entertainment? To what extent Malaysian society involve in hedonism? 4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 1. To identify the effect of hedonism toward Malaysian entertainment. 2. To examine the degree of hedonism in Malaysian society. 5.1 THE EFFECT OF HEDONISM IN THE CONTEXT OF MALAYSIAN ENTERTAINMENT. Malaysia is considered one of Islamic world most modern and open societies. Although Malaysians fully embrace their own cultural and Asian values, influences from foreign cultures and values such as those of the West transmitted by the media are generally accepted. In Malaysia, these influences from the media are considered part of the media globalization process. More influences from the West, which conflict with Asian values, began to be transmitted in forms of Western television genres with the launch of Malaysias first government controlled satellite television station in 1997. Although the content is censored by the television station, there are still very strong Western influences in these programs which invite the Malaysian audiences to adopt Western practices. Unconditionally, it may affect the nature of Malaysia entertainment and may lead to hedonism. All products have a certain degree of hedonism. This is because all products have some degree of symbolic meaning that arouses at least some degree of hedonic motivations among individuals (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982a, 1982b; Kleine, Kleine and Kernan, 1993; Schlosser, 1998). If products are varying in the extent of inherent symbolism, then one can expect that the hedonic value would vary across product categories. This is supported by research examining the extent of hedonism in different products (Batra and Ahtola, 1991; Bloch, Sherrell and Ridgway, 1986; Babin and Darden 1994; Lofman, 1991). Hedonic value across products seems to vary depending on the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of the product (Dodds and Monroe, 1985). All products used advertisements to attract buyer. Advertisements or commercials are an important aspect of television broadcast. Merrill,et al. (1994) indicated that television lives and dies by advertising because sponsors directly or indirectly provides all of the stations revenue. Generally, television makes profits from advertising revenues. Thus, television station devote considerable effort to structure their programming in order to hold the larger desirable audience possible (Saenz, 2001). Higher and ranked program, for instance program with larger audience size, attract more advertisement compared to lower ranked program. Therefore, advertisements play an important role to instil information to the viewer directly or indirectly. It may influence viewer thinking and behaviour. In relationship with the concepts of hedonism, this excessive exposure of persuasive advertisement may lead to the act of unnecessary spending of money. It is because; frequent exposure may increase the likelihood of alteration in peoples perception toward the act of excessive spending. Those tempting advertisements may implicitly illustrate such wasteful act of using money as a means for to attain pleasure or to release their tension and stress. Based from this phenomenon, the tremendous increasing of entertainment industry profit may clearly indicate the raising of hedonic lifestyle among Malaysians without they realize it. Those people are actually blinded by the motivation to satisfy their hunger for pleasure. Thus, they are willing to spend huge amount of money just to watch their favourite contestant win the show. However, without they realize, those irresponsible television station companies are actually manipulating these reality TV shows as a means to seize viewers money for the sake of their earnings. Psychological View on Effect of Hedonism This relates to behaviourism concept, as behaviourist James Watson (as cited in Elliot Covington, 2001) suggested that, pleasure and pain can be regarded as springs of action. He further that, pleasure can be considered as a tremendous reinforce and pain as the tremendous inhibitor of behaviour. In other word, the experience of pleasure may represent reinforcement for an individual to repeat a specific action. Meanwhile, the experience of pain may represent the punisher for an individual to avoid the act. While according to Freud (as cited in Elliot Covington, 2001), he presumed that humans are like lower animals and constantly seek pleasure and avoid pain. He also viewed this hedonistic tendency as the motivational basis of psychodynamic and it is regulated automatically by the principle of pleasure (1939). Islamic Perspective 5.2 THE DEGREE OF HEDONISM IN MALAYSIA In Malaysia, television is the most popular among components of media. It has become an indispensable household item and watching television is a past time activity (Rahmah, 1996). I supporting this nation, Media Guide (2004) indicates that among the media available in Malaysia, television is the most popular as it is able to reach 96% of adult population. Adult populations are those above 15 years old. Reality TV gains its popularity in the Malaysian television industry with