Outline and Evaluate Functionalist Explanation of Crime.

Functionalism is a consensus structuralist theory, which sees the source of crime and deviance located in the structure of society. Although crime and deviance might be stigmatised in society, some sociologist think it is important to have it occur and there are some benefits to it. Durkheim (1982) argued that crime is an inevitable feature of social life, because individuals are composed to different influences and circumstances, and so not everyone can be equally committed to the shared values and moral beliefs of society. Despite crime and deviance’s threat to society, Durkheim saw it as beneficial as it could perform positive functions in society, such as, firstly; By strengthening collective values. Values can waste away unless†¦show more content†¦But some people do not accept goals like financial success, and, for example, may value job satisfaction and helping others more than income. Secondly; He focuses on individual responses, and doesn’t recognize that there is a social pattern of crime and deviance affecting whole groups of people, linked to social class, age, ethnicity, gender. Thirdly; he doesn’t explain why most people who face strain do not turn to crime or other deviance. Finally; he doesn’t recognize that t here may be many outwardly respectable, apparently conforming successful people who are innovators engaged in illegal activities, as in white collar or corporate crimes. There are other theories that build on Merton’s work, but they focus on the position of groups in the social structure rather than just on individuals, and how these groups adapt in different ways to the strain facing them in achieving social goals. Cohen is one of these sociologists who argues that working-class youth believe in the success goals of mainstream culture, but their experiences of failure in education, living in deprived areas and having the worst chances in the job market all mean that they are denied status in mainstream society. They react to this by forming their own set of values- a delinquent subculture. This subculture is based on rebelling the accepted form of behaviour, for example, stealing replaces hard work. This gives the working-class youth an opportunity to achieve some status inShow MoreRelatedExplanation to Crime and Deviancy Essay1446 Words   |  6 Pages True Crime or Moral Panic? Evaluate and apply sociological theories relating to crime and deviance Explanations of Crime and Deviancy Crime - an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. Deviance-the fact or state of diverging from usual or accepted standards, especially in social or sexual behavior. 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Information system of Hanjin shipping Essay Example For Students

