Child Trafficking In Nigeria Social Work Essay

Child Trafficking In Nigeria Social Work Essay Human trafficking in Nigeria has been one of the greatest problem in Nigerian history. Human trafficking can be traced to the period colonialism when human beings are been traded for mere commodities to the Europeans, to help them in their plantations in their own country. Due to the abolishment of slave trade in Nigeria by 1885-1950, the act of human trafficking was reduced and some few years later they started child trafficking since the children are more vulnerable. Child trafficking is a form of human trafficking that involves the transportation, harbouring, receiving ,recruitment of children in the purpose of exploitation. The issue of child domestic labour is very complex and problematic. Domestic child labourers are among the most invisible child labourers. The number of children exploited in private households is unknown because of the hidden nature of the work. Many of these children are girls and in many countries domestic service is seen as the only employment option a girl might have. Children exploited in domestic service are paid little or nothing, are malnourished, are very vulnerable to further abuse and exploitation, and do not go to school. However, because child domestic workers are employed within an informal family environment, they cannot be integrated as a professional group within conventional working systems because such integration would presuppose an acceptance of the idea of child domestic labour. At the same time, without legal initiatives, it is difficult to combat child domestic labour. Furthermore, the terms, norms and standards to regulate the employment of children are lack ing because children work in a largely invisible domain outside law and the public sphere and their domestic labour cannot be integrated under normal labour laws. Although the final goal of all laws should be the prevention and elimination of child domestic labour, it is acknowledged right at the outset that this is a long term goal. In the interim, there is a need to accept that children do, and will continue, to work until effective alternatives make it unnecessary for them to work. In the meantime, the best interest of the child principle together with the notion of the child as a rights holder should guide any lawmaking on child domestic work. Law and policy reform can play a powerful constitutive and transformative role in improving and changing the lives of both the girl child and male child domestic worker; however, in envisioning workplace and domestic arrangements it is important to see that sex stereotypes are not reinforced. Just as much as law has the profound power to p revent and regulate domestic labour, it has the power to reinforce it by creating loopholes through which employers can continue to hire child domestic workers. Laws can often spark social change only if they are translated into action. In drafting new laws or revising existing laws, child domestic labour should be seen in the context of historic sex discrimination. There is an apparent tension when laws and policies are blind to the differences between the girl child domestic worker and the male child domestic worker such as the girl childs weak bargaining position and low status, which increases her vulnerability to coercion by her family and employer. Child trafficking in Nigeria is something the government has not really put enough effort to ensure that child trafficking is reduced or eradicated this is due to the lapse (corruption) of the whole government system because most of the child traffickers are top government officials and this makes it very difficult to investigate any problem that has to do with child trafficking. According to a research carried out by United nation children fund (unicef) say the average age of children been trafficked in Nigeria is around 15years but the age varies, especially with girls and also it says 60-80% of girls in the sex trade outside the country are in Italy (over 700 in Italy while Belgium and Holland is experiencing an upsurge in the number of Nigerian girls. On the average About 10 children pass Nigerian borders daily originating from fostering and extended family system. Children that are been trafficked has so many reasons which include domestic help, prostitution these are especially for girls while boys are used as scavengers, car washing, bus conducting, drug peddling and farming. Child trafficking has so many effects on both the child and the country. Trafficking of migrant children has unquestionably affected individual children and their communities in various immediate and long term ways. It sometimes endangers the childrens lives. The obvious impacts of child trafficking often mentioned is on deteriorating their education, physical and mental development. Moreover, the trafficked migrant children are disempowered in many ways. They are in the foreign country with foreign customs and foreign language. They are transported and sold or deceived as bonded labour, treated like property, and work under slavery-like conditions. Whenever they feel depressed, or suffering, or face difficulties, or are tortured, commonly they have no one they can turn to as they tend to live in isolated areas. Even if they have a chance to seek help, they often do not know where to go or what to do or whom to ask because they are illegal migrants and are afraid of police. In some c ircumstances, they may encounter racism from the police, authorities, and general people among whom may be their own employers. A major result of child trafficking can be loss of lives, increasing prevalence of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) including HIV/AIDS, increase in violence and crime rate, increased school drop-out, impaired child development, poor national image and massive deportation of Nigerians especially girls. And also, There are diverse reasons why many Nigerian children are vulnerable to trafficking, including widespread poverty, large family size, rapid urbanization with deteriorating public services, low literacy levels and high school-drop out rates The demand for cheap commercial sex workers in countries of destination strongly contributes to the growth of this phenomenon and the success of this criminal network. Parents with a large family, often overburdened with the care of too many children, are prone to the traffickers deceit in giving away some of their children to city residents or even strangers promising a better life for them. Traffickers exploit the trust of people rooted in a widespread, culturally accepted common practice in West Africa of placement and fostering as part of the extended family safety net. In some instances, desperately poor and uninformed parents willingly co-operate with the traffickers, giving away their children in exchange for a small fee. In the hands of unscrupulous guardians, these children are increasingly trafficked and exploited for money. But All hope is not lost as every problem has a solution. The government can still curb this evil practice in order to save children and the good name of the country. Firstly, government should provide free education in every government owned school in the country from the nursery to the secondary level so that parents will have no excuse of giving out their children to strangers in the pretext of taking them to learn new sill in new environment. Secondly, government should pay workers salaries at the end of each month because they have personal bills to foot; children to cater for and they depend solely on their salaries. Thirdly, the parliamentary arm of the government should make and amend law that all Nigerian families should not have more than 3 children and any found to go against the law would be punished because one of the causes of child trafficking in Nigeria is the inability of parents to cater for so many children. Also, government should make laws for children against child abuse and intimidation which should be strictly adhered to. Last but not the least, government should come to an agreement with leaders of other countries that any Nigerian child suspected to be abused or trafficked should be rescued and the trafficker, punished. In an effort   aimed at battling child trafficking within Nigeria and the sub-region, Nigeria and the government of Benin Republic have signed a memorandum of understanding to co-operate in the   area of prevention of child trafficking as well as the repatriation of offenders to countries of origin for prosecution. Executive Secretary of National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters(NAPTIP), Mrs. Carol Ndaguba disclosed this at a one-day workshop on Anti Child Trafficking Network Project in Nigeria held at the UN House Abuja. According to her, Nigeria and the government of Italy, United Kingdom and Spain also have understandings on joint initiative on modalities for prevention of child trafficking and slavery, adding that the Italian government as well as UNICEF have been providing huge financial and capacity building support to the agency in carrying out its task. On the issue of house-help or domestic servants in the country, NAPTIP Executive Secretary regretted that the phenomenon had been exploited by traffickers to batter, sexually or emotionally traumatize victims, adding that the so called syndrome must now come to an end. She identified the challenges faced by the network project to include   expansion of the network from 22 states to 36, sustaining awareness campaign at the state and community levels, and capacity building of the state working groups. In her remark, Deputy Country Representative of UNICEF, Barbara Reynold said that although the anti-trafficking agency was already doing a lot to put an end to the menace of human trafficking, more needs to be done in the area of conscientisation and increased awareness by   a broader section of society.