the introduction of the highly acclaimed American reality TV, Survivor in year 2000. After the success of the programme, Malaysia television industry has introduced its own local reality TV show, known as Explorace broadcast on TV3. The first season of the programme managed to attract an average of 2.3 million viewers and was billed as one of the most successful reality adventure/game show programme in Malaysia (Utusan Malaysia, 23 February 2005). A turning point in the Malaysian television industry came with the creation of Akademi Fantasia (2003) broadcast on ASTRO. Akademi Fantasia is an adaptation of La Academia, one of the most successful musical/ singing talent reality TV show originated from Mexico (Utusan Malaysia, 7 August 2005). For the first time, ASTRO through Akademi Fantasia has created the first interactive TV phenomenon that became a huge craze to almost every level of Malaysian society. Home an d studio audience are invited to vote for their favourite contestants. Audience through short message service (SMS) vote were given a hundred percent of deciding power to determine the winner (Utusan Malaysia, 6 July 2005). The first season of Akademi Fantasia in 2003 drew in profits through the votes made by audiences throughout the nine weeks of the show. All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator (ASTRO) managed to collect 2.5 million ringgit as a profit in return for their services to entertain the audience. In 2004, 15 million SMS were sent to ASTRO, and the profit made for the second season amounted up to 7.5 million ringgit, all made possible by the voting system created for the audiences (Utusan Malaysia, 6 July 2005). Psychological View on the Degree of Hedonism Islamic Perspective 6. ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES The enemies have flocked towards us by using various approaches such as schools and creeds, theories and philosophies, organizations and institutions, states and countries. They have all gathered to fight Islam and the Muslims. Some of them are driven by a hidden hatred and some by an old animosity. The Twentieth Century has witnessed one of the fiercest blows inflicted upon our Ummah by our enemy such the collapse of the Khilafah. They did not stop there but to the extent they went on to indoctrinate Muslims with strange, foreign ideas and concepts, in order to confuse our understanding of our religion (Deen). Once we wake up and try to return to our original religion (Deen), we will be confronted with an intellectual perplexity, in which evil and good is mixed. Hence, the truth will be ambiguous and we will go astray, and lose the true understanding of Islam. It is clearly show in the philosophy of hedonism whereby it connotes the being pleasure is the ultimate goal of human being aside that it is used for avoiding pain. According to psychoanalysis we are born with sexual desire and the behaviourist tend to believe that we are promoted to hedonism due to reinforcement with the purpose of avoiding pain which is categorise as negative reinforcement. However, Islam does not put that ultimate desire or pleasure as the highest aim. We are born we sexual desire but we can educate or nurture it toward purity. Allah mentioned in the Quran that we are sent to this land to worship Him not to devote ourselves to only pleasure. I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. (Az-zariyat 51:56) Then, for this purpose Allah has sent prophets to educate people with the knowledge how to worship Him. The Pleasure of Allah, Mighty is He, is an objective before which all other objectives diminish in importance: And Allah is better [as regards reward in comparison to your reward], and more lasting [as regards punishment in comparison your punishment. (Surah Ta-Ha 20: 73) Nevertheless, human being can seek pleasure as they want but within the boundary of Islam. According to Alias (2008) a lot of verses in the Quran defining or explaining about how we can use our sensation and perception to seek pleasure. It is our as His servant to fulfil our responsibility by using this senses to seek permissible pleasure. As we know, we are granted by Allah with lust (nafs) which defines by Al-Ghazali (as cited in Najati, 1993) the powers of anger and sexual appetite in a human being. Although being has sexual appetite we not should only fuel ourselves with sexual activities but by educating it to pleasure only Allah. In addition, this only can be change but purifying ones heart. Imam Al-Ghazali and Ibn Qayyim (as cited in Najati, 1993) even mention that heart (Al-Qalb) is the governor of the senses which if pure will make our perception cleaned and if it dark or dirty than it can make our perception polluted. Allah mentioned, Have you seen the one who chooseth for his god his own lust? (Al-Furqaan25:43) He followed his own lust. Therefor his likeness is as the likeness of a dog; if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out (AlAraf7:176) and about the person who controlled the passion of his ego God says: But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his soul from lust, Lo! The garden will be his home (An Nazià ¢t79:40-41) Hence, the total