Information system of Hanjin shipping Essay Outline1 Introduction2 Business jobs3 Solution to Hanjin jobs4 Process Innovation Project5 Information Systems6 Hanjin s Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP )7 Benefits of Information system8 Future concern programs9 Decision:10 Reference List: Introduction Transportation by its nature is a really competitory and a really complex industry. ( Martin Stopford, 1997 ) Transporting companies have to run on a planetary graduated table and manage offices all around the universe and work with a diverse work force. Merchant transportation is one of the most extremely regulated industries in the universe. Hence information systems play a really of import function in the direction of the transportation company. In this essay we will analyze a instance survey of how Hanjin transportation used information systems grow as a taking transportation company. Hanjin is a planetary transit and Logistics Company. ( Hanjin transportation, 2010 ) .The company operates around 200 ships, chiefly container vass, gas oilers and majority bearers. Hanjin ships are merchandising worldwide. Hanjin conveyance lading to more than 100million dozenss a twelvemonth to 6000 finishs worldwide. ( Hanjin transportation, 2010 ) Company s gross revenues web includes 200 intern ational subdivision offices and 30 corporations. Over all the company is spread outing quickly on a planetary graduated table and is besides embarking into new transportation related concern. Business jobs Hanjin was increasing its planetary operations by opening new container terminuss, purchasing new big ships, traveling in confederation with container lines. Hanjin lacked the logistics required to be competent in the container industry. Its 10 twelvemonth old ERP systems lacked functionality and flexibleness required to run such a complex and large administration ( Oracle 2008 ) . Hanjin understood that without terminal to stop logistics solutions they can non vie in container concern. Hanjin besides faced jobs commanding procurance costs and to run into the planetary regulative demands ( Oracle 2008 ) . The information aggregation system was done manually and hence it was clip consuming and prone to mistakes. Hanjin have a work force of around 4000 which are employed all around the universe. It was increasing hard for Hanjin to pull off such a big and diverse work force. Solution to Hanjin jobs As a solution to the jobs Hanjin was confronting due to its planetary enlargement it decided to establish Process invention undertaking. The procedure invention intent was to set up advanced direction construction and beef uping its organizational capablenesss. ( Sustainability study, 2006 ) . The undertaking applied to concern procedure and organisation construction every bit good as the corporate civilizations based on following the advanced IT substructure . ( Sustainability study, 2006, p.27 ) . Hanjin decided to re-engineer their concern procedure utilizing best pattern theoretical accounts for their ERP systems so as to derive planetary fight. This system was traveling to be a long term solution, it will non straight show on balance sheet but it will be platform for establishing new concern undertakings ( Business study 2006 ) . Hanjin besides decided to switch to client based concern by guaranting good service and increased client satisfaction. Process Innovation Project The procedure invention undertaking squad was assembled in October 2004 and so they spent 5 months for mapping the new systems and the procedure. The undertaking will be implemented bit by bit on a measure by step footing. The procedure invention undertaking was to be implemented during a period of 3 old ages. The chief purpose of procedure invention was to be client centred and a profitableness oriented direction company. The information system used to re-in force the organizational capablenesss and will fix the direction to be more clients focused. The information system development contracts were given to companies which were best in the concern ( Oracle, 2008 ) . ERP was given to ORACLE while others were given to Siebel and Hyperion. During the procedure of undertaking Oracle acquired Siebel and Hyperion which resulted in seamless integrating and client support. ( Oracle, 2008 ) . Case Brief EssayDecision: The undertaking taken by Hanjin to reconstruct its concern procedure by the usage of information systems was strategically really of import. Hanjin is a planetary administration with different maps, organizational degrees and many concern procedures ; therefore ERP system was the right pick of information system. This undertaking became the base to implement progress concern procedure which complement their information systems and besides increase the efficiency of the company. It helped the company to be more clients focused which is a cardinal scheme in current times. They could venture into new facets of concern such as logistics. The choice of Oracle and Siebel was besides right because they were the best in the concern. Hanjin made right determination by incorporating all systems together. The acquisition of Siebel and Hyperion by Oracle ensured that the systems have seamless integrating and uninterrupted support. The information systems which they used were in line with their c oncern schemes which resulted in success of the undertaking. Reference List: Hanjin transportation, 2008. Hanjin Shipping Steps Closer to Becoming Global Total Logistics Company, Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hanjin.com/en/news/080513_02.jsp? srv_id=ENG A ; id=080513_02.jsp A ; backUrl=news.jsp A ; curPage=5 A ; blockSize=10 . Hanjin transportation, 2008. 2008 Hanjin transporting concern study, Available at: T hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hanjin.com/en/company/invest/attach/Business_report_2008.pdf . Hanjin transportation, 2008. Hanjin sustainability study 2008, Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hanjin.com/upload/2008_gri_en.pdf . Hanjin transportation, 2006. Hanjin sustainability study 2006, Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hanjin.com/upload/2006_gri_en.pdf . Laudon. , J, A ; Laudon. , K, 2007. Management Information systems: Pull offing the digital house. 10th erectile dysfunction. Pearson Education Inc. New Jersey. Stopford. , M, 1997. Maritime Economics 2nd erectile dysfunction. Routledge: London Prophet, 2008. Hanjin Shipping Improves Business Intelligence, Competitiveness with Integrated Platform, Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.oracle.com/customers/snapshots/hanjin-shipping-ebs-case-study.pdf . Prophet, 2008. Hanjin Shipping Gains Single View of Business with Master Data Management System, Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.oracle.com/customers/snapshots/hanjin-shipping-datahub-case-study.pdf .