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation Many health promotion initiatives had been undertaken everywhere. However, the most important is that such initiatives should establish certain aspects of characteristics based on best practice in order to be described as successful. This means that the initiative must be consistent with health promotion values, theories, evidence and understating of the environment (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Although the definition of health promotion practice is broadly accepted, it is not fixed to any rigorously defined discipline, and is said to be practised by individuals in diverse organizations, trained in a multiplicity of disciplines (Boutilier et al. 2000). Generally speaking, health promotion initiatives emphasize elements of empowerment, participation, multidisciplinary collaboration, capacity building, equity and sustainable development (Judd et al. 2001). The Ottawa Charter is considered to be the backbone of any health promotion practice and it is acting as the wheel that guides all heal th professionals into an ideal and best practice of health promotion related issues. In addition, the best practice is provided through effective planning and evaluation. A working guide to help in successfully achieving the goal is by an approach focusing on the following points: identifying the issue, gaining support and forming a working group, conducting a needs assessment and get to knowing your community, developing an action plan, encouraging participation, communicating with the public through the media, implementing change, monitoring, evaluation and adjustments (NLHHP 2003). In this assay, I will critically review a health promotion initiative by comparing the characteristics of this initiative against the principles of best practice. The initiative example: (Attention: the abstract is attached at the end of the assignment). Secker-Walker, Roger H ; Flynn, Brian S. ; Solomon, Laura J. ; Skelly, Joan M. ; Dorwaldt, Anne L.; Ashikaga, Takamaru (2000) Helping Women Quit Smoking: Results of a Community Intervention Program, American Public Health Association, Inc. Volume 90(6), June 2000, pp 940-946. Smoking lends to health promotion solution: Smoking is a challenging health problem world-wide and it is considered to be the second major cause of death. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults (WHO 2005). It is clear that smoking cessation is a priority for preventing many diseases and reducing their burden. There is a real need to expand the implementation of strategies to reduce tobacco use such as increasing the cost of cigarettes and implementing comprehensive tobacco-useprevention and cessation programs. (CDC 2003). Consequently, promoting smoking cessation can have a great impact in reducing the burden of diseases and improving the population health (Ezzati Lopez 2003). However, the health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life styles to well being (WHO 2005). As a result, a lot of efforts at different levels are needed in order to control smoking. This could be achieved well only through proper health promotion intervention. Moreover, the hea lth promotion is defined as a set of activities designed to achieve optimal health for all by monitoring and enhancing the heath of everyone and facilitating individual control over the determinants of health (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The definition itself sounds a logical solution for the high smoking prevalence among women. This is because of that in order to solve such problem, the women themselves should be actively involved and the community should be empowered. In addition, the physical and social supportive environment should be ensured in order to maintain smoking cessation. This is only ensured through a health promotion initiative. The best way to reduce the prevalence of smoking may be to use community-wide programs because smoking behavior is determined by social context. A community approach will remain an important part of health promotion activities (Secker-Walker et al. 2002). It has been proved that health promotion initiative will encourage smoking cessation and could prevent substantial numbers of deaths in the UK (Lewis et al. 2005). Needs assessment and its accountability for population wishes: It is crucial, first of all, to identify the issue through the need assessment. This is done by collecting the necessary information that specifies the needs that are considered as priority by the community. This provides an opportunity for the community to become involved in the planning from the beginning (Territory Health Services 2005). The health needs are defined as those states, conditions or factors in the community that, if absent, will prevent people from achieving complete physical, mental and social health (Ritchie et al. 2004). In this project, the need assessment is not well conducted and the different needs were not well assessed. It is not mentioned in this article whether the community profile was analyzed or not. However, the project investigators sat with local people, conducted interviews with key informants and shared information with them. Nevertheless, the following needs could be figured out: The decline in smoking prevalence among United States women was lagging behind that of men. This necessities the need of research on strategies to accomplish smoking cessation among women. There is real womens needs for social support while quitting In addition, their need for assistance with coping with negative affect in the absence of smoking, and their concerns about weight gain following quitting. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The smoking is a major health problem that can cause death. Many community based programs have been conducted to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, including cigarette smoking. Some of these programs showed the intervention effects on smoking behavior are effective. After analyzing this article, it is obvious that the need assessment indicates that smoking reduction among women is a priority public health in United States. This is a normative need. The best practice of health promotion emphasizing the sharing of need assessment with local people in order to improve the chance of success of any intervention. In this way, the success is ensured because sharing the results of the needs assessment will raise community awareness about the issues and possible underlying causes, stimulate discussion about ways to address the issues and get the community more involved in planning and decision-making (Territory Health Services 2005). There is clear information in the article that the community members were involved in the planning and implementation of the intervention throughout the five years period. On the other hand, it is not mentioned clearly how they assess the felt needs (i.e. whether the community groups say what they want, or address the proble ms that they think are important (Territory Health Services 2005)). Nevertheless, the participatory community organization was used to plan and provide widespread support to women smokers as they tried to change their smoking behavior. The comparative and expressed needs were not assessed. Goals and objectives of the initiative: It is essential after the needs assessment is over, to set up appropriate goals and objectives. The first step in critical analysis of goal and objectives is whether these had been stated clearly. The goal of this intervention was to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable and includes the nature of change expected. It will be more comprehensive if it was mentioned that it was limited to five years, which is the duration of the project and to specify the amount of smoking prevalence reduction in order to know exactly what intervention success means. However, this goal does identify the broad long term changed that was expected to be achieved ultimately (Hawe et al. 1990). The objective is not mentioned in this