devotion to desire or pleasure is not being accepted in Islam but we need to put our ultimate goal to only pleasure Allah. By pleasuring Allah, the negative reinforcement which leads to seeking worldly pleasure will diminish because it is change by Allah with a lot of sustenance. As mentioned above, psychoanalysis only focus on sexual desire and hedonism explained about the avoidance of pain. In Islam, as Allah stated in the Al-Quran: And We send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss (Al Isra17:82) In this verse Allah reminds us that the cure of the pain is in the Al-Quran. In order to reduce or cure the illness it is better for human being to follow what has been prearranged by Allah SWT. In addition to that, the most important things in Muslim life are prayer. The importance of prayer actually mentioned by Allah: Verily, prayer prevents from Al-fahsha(i.e. great sins of every kind, unlawful sexual intercourse etc.) and Al-Munkar (i.e disbelief, polytheism, and every kind of evil wicked deed etc.) (Al-Ankabut 29:45) Hence, from this verse we can see that as psychoanalysis believed that human are born with sexual desire and they need to fulfil it by doing sexual related behaviour which if not done conflict will arise. However in Islam it is prohibited to do sexual related behaviour in illegal way such as adultery that is the effect of hedonism. Thus, prayer eventually is one of the medications that have been provided from Allah to human being. Allah adds: O mankind! There has come to you a good advice from your Lord (i.e. the Quran, ordering all that is good and forbidding all that is evil), and a healing for that ( disease of ignorance, doubt.hypocrisy and differences, etc.) in your breasts, a guidance and a mercy (explaining lawful and unlawful things, etc.) for the believers. (Yunus 10: 57) This verse mentioned the healing process that give into the breast. Breast here can be defined as heart. According to Murad (1985) heart is not only mere part of flesh in your body, but the centre of all your thoughts, emotions, motives, drives, aspirations, memory and attention. It can be softened and can be hardened. Allah states: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦their hearts do soften to the celebration of Allah.s praises. Such is the guidance of Allah. He guides there with whom He pleases, but such as Allah leaves to stray, can have none to guide. (Az-Zumar 39:23) Thenceforth were your hearts hardened: They became like a rock and even worse in hardness. For among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder send forth water; and others which sink for fear of Allah. And Allah is not unmindful of what ye do. (Al-Baqarah 2:74) The Prophet also said narrated from Abu Numan: Lo! Verily, there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is good the whole body is good and if it is corrupted the whole body is corrupted; lo! it is the heart. Thus, it is our responsibility to take a good care of our heart as it governs our body and mind. Therefore as Imam Al-Nawawi explained in al-Majmu`aas for the knowledge of the heart, it is knowing the diseases of the heart, such as envy, conceit and the like. Imam al-Ghazali said in ihya ulumuddin: Knowing the definition of these diseases, their causes and their cures, and remedies how to fix them, is personally obligatory (fard `ayn) on every Muslim. Hedonism only can be taken care by turn back to the only source of Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah however, the questions is the Muslim and non-Muslim which do not know it. How can it be possible to overcome this matter? We need to bear in mind and heart that the Quran and prophet Muhammads Sunnah and teachings is not only for Muslims but to entire universe. As the prophet mentioned:Abu Said al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) had said: Whoever amongst you sees anything objectionable, let him chan ge it with his hand, if he is not able, then with his tongue, and if he is not even able to do so, then with his heart, and the latter is the weakest form of faith. Narrated by Muslim. This hadith actually explain the way of dealing with evil deeds and hedonism is one kind of evil deeds. First, it is the responsibility of the authority which has been commentary by Muslims scholars that the hand it the one who with power. For instance, the government of Malaysia should realize their task is not only making development but also to instill the faith or creed of Islam in Muslim specifically and society generally by doing some changes in entertainment industry, educational system and media. Second, the role of society is basically taken from the word tongue in the hadith. The society should not only talk about the issue but eventually take opportunity to invite or promote good health lifestyle to their family and friends since hedonism only will lead to bad health lifestyle. Healthy lifestyle is not only limited to Muslims but also should be practiced by all races. 7. CONCLUSION As discussed above the concern about manifestation of hedonism in Malaysia revolved around the effect and the degree of hedonic values in the Malaysian entertainment industry.