Confucianism And Chuang-Tzu Essays - Chinese Philosophy, Taoism

Confucianism And Chuang-Tzu The brightest signs of art and thought in civilization often spring from turmoil, be it outer war or inner strife, as is definitely the case in ancient China. During one of these periods in transition of government and ruling class, two distinct philosophies sprang from the raging waters of China's ever-cyclic river of war and rebuilding. These philosophies were the brain-children of two very notable individuals, Confucius and Chuang Tzu, both of whom saw the suffering of their country men and felt called upon to render the way which would relieve their people. Confucius, was a very rational, logical man who believed that the world could be set into its proper order by prescribing morals embedded in ritual's practiced by those in power. Therefore instilling a desire for the people to practice these same rituals and ultimately leading a moral educated life. Although this is just a very basic statement of Confucian thought it does illustrate the great differences in the approaches taken by these two men. For while in all his teachings Confucius stressed the importance of morals and the attention that must be paid to scholastics and the matters of the physical world of politics and order, Chuang Tzu, takes an entirely different, and I believe, commonly misunderstood approach to resolving the same issue. In his writings Chuang Tzu, constantly hints at the existence of this mystical energy force, which flows with exact order through the cosmos, a presence if you will that has been since there has been anything, but yet is not old. In the mind of Chuang Tzu, when one discovered this flow, and was able to establish a solid connection, one would be filled with the energy of the cosmos, taking its' power with them wherever they went, constantly using it to guide them through the labyrinth that appears to those outside of "the way" to be the path of life. Therefore, by establishing and maintaining this connection, one can no in absolute certainty what is and what should be the proper course of action they should take. It has been said many times that Chuang Tzu himself was quite a spiritual mystic, which I believe to be a fitting description. However, the problem arises when individuals take this description and simply write off his works as nothing more than complex fairy tales separated by only a few degrees from those of dragons and fairies in western myth. One must not make this mistake, for mysticism and the life and work of and eastern spiritual mystic has just as much validity as does that of faith and the writings of another quite "mystic" spiritual character found embedded in western thought, this person being none other than Jesus of Nazareth. There are many questions which modern science has no answer and for these questions the mystics have the upper hand, for if through their arts, one souls finds their way then they have accomplished a task which will forever elude the scientific realm.

How to Write a Case Study Analysis for Business School

How to Write a Case Study Analysis for Business School When writing a business case study analysis, you must first have a good understanding of the case study. Before you begin the steps below, read the business case carefully, taking notes all the while. It may be necessary to read the case several times to get all of the details and fully grasp the issues facing the group, company, or industry. As you are reading, do your best to identify key issues, key players, and the most pertinent facts. After you are comfortable with the information, use the following step-by-step instructions (geared toward a single-company analysis) to write your report. To write about an industry, just adapt the steps listed here to discuss the segment as a whole. Step 1: Investigate the Company’s History and Growth A company’s past can greatly affect the present and future state of the organization. To begin, investigate the company’s founding, critical incidents, structure, and growth. Create a timeline of events, issues, and achievements. This timeline will come in handy for the next step.   Step 2: Identify Strengths and Weaknesses Using the information you gathered in step one, continue by examining and making a list of the value creation functions of the company. For example, the company may be weak in product development but strong in marketing. Make a list of problems that have occurred and note the effects they have had on the company. You should also list areas where the company has excelled. Note the effects of these incidents as well. Youre essentially conducting a partial  SWOT analysis  to get a better understanding of the companys strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT analysis involves documenting things like internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W)  and  external opportunities (O) and threats (T).   Step 3: Examine the External Environment The third step involves identifying opportunities and threats within the company’s external environment. This is where the second part of the SWOT analysis (the O and the T)  comes into play. Special items to note include competition within the industry, bargaining powers, and the threat of substitute products. Some examples of opportunities include expansion into new markets or new technology. Some examples of threats include  increasing competition and higher interest rates. Step 4: Analyze Your Findings Using the information in steps 2 and 3, create an evaluation for this portion of your case study analysis. Compare the strengths and weaknesses within the company to the external threats and opportunities. Determine if the company is in a strong competitive position, and decide if it can continue at its current pace successfully. Step 5: Identify Corporate-Level Strategy To identify a company’s corporate-level strategy, identify and evaluate the company’s mission, goals, and actions toward those goals. Analyze the company’s line of business and its subsidiaries and acquisitions. You also want to debate the pros and cons of the company strategy to determine whether or not a change might benefit the company in the short or long term.​ Step 6: Identify Business-Level Strategy Thus far, your case study analysis has identified the company’s corporate-level strategy. To perform a complete analysis, you will need to identify the company’s business-level strategy. (Note: If it is a single business, without multiple companies under one umbrella, and not an industry-wide review, the corporate strategy and the business-level strategy are the same.) For this part, you should identify and analyze each company’s competitive strategy, marketing strategy, costs, and general focus. Step 7: Analyze Implementations This portion requires that you identify and analyze the structure and control systems that the company is using to implement its business strategies. Evaluate organizational change, levels of hierarchy, employee rewards, conflicts, and other issues that are important to the company you are analyzing. Step 8: Make Recommendations The final part of your case study analysis should include your recommendations for the company. Every recommendation you make should be based on and supported by the context of your analysis. Never share hunches or make a baseless recommendation. You also want to make sure that your suggested solutions are actually realistic. If the solutions cannot be implemented due to some sort of restraint, they are not realistic enough to make the final cut. Finally, consider some of the alternative solutions that you considered and rejected. Write down the reasons why these solutions were rejected.   Step 9: Review Look over your analysis when you have finished writing. Critique your work to make sure every step has been covered. Look for grammatical errors, poor sentence structure, or other things that can be improved. It should be clear, accurate, and professional. Business Case Study Analysis Tips Keep these strategic tips in mind: Know the case study ​backward and forward before you begin your case study analysis.Give yourself enough time to write the case study analysis. You dont want to rush through it.Be honest in your evaluations. Dont let personal issues and opinions cloud your judgment.Be analytical, not descriptive.Proofread your work, and even let a test reader give it a once-over for dropped words or typos that you no longer can see.