article. Instead they mentioned the sub-objectives. However, by analyzing the article I feel the objective should closely serve the goal. This means that achieving reduction in the smoking prevalence through a positive change in the women smoking behavior. As a result, the objective should be stated as to increase the number of serious quit attempts among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire by 20% for example. So the objectives will be also specific, measurable, achievable, includes the nature of change expected and time limited (SACHRU 2005). The sub-objectives were clearly mentioned. These were to increase motivation and intention to quit smoking and confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect, to increase awareness of cessation activities and to strengthen perceived norms and available support to help women quit smoking. It is known that a sub-objective should happen before the objective in the pathway and it might create a change in favour of the objective (Hawe et al. 1990). Keeping this in mind, there is a clear description task of these sub-objectives and they closely serve the objective by taking in account how to overcome womens negative feeling affect and thus create a change in the behavior. On the contrary, they were not time limited and some of them seems be difficult to be measured like increase confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect and also perceptions of norms. It is essential for any good health promotion planning to focus on underlying causes and factors that could possibly contribute or lead to the problem (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Therefore, development of clear and organized goal and objectives based on a critical analysis of the problem in terms of contributing and risk factors is essential (Territory Health Services 2005). It is not mentioned clearly in this article about the underlying causes of or contributing factors to smoking among women. However, specific health related behavioral and environmental factors linked to smoking were mentioned. It was stated that the smoking was most prevalent among lower income class. This implicates that poverty play an important role as an underlying cause of smoking. It sound logic that one of the sub-objectives should be stated clearly to take care of improving socio-economic situation or more accurately to tackle poverty related issues. It is also mentioned that the womens concerns about weight gain following quitting act as a barrier to stop smoking. Luckily, More than one sub-objective took care of this factor. Description of the intervention: A good description of the intervention is provided in the article under specific headings. It was directed to two pairs of demographically matched counties in Vermont and New Hampshire in United States which were assessed preintervention and postintervention during the period 1989 to 1994. The project was initiated by organizing community planning groups and the program was called Breath Easy. Each countys planning group formed a coalition, and each coalition formed 5 working groups. The planning process was taken up by the local planning group along with its coalition with very little input from the investigators except for the first year. Different activities were conducted during each year after the starting of the program. In the first year, the focus was to develop support systems to help women quit smoking through individual proactive telephone peer support. During the second year, videotape showing the process of quitting smoking was produced and distributed at no cost. In the third year, free smoking cessation classes were organized with a focus on dealing with negative affect. Later, the health professionals were involved in the Breath Easy program. Also, workplaces initiatives included presentations to businesses and worksites and assistance with smoking policies were started. Moreover, there was involvement of media initiatives included newsprint and radio (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). The conceptual frame work and underlying theories and values: The conceptual framework and underlying theories are not described in details in this article. It is only mentioned that they used social cognitive theory, the transtheoretical model of behavior change, diffusion of innovation theory, and communications theory. It was stated in the article that the project intervention was based on the proven effectiveness of this type of community intervention in promoting smoking cessation among women in Smoke Free North Side study. However, as I am reading the article it becomes clearer to me how well these theories could be fit into a community based health promotion project. The five basic stages of a behavior change as identified by the transtheoretical model of behavior change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, determination or preparation, action and maintenance (Nutbeam Harris 2004). These stages could be applied to explain the change of smoking behavior among women especially ensuring maintenance through peer support. According to the social cognitive theory an individual, the environment and behavior are continuously interacting and influence each other (Nutbeam Harris 2004). This is clearly noticed in the modifications of community norms concerning women smoking. The people decision to smoke is made within a broad context and influence by the surrounding environment which shapes the health behaviors such as smoking. In addition, diffusion of innovations refers to the spread of new ideas, techniques, behaviors or products throughout a population (Ferrence 1996) and this is exactly what had happened in this project where the message of smoking cessation was spread through mass media, videos and classes. Lastly, the communications theory is also applicable to this project. The values are important things because they affect which issues we choose to address and how we are going to address them (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The values of community intervention and development were not mentioned in this article. After literature review, it became obvious that some of these values are respect, equity, participation and meaningful process (http://www.wrha.mb.ca/howcare/commdev/). The process of community participation allows removal of inequality barrier and ensures fair distribution of resources. Moreover, respecting of local people and their involvement in determining their own health problems resulted in a positive outcome of this project. Application of Ottawa Charter action areas: There are many social factors that affect the diseases risk factors such as smoking and thus affecting the health. This includes low levels of social support and lack of personal control. These issues were well addressed in this initiative through the proper applications of Ottawa charter action areas. It is well stated that the achievement of the project objectives is through community members participation in planning and implementation. The community action is strengthened by involving local people to participate actively in order to improve their own health. The community organization is set up by forming local planning groups and from each group, the annual plans are drawn up. The supportive environment is provided through the supportive telephone communications networks which were arranged to encourage women to stop smoking. In addition, a healthy and supportive environment was ensured in workplaces, community college and high schools. Moreover, the organization of free smoking classes that focus on dealing with negative affect following quitting played an important role to maintain the quitting process. Healthy public policies were built in the community. An example is that smoking cessation policies were introduced into the workplaces. Another example was the active involvement of media which included newsprint and radio and made use of paid advertisements and thus information for quitting were available in each