Scarlet Letter, Pearl :: essays research papers

The Scarlet letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, has an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale, which means they are adulterers and sinners. As a result, Pearl is born and Hester is forced to where the scarlet letter. Pearl is a unique character. She is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter, which constantly reminds her of her sin, yet at the same time, Pearl is a blessing to have since she represents the passion that Hester once had.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pearl is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter; both she and the scarlet letter constantly remind Hester of her sin of adultery. Pearl is the result of Hester’s adultery; therefore she has a strong connection with the scarlet letter. As a young girl, Pearl had always had a fascination and obsession with her mother’s scarlet letter. For example â€Å"In the forest scene when Hester takes off the Scarlet letter, Pearl becomes frantically disturbed and won’t quiet down until Hester has it back on her dress, as if by discarding the letter Hester has discarded Pearl,† (Johnson: A Literary Analysis of The Scarlet Letter, pg.1). The scarlet letter is a part of Hester, as is Pearl, if Hester removes the letter, she also disowns Pearl. The only way Pearl recognize her mother is when she has the letter on. Hester dresses Pearl in red so she can represent her scarlet letter. In the chapter, â€Å"The Governor’s Hall,† Pear l was described; â€Å"The child’s whole appearance reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!† (The Scarlet Letter, pg. 103 Johnson: Understanding The Scarlet Letter pg.1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although Pearl is looked at as the result of Hester’s sin, she is a blessing to her mother as well. Her name, â€Å"Pearl,† is fitting because of what she means to Hester. For instance â€Å"Hester names her†Pearl† because she has come to great price, and Hester believed that Pearl is her only reason for living,† (Johnson: Understanding The Scarlet Letter pg.1). Pearl motivates her mother to keep on going when she is tempted to give up. In the novel, Mistress Hibbins asks Hester to join her in a witches gathering, but she declines saying if she had lost Pearl, she would have gone.

How can one truly define love :: essays papers

How can one truly define love Love is a wonderful thing; a wise man once said that to me. Although this statement leaves sparse room for argument, it does little to define what love is beyond the vague realm of wonderful. It is my duty as a stanch romantic to embark upon the seemingly tricky task of defining love by looking at the history, explaining what love is not, and investigative the uses of love and the results of which it brings. The origin of the word is probably the most understandable place to start. As with many words in the English language, love is a derivative of the Latin word "notquitesurewhatimdoing" which means "You think you want it when don’t have it, but when you have it your not sure if you want it." The word was created to explain the phenomenon that existed when certain couples came into contact with each other and either stayed together forever throughout the end of time, or went about their lives miles apart down separate roads of travel. Regardless of the outcome, the relat ionship was usually attributed of throat lumps, knotted stomachs, weak knees, speech impediment, sweaty palms, nausea, sneezing, and occasional runny nose. Quarrelsome insanity also resulted. History clearly defines this. Can we ever forget the face that launched a thousand ships? Federally expressing Van Gough's ear; Eric Clapton stealing away George Harrison’s first wife? When Ronnie left Jessie for Susie, then found out that Jessie had already left Ronnie for Karen, on â€Å" Days of our Lives†. All of these were results of love and love lost. Ill-fated lovers have stated that love is not hand nor foot nor any part belonging to a man. Matrimonial ceremonies also claim that love is not jealous or boastful. Let it be stated hear that love also is not a gourmet dish, a domesticated animal, or a latest trend. Love is neither a premeditated security instrument nor the most hidden secret at the Pentagon. Love is not another seasoning to bottle and stick on the dust-lined shelves of the spice rack. Love is not to be confused with adhesive tape. Instead, love is a great complement to late, evening thunderstorms on warm June nights. Love goes well with chicken soup and the sniffles. Love is cold, wet sand between bare toes.