Opera and Singing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Opera and Singing - Assignment Example This is a feeling that makes a singer to enjoy his or her performance while on stage and it also produces the best sound and full concentration. Singing opera requires high vocal technique and the teachers normally test the ability of a young singer to absorb the kinesthetic understanding (Terry, n.p). The training enables a singer to grasp the different elements that make a good opera singer like mastering the important notes and keys to hit. The interview inspires me to venture into other genres of art in order to fit in the foreign theatre experience across Europe and America. I have gained knowledge about opera singing and this has inspired me. I think a person needs to explore his or her talents and concentrate on it to be the best. It is encouraging that Zajick was to be a medical student when she discovered her talent in opera and later changed her career. Being a Chinese, I knew nothing about opera music and the interview has exposed to this new revelation. The interview is also educative because it reveals different aspects about opera singing in which Zajick shares her experiences (Terry, n.p). The singer also educates the audience on various elements that make a good opera singer, body language, pitch levels and the kinesthetic awareness. The interview can help upcoming singers to acquire new skills and insights about the industry and the performances. However, the discussions do not apply to me and my attitude towards opera and singing. This is because opera is not a common genre in my country and people know very little about the songs. I think singing and opera is an exciting experience because of the numerous notes involved when performing. According to Zajick, a singer to dedicate time to master the notes in order to make an electrifying performance and this requires those who are fans of the genre. It is apparent that before watching the interview, I had no knowledge or experience about opera and singing, but