community. The personal skills of targeted females were developed. This was by training the female ex-smokers to provide support to current smokers to quit smoking through proactive telephone support. In addition, they were involved in the production of videos showing their own process of quitting smoking. Re-orientation of health services took place to some extent. This was by mobilizing the health workers towards focusing on smoking cessation activities rather than providing the medical care only. This was through making referrals to the telephone peer support system and they were trained in a brief smoking cessation protocol. It is quit obvious that by analyzing the interventions of the project, the Ottawa charter definition of health promotion is clear. This is because the project interventions could be understood as a process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health (WHO 2005). Evaluation: The evaluation process plays an essential role in ensuring the best achievement of any given program as it will affect the way in which the program will be conducted and the amount of effort needed (Ewles Simnett 1999). For the evaluation to be accepted, it should consist of process, impact and outcome evaluation. It is important to have the three parts otherwise it will be difficult to understand how the evaluation took place (Springett et al. 1995). The evaluation starts by evaluating the process including measuring the strategies, the activities and the quality of the project. Then, measuring the immediate effect of the project and this is called impact evaluation. At the end, it should measure the outcome or long term effect (Territory Health Services 2005). The evaluation was well planned and was well in place for this project. They used PRECEDE frame work to integrate the overall objectives of the program with the evaluation plan. This model takes into account multiple factors that determine health and quality of life and generates specific objectives and criteria for evaluation (Green Kreuter 1999). The design of the study was non-randomized with two pairs of demographically matched countries assessed peintervention and postintervension. This established a relationship between the intervention and observed outcome by comparing the situation before and after the intervention. In addition, they have set specific measurable objectives for each working group to be accomplished or initiated during the following 12 months. The stages of evaluation were done as follows: Process evaluation: Specific factors were set to evaluate predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors. These includes attitudes and beliefs towards quitting smoking, perceptions of norms and social supports, availability of smoking cessation materials and services, program recognition and media coverage. Suitable indicators were used to measure the above factors such as social support scale, measures of confidence in being able to stop smoking and confidence in being able to control weight gain after quitting smoking and measures for availability of smoking cessation resources. Impact evaluation: The impact was evaluated through a change in the smokers behavior. The indicators which were used are average daily cigarette consumption and average number of serious quit attempts. Outcome evaluation: This was evaluated by measuring the smoking prevalence among women aged 18 to 46 years old. It was found that the prevalence had declined significantly. This indicates the effectiveness of this project through achieving its main goal. Summative evaluation: It is the last step to be done and it involves considering the project as a whole, from beginning to end (SACHRU 2005). The investigators did not evaluate all different aspects of the project. However, they mentioned about strengths, limitations, response rate and their recommendations. The strengths of the study were small size and rural nature of these communities. On the other hand, the major limitations were nonrandomized design, the inclusion of only two counties in each condition, lack of prior measures of smoking prevalence in these counties and lack of ethnic diversity in the study population which limit the generalizability of the results. The overall sample size was 6436 with response rates of 89.9%. Their recommendations were that any future community interventions designed to effect reductions in smoking should place greater emphasis on the provision of a broad range of support for quitting smoking that is readily accessible to all smokers (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). Conclusion: Adoption of health promotion best practice is the only way to ensure effective and successful results of any intervention. However, this practice is not an easy mission. It requires a lot of augmentive efforts. The application of Ottawa charter and the reliance on justifying theories and values is essential. Moreover, the quality of the initiative is based on effective planning and evaluation from the initial stages. The community involvement in promoting smoking cessation was ensured in this project from the initial stages. Also, the evaluation process was proceeding well with PRECEDE framework. In conclusion, this initiative was about to be an excellent example of best practice except improper statement of objective, values behind the intervention and insufficient statement of needs assessment

Adderall: Is Medication the Answer? Essay -- Essays Papers

Adderall: Is Medication the Answer? When growing up, nothing is more frustrating then giving your best effort in your school work and continuously being unsuccessful. The effect it can have on a child is very damaging. Students may feel inadequate and non-intelligent in the classroom setting growing up, not to mention, being confused all at the same time about why school is such an ongoing battle for them. Why are these children trying so hard and never having any success? It is more and more common today; more than ever we see children having these problems inside and outside of classrooms all over the world. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can become very problematic in a child’s life, especially when it is unknown that they have the disorder. In fact, â€Å"ADHD is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood† (Power, et al). It can affect a child’s ability to learn immensely. In fact, these children may be perceived as someone they w ish not to be by others: the class clown, or one who just does not care about school when this is the farthest thing from the truth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, common symptoms of ADD are inability to sustain attention and concentration, and to be easily distracted and impulsive. All of these effects are seen also with ADHD in addition to high levels of activity and inability to control these inappropriate levels of activity. When a child is struggling with symptoms of either ADD or ADHD it would be easy to understand the problems the child faces in the classroom. Luckily there are prescription stimulant medications out there that can help aid these problems, calm the symptoms, and allow the easily-distracted chil... ...niable. Those who are biased against the use of medication need to re-evaluate the facts. There is no solid proof that danger exists with these medications that are so commonly used in millions of young people’s lives. It easy to see why parents would be skeptical when considering the medication for their child; however, when there is proof that this medication is actually causing harm then there might be some reason to believe that it should not be used. Medications such as Adderall are essential in the lives of those affected by attention disorders. For the millions diagnosed with ADD/ADHD there are possibilities of much success once stabilized on medication. School should be something that is enjoyable not an endless, frustrating battle. With the help of medication those affected by ADD/ADHD now have possibilities of success that would never have existed before.