Slavery in the chocolate industry

Slavery in the Chocolate Industry Chocolate is a product of the cacao bean which grows primarily in the tropical climates of West Africa and Latin America. The cacao bean is more commonly referred to as cocoa, so that is the term we will use throughout. Two West African countries, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, supply 75% of the world's cocoa market. [l] The cocoa they grow and harvest is sold to a variety of chocolate companies, including some of the largest in the world. In recent years, a handful of organizations and Journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on West African cocoaSince that time, the industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human rights violations still occur, but to then disseminate this information to the public. For example, in 2004 a journalist was kidnapped and remains missing today. [4] More recently, three journalists from a daily newspaper were detai ned by government authorities in the Ivory Coast after publishing an article about government corruption related to the cocoa industry. 5] The farms of West Africa supply cocoa to international giants such s Hersheys, Mars and Nestl © – revealing the industrys direct connection to child labor, human trafficking and slavery. chocolate contentl The Worst Forms of Child Labor In West Africa, cocoa is a commodity crop grown primarily for export. As the chocolate industry has grown over the years, so has the demand for cheap cocoa. Today, cocoa farmers barely make a living selling the beans and often resort to the use of child labor in order to keep their prices competitive.The children of West Africa are surrounded by intense poverty and most begin working at a young age to help support their family. Some children end up on the cocoa farms because they need work and they are told the pay is good. Other children are â€Å"sold† by their own relatives to traffickers or to the farm owners, and it has also been documented that traffickers often abduct the young boys from small villages in neighboring African countries, such as Burkina Faso and Mali. [3] Once they have been taken to the cocoa farms, the children may not see their families for years, if ever.When a child is delivered to the farm by a family member, that relative collects a sum of money either up front or at the end of an agreed duration of labor. Unfortunately, the relatives do not realize that the children will be exposed to a dangerous work environment and deprived of an education. Most of the children are between the ages of 12-16, but children as young as 7 have end up working on the cocoa farms through adulthood. A child's workday begins at sunrise and ends in the evening. The children climb the cocoa trees and cut the bean pods using a machete.These large, heavy, dangerous knives are the standard tools for children on the cocoa farms. Once the bean pods have been cut from the trees , the children pack the pods into large sacks and carry or rag them through the forest. â€Å"Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn't hurry, you were beaten. â€Å"[2] – Aly Diabate, former cocoa slave. Holding a single large pod in one hand, the children strike the pod with the machete and pry it open with the tip of the blade, exposing the cocoa beans. Each strike of the machete has the potential to severely cut a child's fingers or hand.Virtually every child has scars on the hands, arms, legs or shoulders from accidents with the machete. In addition to the hazards of using a machete, children are also commonly exposed to gricultural chemicals on the West African cocoa farms. [3] Tropical regions such as the Ivory Coast consistently have to deal with prolific insect populations and choose to spray the pods with large amounts of industrial agricultural chemicals. Without protective equipment, children as young as 12 spray the pods with hazardous chemicals. [6] The farm owners often provide the children with the most inexpensive food available, such as corn paste and bananas. 2] In some cases, the children sleep on wooden planks in small windowless buildings with no access to clean water or sanitary athrooms. [2] Again, they may live in these conditions for months or even years. Most of the children are unable to attend school while they are working, which is a violation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) child labor standards. Depriving these children of an education has many short-term and long-term effects on their lives. The children of the cocoa farms have little hope of ever breaking the cycle of poverty.Slavery In recent years, cases have been documented in which children and adults on cocoa farms were retained against their will and forced to work. 2] While the term â€Å"slavery' has a variety of historical