Motivation Plays a Major Part in Second Language Acquisition Research Paper

Motivation Plays a Major Part in Second Language Acquisition - Research Paper Example As the paper outlines, there are some people who seem to patronize their own language so much that they refuse or find it hard to learn a second language. As every individual talk with ease in their native tongue, learning to communicate in a second language becomes more difficult particularly if the learner's environment is unsupportive. If the learner's family, workmates, and friends are not proficient at the new language the learning process would be hard to attain as the learner will not be able to apply the second language in everyday life.  Motivation is one of the keys to acquiring a second language. A number of students are motivated to learn a second language with their desire to travel and have a better future, or when a student has developed a particular liking in knowing about the customs and language of a country of interest. The educators also play a vital role in keeping the second language learner motivated.  Recently, discussion on the role that motivation plays in second language acquisition is prevalent. In this paper, I would like to present the arguments for and against the idea that motivation indeed plays a major part in learning a second language.  Motivation can lead to language acquisition when done in a manner which is higher than what would be the case when it would be inexplicably missing. In such circumstances, there is a need to inculcate the right kind of attitude and feelings in individuals who want to acquire a second language for their own betterment that they understand the need to be motivated at all possible times [Dornyei, Csizer & Nemeth, 2006]. It is for this reason that Gardner and Lambert (1972) opined that there are in essence a couple of different types when one talks about motivation in the related segments. These could be attributed to the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. The difference between these is that integrative form of motivation is more inclined with the establishment of the secon d language within the environs of a particular individual; on the other hand, a learner who has an instrumental motivation aims to learn the second language due to the sound performance of a single function or reason for that matter. Thus, there is a huge difference as far as their overlapping methodologies are concerned. In the integrative form of motivation, the learner has generated positive vibes and feelings with the purpose; but in the instrumental sense of motivation, the feeling is just present to capture the functional basis than anything else. The role here is to integrate the language that is being learned rather than use it for a functional reason and then discard when the intent was consummated. The second language acquisition process thus becomes more significant when the need is to seek it from the integrative stance rather than the instrumental basis. The integrative motivation of second language learning does wonders to the learner than instrumental motivation since the individual's interest grows beyond the mere curiosity of mastering the new lingo; the student/learner also delves into the various cultural ideologies, the people, and the set of customs that surround the new language learned.