Regret and Obligation :: Just Assassins Camus Essays

Regret and Obligation ABSTRACT: In Albert Camus' 1950 play Just Assassins, terrorists are at work in nineteenth-century Russia. They kill people, and they all believe that there is a superior moral reason for doing so. But they also know that killing is wrong. In their own view, they are innocent criminals; innocent, because their action is justified, but criminals, because they kill. So tacitly they conclude that they deserve punishment that will remove the regret from their shoulders. Their execution, by the same despotic authorities they are attacking, completes their actions: regret, caused by justified killing, gets its counterpart. Regret is an interesting mental phenomenon. Some people say that feeling regret is irrational, or even that it is immoral. But surely the usual opinion is that in some situations regret is an appropriate way to react. An interesting question is what it means to say that sometimes it is 'appropriate' to feel regret. Do we have a moral obligation to feel regret sometimes? H ow could one have an obligation to feel anything, since, at least seemingly, feelings are not voluntary acts. If we do have a moral obligation to feel regret in some cases, does it follow that all good people are emotionally "hot," while "cool" persons, who are not able to feel deep regret, are bad? It is not crucial what one does; it is crucial what one does after that. Robert Musil, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften Regret is an interesting mental phenomenon. (1) Some people say that feeling regret is irrational, or even that it is immoral. (2) But surely the usual opinion is that in some situations regret is an appropriate way to react. An interesting question is what it means to say that sometimes it is 'appropriate' to feel regret. Do we have a moral obligation to feel regret sometimes? How could one have an obligation to feel anything, since, at least seemingly, feelings are not voluntary acts? If we do have a moral obligation to feel regret in some cases, does it follow that all good people are emotionally 'hot' while 'cool' persons, who are not able to feel deep regret, are bad? If persons feel automatically regret when they realize that they have done something blameworthy, is it not useless to suppose that they have a moral obligation to do so? In the next few pages, I would like to briefly consider the above questions and to explicate ways how regret might be a moral virtue.

Attkins: Hoax or Legitimate Diet? Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet Exerc

Attkins: Hoax or Legitimate Diet?  Ã‚  Ã‚   I will confess I had dismissed Atkins as a total hoax, especially when my mom’s fifty-three-year-old friend developed serious osteoporosis, after a few years on the diet. Now, having researched the Atkins diet, I've learned there is a lot that's positive about Atkins' approach. Still, I'm convinced there are better ways to get the benefits of Atkins without its downsides. As you're undoubtedly aware, Dr. Atkins' basic premise is that we've all been eating too many carbohydrates, especially refined white flour and sugar. â€Å"If you Replace most of those carbohydrates with more fat and more protein†, says Atkins, â€Å"then you'll lose weight.† However, contrary to popular opinion, Atkins is not a "no carb" diet. Even in its strict initial "induction" phase, Atkins allows three cups of salad greens or two cups of greens plus one cup of chopped non-starchy veggies like broccoli or red peppers. You must remember fruits and vegetables are carbs! Gradually anyone on this diet is suppose to increase their carbs in their diet until they discover their individual Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE), which is the level of carbohydrate consumption at which you will not gain weight. It is factual that much of the rise in American obesity and diabetes can be pinned on our enormous consumption of refined carbohydrates. A person’s body turns carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar) to fuel your body. Intaking too much glucose too quickly your body will be overstrained; your pancreas must extract excess insulin to rush the excess glucose out of the blood stream, and into your fat cells. If you eat fewer carbs or limit yourself to whole unrefined carbs that tr... ...beneficial in the context of a low-carb diet. This seems risky and still unproven to me. I think that it is better to just eat good, healthy food. If you cut all the processed junk from your diet, you're left with a huge, delicious universe of whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, legumes, eggs, nuts, and seeds. You can lose excess pounds and maintain a healthy weight by simply eating the good stuff and exercising; without getting excessive and counting each and every carbohydrate, gram, and calorie. I will confess I was biased and had dismissed Atkins as a total hoax. Now, having researched the Atkins diet, I see that many people have benefited from the diet. I see that there are a lot of benefits about Atkins' approach. Yet, I'm still convinced there are better ways to lose weight without facing Atkins downsides.

Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering in Plants Essay

Less tillage needed, especially with crops containing herbicide tolerance transgenes, therefore conserves fertility through minimizing soil damage through compression. |GE agriculture claims low tillage weed control: this can be achieved by ending the practice of monoculture and instead introducing proper crop rotations designed specifically to combat the weeds of the particular locality. Monoculture creates a weed paradise. | All countries face problems caused by alien species accidentally or deliberately introduced into a new environment (e.g. prickly pear in Australia). The main factor permitting this is international travel, but nobody has suggested that this should be banned. The problem of alien species is manageable, as would be the problem of genetic pollution caused by spread of seeds or pollen. As regards pollen contamination from GM varieties and the call for compensation for growers of non-GM or organic varieties whose crops are contaminated, if one is to be fair one migh t reasonably expect growers of non-GM and organic varieties to compensate growers of GM crops if they are contaminated with non-GM or organic pollen. |Genetic pollution from transgenes spreads into other organisms through pollen, seeds and microbial processes. It is fundamentally different from other forms of pollution because once the genes are out, they can’t be recalled. The best example of pollen contamination is provided by the canola seed, which was multiplied in Canada. It was officially confirmed in May 2000 that this seed was contaminated with unapproved GM canola seed and accidentally shipped to UK and other countries. By then it had been planted in Europe and large acreages of the young crop had to be destroyed. According to Advanta, the contamination occurred because of cross-pollination in Canada, where the seed was produced. The nearest source of GM contamination was 4 kilometers away.| Organic farming has long accepted accidental contamination from herbicide sp rays from neighboring farms. If there is concern about GMOs, DNA tests can be carried out.|Risks destroying organic farming, which rules out the use of GM organisms. Who will compensate organic farmers for the extra surveillance and analysis, which will be needed to ensure that the organic food chains remain free of GMOs?| The Starlink debacle is indeed a lesson that the GM food producers will learn from. Identity Preservation Systems are being put in place, verified by DNA analysis, to ensure that GM and non-GM supplies are kept separate.