contexts, slavery in the cocoa industry involves the same cor e human rights violations as other forms of slavery throughout the world. chocolate_content3Cases often involve acts of physical violence, such as being whipped for working slowly or trying to escape. [2] There have also been cases documented where children and adults were locked in at night to prevent them from of my life.I had seen others who tried to escape. When they tried they were severely beaten. â€Å"[2] Drissa, a recently freed cocoa slave who had never even tasted chocolate, xperienced similar circumstances and when asked what he would tell the people who eat chocolate made from slave labor, he replied that the people enjoyed something that he suffered to make, adding: â€Å"When people eat chocolate they are eating my flesh. â€Å"†[8] Is Slave-free Chocolate Possible? To date, relatively little progress has been made in reducing and eliminating child labor and slavery in the cocoa industry of West Africa.The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast lack the res ources needed to properly investigate and prosecute employers who violate international labor laws. At the very least, they have agreed to ork to eliminate what the ILO calls â€Å"the worst forms of child labor. † These are defined as practices â€Å"likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children† and include the use of â€Å"hazardous tools† and any work that â€Å"interferes with Currently, the vast majority of children on West African cocoa farms endure â€Å"the worst forms of child labor† every day.Despite their role in contributing to child labor, slavery, and human trafficking, the chocolate industry has not taken significant steps to remedy the problem. A series of alliances and oversight boards may create good public relations, but cloud the fact hat the industry has the power to end the use of child labor and slave labor by paying cocoa farmers a living wage for their product. The chocolate industry is also being called upon to develo p and financially support programs to rescue and rehabilitate children who have been sold to cocoa farms.To date, the industry has not committed to developing such a program. [9] chocolate_content2Are the Labels on Chocolate Meaningful? Aside from large-scale production in West Africa, a significant amount of cocoa is also grown in Latin America. This is where the majority of organic cocoa originates. 10] At this time, child labor and/or slave labor have not been documented on these cocoa farms. While it remains possible that some Latin American farms may employ these practices, it is unlikely and certainly not widespread as is the case in West Africa.The truth is that consumers today have no sure way of knowing if the chocolate they are buying involved the use of child labor or slave labor. There are many different labels on chocolate bars today, such as Fair Trade Certified, however, no single label can guarantee that the chocolate was made without the use of exploitive labor. In 010, the founders of the Fair Trade Certification process had to suspend several of their West African suppliers due to evidence that they were using child labor. 3] address the root causes of â€Å"the worst forms of child labor† and slavery in West Africa. However, the success of these efforts will depend greatly on the genuine support or lack thereof from the chocolate industry over the coming years. Recommendations It is important to offer ways in which people can make decisions to do their best to not contribute to injustices and cruelties involved in the food industry. This issue is a ery difficult one to fully access as the most serious abuses are taking place across the world.However, that does not mean our responsibility is diminished since chocolate is indeed a luxury (though some might feel differently) and not a necessity like fruits and vegetables. Taking all of this into consideration and looking at the research that is available, at this time F. E. P. recommend s that people do not buy any chocolate sourced from areas in West African where child slavery is the most pervasive. Questions : What are the systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues raised by this case? In your view, is the kind of child slavery discussed in this case absolutely wrong nomatter what, or is it only relatively wrong, i. e. , if one happens to live in a society (likeours) that disapproves of slavery? 3. Who shares in the moral responsibility for the slavery occurring in the chocolateindustry: African farmers? African governments? American chocolate companies likeHershey, Mars, Nestle and Kraft foods? Distributors like Archer Daniels Midland Co. ,Barry Callebaut, and Cargill Inc? Consumers like you and I who know about thesituation but continue to purchase tainted chocolate?