|The massive contamination in 2000 of the USA corn (maize) crop and human food chain by Starlink, a variety that is not approved for human consumption, shows that genetic pollution from transgenic crops to non-transgenic crops and food is inevitable. Starlink maize produces the Cry9C protein, which may be a human allergen. Two other major contaminations of ordinary seed (maize and canola seed) with GM seed have already occurred leading to emergency recalls of the product.| Reduces labor costs. |Sustainable organic agriculture creates much needed jobs in depressed rural economies.| Environmentally relatively benign herbicides are used and less of them. Opposing GM crops forces farmers to use herbicide resistant varieties which have not been made by GM such as those resistant to sulphonylurea herbicides which more readily give rise to herbicide resista nt weeds.|Promotes â€Å"agribusiness†, therefore more herbicide use. Herbicides are responsible for much illness in farm workers and contaminate drinking water.| Enhances biodiversity by allowing weeds to continue growing for longer thus providing nutrition for animals. After weed kill a mulch forms which hosts a thriving population of insects, arthropods etc.|The total herbicides used with herbicide tolerant crops kill all weeds thus reducing biodiversity in the field.| No insecticidal sprays needed on crops that have insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-toxin genes engineered into them. Plants with Bt or other insecticidal genes are likely to give rise to lower levels of mycotoxins in the final food product. Less insect damage means less opportunity for fungi to infect the plant and bring toxic substances.|As with weed control, control of insect damage is achievable with properly designed crop rotation and other forms of good husbandry such as intercropping. Healthy pl ants not imbalanced by chemical fertilizers build up their own defenses against insect attack. | GM plants are carefully tested for environmental and ecological impact, including their effects on earthworms and beneficial insects. Bt crops target only insects, which attack the crop. Future insect resistance genes will be engineered to express in leaves and stem rather than in pollen and seed. There is already evidence that the Bt gene is expressed less in Bt corn pollen than in leaves/stems therefore the risk to butterflies (e.g. Monarch) through pollen drift onto their food plants (e.g. milkweed for Monarch) is diminished. |In relation to population variance, sample sizes in lab and field tests (e.g. of earthworms) are sometimes too low to detect even large effects. Insecticidal crops containing the gene for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-toxin kill beneficial organisms such as bees, ladybirds, lacewings & butterflies (e.g. through pollen). The Bt plant remains falling to the ground are harmful to earthworms and other members of soil fauna. Bt toxins are secreted into soil from Bt plant roots and are toxic to lepidoptera in the soil (Stotzky, et al. Nature 402, 480 (1999)). The specific targeting and elimination of one insect pest has led to other pestiferous insect species moving into the ecological niche created by the disappearance of the first species. Getting rid of one problem simply created another. If Bt toxin transgenes spread to wild relatives of crop plants the wild plants may also develop resistance to insect herbivores. This could lead to the affected wild plants becoming invasive weeds.| The problem of resistance to Bt toxin and other toxins engineered into crops can be countered by planting suitably sized ‘refuges’ of a non-GM variety of the crop at suitable intervals within the crop. The interbreeding of the wild population with the Bt-exposed potentially resistant population will dilute out the genetic trait and thus prevent it building up.|Putting the Bt toxin gene in the crop exposes the pest to the toxin for longer, thus allowing natural genetic resistance to the toxin to develop in the pest. So-called refuge systems do not work, partly because breeding cycles in the differing pest populations are not synchronized. Refuges of up to 40% of the acreage are having to be recommended and this is not practical or popular for farmers. The build up of Bt toxin resistance threatens to render ineffective an insecticide long used by organic agriculture. Increased use of biopesticides in transgenic crops deprives the ecosystem of one of its natural pest controls thereby putting at risk its ability to restore equilibrium after being upset by abnormal conditions. | Helps solve the problem of world hunger by creating varieties which will make more efficient utilization of scarce land and give higher yields because of better pest resistance, nutrient utilization etc.|World hunger will not be solved by technological means. It is a problem of inequitable distribution of wealth and corrupt governments. Reduces yields (e.g. cotton, soybeans and sugar beet in some areas).| If herbicide resistance spreads to weed populations it can be combated with another herbicide with a different active ingredient. The ecological and agricultural threat of a GM plant is no more than a non-GM invasive (exotic) species such as kudzu or purple l oosestrife. Although improved crop yields can be engineered by genetically modifying plants, there is ecological concern over whether these plants are likely to persist in the wild in the event of dispersal from their cultivated habitat. The results of a long-term study of the performance of transgenic crops in natural habitats on four different crops (canola seed, potato, maize and sugar beet) which were grown in 12 different habitats and monitored over a period of 10 years show that in no case were the genetically modified plants found to be more invasive or more persistent than their conventional counterparts. (M. J. CRAWLEY, S. L. BROWN, R. S. HAILS, D. D. KOHN & M. REES. Biotechnology: Transgenic crops in natural habitats Nature 409, 682 – 683 (2001)  © Macmillan Publishers Ltd)|Enhances spread of herbicide resistance to wild weed populations because the necessary genes are in the pollen, which can then pollinate wild relatives of the crop plant. This could create â₠¬Ëœsuperweeds’ especially if ‘gene stacking’ of several different transgenes occurs. Spread of transgenes is also caused by birds, animals & machinery carrying the seed to other locations (e.g. canola seed on Ailsa Craig isle, 10 miles from Scottish mainland) Increased weediness of GM crops is already beginning to show. In 1999, in Alberta, Canada canola seed volunteers (unwanted crop plants coming up the following year) resistant to three different herbicides have been discovered. A series of chemical and DNA tests confirm the weeds in farmer Tony Huether’s field near Sexsmith are resistant to Roundup ®, Liberty ® and Pursuit ® herbicide chemicals. Invasive species of plants can remain relatively unproblematic in a region for many years and then suddenly take a hold so much so that they become an economically significant nuisance. For this reason, the ecological impact of GM crops will be difficult to predict in the long term, i.e. over several decades. | Most cultivars are unlikely to survive amongst wild plant populations and those with herbicide resistance that escape will have no advantage from the herbicide resistance trait unless that particular herbicide is used. Such volunteers can be controlled with other herbicides.|Transgenic herbicide resistant cultivars could escape into the wild and become problematic ‘volunteers’ in agriculture. These volunteers will require increased use of more toxic herbicides.| Is a sustainable agriculture, because it reduces chemical inputs as well as fuel inputs for farm machinery.|Unsustainable — based on greed not need. Helps chemical agriculture to proliferate. The only sustainable agriculture for the future is organic (including biodynamic & permaculture).| Quicker and more precise than traditional breeding.|Breeding takes place outside the proper c ontext, i.e. in the laboratory, therefore the crops are so weakened that they need to have the environment of the laboratory (soil sterilization, artificial fertilizers and pesticides) brought to them in the field. Transgenic lines are unstable and can lead to crop failures (e.g. GM cotton in USA).| A greater range of distinct disease-resistant varieties can be created so that the farmer has a wide choice and can plant a mixture of several varieties of the same crop in the same field to insure against disease attack. Disease resistance traits can be rapidly introduced to cultivars, e.g. rice, thus keeping ahead of the changing pattern of disease in a particular locality.|Because of the huge investment in GM crops, the necessarily increased emphasis on single high-yielding varieties reduces genetic diversity within the crop itself. This can lay the crop open to massive losses when disease strikes.| Novel drought and salt-tolerant cultivars can be created (important for Third World Co untries).|Sustainable organic plant breeding can develop novel varieties properly suited to a locality perfectly satisfactorily.| Any royalties or technology fees are more than compensated for by advantages including higher yields and easier, therefore less expensive, husbandry.|No seed saving by the farmer is permitted. The farmer has to pay royalties to the biotech company. This undermines a traditional agricultural practice and particularly threatens peasant farming in developing countries. GM crops add to the tendency of modern chemical agriculture to undermine the autonomy of farmers and turn them into tractor drivers or machine minders for large transnational corporations.| New varieties are tested for toxicity more than any crop plants have ever been in the past, therefore they are likely to be safer. Jimmy Clark, a professor of ruminant nutrition in Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reviewed the results from 23 research experiments, which wer e conducted over the past four years at universities throughout the United States, Germany and France. In each study, separate groups of chickens, dairy cows, beef cattle and sheep were fed either genetically modified corn or soybeans or traditional corn or soybean as a portion of their diet. Each experiment independently confirmed that there is no significant difference in the animals’ ability to digest the genetically modified crops and no significant difference in the weight gain, milk production, milk composition, and overall health of the animals when compared to animals fed the traditional crops. Clark concluded, â€Å"Based on safety analyses required for each crop, human consumption of milk, meat and eggs produced from animals fed genetically modified crops should be as safe as products derived from animals fed conventional crops.† Clark added that approximately 70% of the genetically modified soybeans produced in the world and 80% of the genetically modified corn produced in the United States are used as animal feed. â€Å"Since these genetically modified crops were grown beginning in 1996, they have been fed to livestock and no detrimental effects have been reported,† Clark said. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Release, Apr il 2001).|Increases herbicide residues in the food because the herbicide is applied later in the growing season and closer to harvest | The issue of spread of antibiotic resistance from GM crops containing antibiotic resistance marker genes is unproven. If it is a problem at all it is likely to be small compared with the induction of antibiotic resistance through profligate use of antibiotics in animal nutrition, veterinary and medical practice.|Spreads antibiotic resistance to microorganisms in the environment, and then to pathogenic bacteria.| More profit for the farmer, seed producer and biotech company shareholder.|No demonstrable benefit to the consumer. | Crops producing ‘nutraceuticals’ can be engineered, i.e. food additives that have a nutritional benefit bordering on a pharmaceutical benefit, e.g. modified edible oils. The vitamin content of plants can be enhanced by GM. Plants which previously did not contain a particular vitamin can now be made to produce lar ge amounts of it (e.g. Vitamin A ‘golden’ rice). The aim of the GM Vitamin A rice project is not to achieve ideal levels of vitamin A intake through this source but to augment the extremely low intakes which lead to blindness and death of hundreds of thousands of people a year (Prof. Dr. Ingo Potrykus, statement, February 2001). |In 1999, Deutsche Bank issued a report advising investors to avoid investing in GM crop technology (agribiotech). A balanced diet of fresh fruit & vegetables plus cereals and protein is all that is necessary. ‘Nutraceuticals’ are a sticking plaster (band aid) attempt to remedy fundamentally unhealthy diets. Existing food sources provide adequate daily intakes of vitamins provided they are eaten in sufficient amounts and the vitamins are not destroyed in the processing or cooking. Vitamin-enhanced GM plants are an unnecessary technical solution to a problem, which does not exist. Even with Vitamin A GM rice a normal daily intake of 300 gram of rice would, at best, provide 8% percent of the vitamin A needed daily.| The ‘killer genes’ of the technology protection system (‘terminator technology’) allows the seed producer’s intellectual property (patent) to be protected by a biological rather than litigious method.|No seed saving by the farmer is permitted. The farmer has to pay royalties to the biotech company. This undermines a traditional agricultural practice and particularly threatens peasant farming in developing countries.| The increased cho ice of modern high-yielding cultivars to farmers allows diversification to keep ahead of economic, climatic and plant disease trends.|The possibility of further globalization of crop varieties that GE offers through the introduction of traits necessary for introduction into new regions of the globe erodes cultural diversity – i.e. traditionally, different crops and varieties are grown by different cultures. Genetic engineering works towards global uniformity, i.e. globalization of Western/Northern culture. There used to be far greater choice of crop varieties for farmers, sometimes hundreds of varieties of a particular crop in a given region, but this diversity is falling at an alarming rate because of the industrialization of farming under pressure from the agrochemical industry. This will be accelerated by biotech agribusiness.| GE allows the creation of plants that produce vaccines, pharmaceuticals or enhanced pharmaceutical raw materials. |GE is already used to produce ph armaceuticals in microorganisms in the much safer containment conditions of biotechnology factories. It should not be taken out into the environment thus putting the environment at risk. In any case, much of the pharmaceutical production, which would be created, is designed to treat diseases caused by industrialization and urbanization, which could be better treated not by a genetic fix but by changing lifestyles and environment.| Novel food crops are tested for genetic stability (breeding true), ‘substantial equivalence’, nutritive properties, toxicity and allergenicity. It is well known that conventional breeding can introduce increased levels of natural plant toxins into a new variety or can modify its digestibility or nutritiousness. Furthermore, certain organic crops have been shown to have higher levels of toxic substances, e.g potatoes.|GE introduces unpredictable toxic or allergenic effects into food plants (e.g. Brazil nut gene in transgenic soybeans). ‘Substantial equivalence’ is a political-commercial concept rather than a scientific one. GM plants are not genetically stable. For instance, the number of copies of an inserted gene changes through later generations of the GM plant. | This technology is completely new to the insurance industry. It is natural that insurers will be cautious about it. However, when they realize that the risks are no worse than with introduced ali en species that are dealt with by conventional methods of weed control, the problem of insurance will disappear. No amount of research under containment conditions will reveal how a GM plant will behave when grown en masse in the open field.|As the degree of escape of genes from GM crops is unpredictable, they can’t be recalled once they have escaped and they could multiply in the wild, some insurance underwriters have stated that such risks are uninsurable. There should be a moratorium on experiments in the open until the safety of the GM plant is fully tested under containment conditions. | Plant pathogens need not be used in making GM plants. The genes can be blasted into plant cells using a ‘gene gun’, which fire microparticles of metal coated with the DNA of interest.|Plant pathogens such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens (literally ‘cancer causing’) are used to shuttle genes into plants and viral gene sequences such as cauliflower mosaic virus promo ter are used to make the genes express themselves once in the plant. The pathogens could recombine with their natural equivalents in the plant thus risking unpredictable outbreaks of plant disease.| Bioprospecting has gone on since very ancient times. There is no reason why an organism, which just happens to be at a particular location of the globe, should be in the sole ownership of the people living there. Agreements can be entered into in order to protect the traditional usages of indigenous peoples.|Steals genetic commons from peasant farmers and indigenous peoples (biopiracy by the rich North, e.g. neem tree & basmati rice).| Biopolymers can be produced in GM plants allowing the manufacture of biodegradeable plastics (e.g. PHBV, Biopol), which are also sustainable because they are not made from fossil fuels. |No comment|

Back for Christmas Essay

Interpretation The story â€Å"Back for Christmas† was written by a highly skilled modern English writer John Collier (3 May 1901 – 6 April 1980). His stories may be broadly classified as fantasies, but are really sui generis. They feature an acerbic wit and are usually ironic or dark in tone. His distinction is a grotesque with a twist in the end. This author can stands a picture vivid before the eyes of the reader. The title of the story under analysis is short but it excites many associations. On the one hand the text can be connected with a beautiful family holiday, but on the other hand the title sounds mysterious – why BACK for Christmas; in this case anyhow the word â€Å"Christmas† itself already presupposes the idea of cold winter or something bad. The text under the analysis belongs to the psychological type as it is concerned mainly with the mental and emotional lives of the characters. It makes me think of the described problem not once. The subject-matter of the story is a cold-blooded murder committed by a provincial doctor who ironically fails to get rid of his bossy wife. The author tries to show the reader different approaches of men and women to the idea of life. The story describes a difficult period in the relations between husband and wife. The problem, which is touched upon in the text, is the dominance of one of the spouses in the family. The author creates a well-plotted story which is true to life and a realistic representation of spouses’ relations. Compositionally the text falls into the following parts: exposition, narration, denouement, climax, ending. Exposition is revealed that Doctor Carpenter is invited to deliver a course of lectures in the US. At their farewell party Mrs.Carpenter promises the guests to bring her husband back for Christmas ignoring his slight doubt about that. The author makes it quite clear that Hermione Carpenter has always been exceedingly responsible for all arrangements in her husband’s life and career as well as the trip. Narration describes the murder carefully executed by the Doctor, who preten ds to have found a gold chain in the drain, which he uses as a decoy. After hitting his wife with a lead pipe and making sure she is dead, he goes on to dispose of the body. Denouement takes place when the first obstacle to the Doctor’s plan arises when he finds out that the water has already been turned off by  Mrs. Carpenter, which causes him to go to the cellar. Then there is a knock on the door, which scares him and brings about despair in the success of the affair. But receiving no response, the neighbours decide to come by later and leave. Climax is when Mr. Carpenter’s endeavours to hide the body in the hole dug beforehand in the cellar, which his wife believed to be a preparation for a new wine bin. The story ends with the Doctor arriving in America to find a letter waiting for him, which turns out to be a receipt for repairs of the wine bin and will inevitably lead to the discovery of his wife’s body. The idea of the text can be formulated like this to show the dominance of one of the spouses and what it can lead. In my opinion this theme is actual, but a little exaggerated. The story is presented from the point of view of a first-person observer. The author presents the characters directly and indirectly. The main character is Doctor Carpenter. According to direct method of characterization we learn that he was a clever, but very strange; it seems to me he is very secretive, and as we see further he is very cruel. The flat character of the story is doctor’s wife – Mrs. Carpenter. She plas dominating role in the family, she is very good housewife, carrying and coherent. She keeps always everything in perfect way. I feel most sympathy for her. The text â€Å"Back for Christmas† is written in a style of fiction. In the beginning of the text we can see the Carpenters; living room that was filled with the close friends who had come to say  «last-minute farewell » – the author used this epithet to show us that their friends would be missing him very much. On the contrary with his wife doctor Carpenter wasn’t sure he would come in time, he thought something could spoil his plans. But his wife à ‚ «beaming at them » said he would be back in England for Christmas. The metaphor is used to reassure everybody to make them believe in this. So, the farewells began. Mrs. Carpenter tried her best to make all the arrangements on the high level and to prove it the author used such epithet as:  «fluting of compliments » and  «marvelous arrangements ». Carpenters were going to drive to Southampton that evening and would embark the following day. They have chosen this kind of transport for more comfortable travelling without any bustle; and to emphasize it the author the used the repetition â€Å"No trains, no bustle, no last minute worries†. So doctor Carpenter has contracted for lecture only three months and certainly he would be a great success in America. His wife Hermione has just tagged a  long him to have some entertainments to see the big cities skyscrapers. Then the author uses repetitions  «No extensions. No wonderful post » that show us that his infirmary needs him. After the farewell dinner the maids washed up all the plat es, come in to say goodbye and were in time to catch the afternoon bus to Devizes. The given story produced a great impression on me. It is full of ironical and sad moments.