50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay Example for Free

50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay Introduction What is called biotechnology is a vital issue that impacts all of us. Largely between 1997 and 1999, genetically modified (GM) food ingredients suddenly appeared in 2/3rds of all US processed foods. This food alteration was fueled by a single Supreme Court ruling. It allowed, for the first time, the patenting of life forms for commercialization. Since then thousands of applications for experimental genetically-modified (GM) organisms, including quite bizarre GMOs, have been filed with the US Patent Office alone, and many more abroad. Furthermore an economic war broke out to own equity in firms that legally claimed such patent rights or the means to control not only genetically modified organisms but vast reaches of human food supplies. This has been the behind-the-scenes and key factor for some of the largest and rapid agri-chemical firm mergers in history. The merger of Pioneer Hi-Bed and Dupont (1997), Novartis AG and AstraZeneca PLC (2000), plus Dows merger with Rohm and Haas (2001) are three prominent examples, Few consumers are aware this has been going on and is ever continuing. Yet if you recently ate soya sauce in a Chinese restaurant, munched popcorn in a movie theatre, or indulged in an occasional candy bar youve undoubtedly ingested this new type of food. You may have, at the time, known exactly how much salt, fat and carbohydrates were in each of these foods because regulations mandate their labeling for dietary purposes. But you would not know if the bulk of these foods, and literally every cell had been genetically altered! In just those three years, as much as 1/4th of all American agricultural lands or 70-80 million acres were quickly converted to raise genetically-modified (GM) food and crops. See more: Unemployment problems and solutions essay And in the race to increase GM crop production verses organics, the former is winning. For details, see our article Who is Winning The Race Between GM Global and Organic Crop Production? Core Philosophical Issues When Gandhi confronted British rule and Martin Luther King addressed those who disenfranchised Afro-Americans, each brought forth issues of morality and spirituality. They both challenged others to live up to the highest principles of humanity. With the issue of GM food technology, we should naturally do the same, and with great respect for both sides. It is not enough to list fifty or more harmful effects but we need to also address moral, spiritual and especially worldview issues. Here the stakes are incredibly huge. For an introductory discussion of the philosophical issues involving GMOs, why this technology represents the impregnation of a mechanical worldview, a death-centered vision of nature that is greatlyt accelerating the death of species on earth, see our article GMOs Philosophical Issues of a Thanoptic (Death-Delivering) Technology. FROM HYBRIDIZATION TO GMOs Another challenging phenomenon to face in our modern world is that of hybridization. It seems to have worked so very successfully in some commercial realms, and as a major application of Gregor Mendels revolutionary Gene Theory. Mendel offered a logical extension of the larger mechanical worldview. Just as we create factory assembly lines for manufacturing inanimate products, why cant we also manufacture living organisms, and using the same or similar principles? Why not take this assembly-line process to the next logical and progressive level? Whats wrong then with the advance of genetic engineering? No doubt, with hybridizations conscious life is manipulated. But living organisms continue to make some primary genetic decisions amid limited selections. We can understand this with an analogy. There is an immense difference between being a matchmaker and inviting two people to a dinner party, to meet and see if they are compatible. This differs essentially from forcing their meeting and union or a violent date rape. The former act may be divine, and the latter considered criminal. The implication is that biotechnology involves vital moral issues in regard to the whole of life in nature. With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with just roses. They are mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with asses, butterflies with worms, orchids with snakes. The technology that makes this all possible is called biolistics a gunshot-like violence that pierces the nuclear membrane of cells. This essentially violates not just the core chambers of life (physically crossing nuclear membranes) but the conscious-choice principle that is part of living natures essence. Some also compare it to the violent crossing of territorial borders of countries, subduing inhabitants against their will. What will happen if this technology is allowed to spread? Fifty years ago few predicted that chemical pollution would cause so much vast environmental harm. Now nearly 1/3rd of all species are threatened with extinction (and up to half of all plant species and half of all mammals). Few also knew that cancer rates would skyrocket during this same period. Nowadays approximately 41% on average of Americans can expect cancer in their lifetime. ALARM SIGNALS No one has a crystal ball to see future consequences of the overall GMO technology. Nevertheless, there are silent alarm signals like the early death of canaries in a mine shaft. There is, for example, growing evidence that the wholesale disappearance of bees relates directly to the appearance of ever more GM pollen. If we understand certain philosophical issues about the 17th centurys worldview, the potential harm of GMOs actually can potentially far outweigh that of chemical pollution. This is because chemistry deals mostly with things altered by fire (and then no longer alive, isolated in laboratories and not infecting living terrains in self-reproducible ways). Thus a farmer may use a chemical for many decades, and then let the land lie fallow to convert it back to organic farming. This is because the chemicals tend to break down into natural substances over time, Genetic pollution, however, can alter the oils life forever! Farmers who view their land as their primary financial asset have reason to heed this warning. They need to be alarmed by evidence that genetically-modified soil bacteria contamination can arise. This is more than just possible, given the numerous (1600 or more) distinct microorganisms that can be found in a single teaspoon of soil. If that soil contamination remains permanently, the consequences can be catastrophic. Someday the public may blacklist precisely those farms that have once planted GM crops. No one has put up any warning signs on product packaging for farmers, including those who now own 1/4 of all agricultural tracks in the US. Furthermore, the spreading potential impact on all ecosystems is profound. Writes Jeremy Rifkin, in The Biotech Century, Our way of life is likely to be more fundamentally transformed in the next several decades than in the previous one thousand years Tens of thousands of novel transgenic bacteria, viruses, plants and animals could be released into the Earths ecosystems Some of those releases, however, could wreak havoc with the planets biospheres. In short these processes involve unparalleled risks. Voices from many sides echo this view. Contradicting safety claims, no major insurance company has been willing to limit risks, or insure bio-engineered agricultural products. The reason given is the high level of unpredictable consequences. Over eight hundred scientists from 84 countries have signed The World Scientist open letter to all governments calling for a ban on the patenting of life-forms and emphasizing the very grave hazards of GMOs, genetically-modified seeds and GM foods. This was submitted to the UN, World Trade Organization and US Congress. The Union of Concerned Scientists (a 1000 plus member organization with many Nobel Laureates) has similarly expressed its scientific reservations. The prestigious medical journal, Lancet, published an article on the research of Arpad Pusztai showing potentially significant harms, and to instill debate. Britains Medical Association (the equivalent of the AMA and with over a 100,000 physicians) called for an outright banning of genetically-modified foods and labeling the same in countries where they still exist. In a gathering of political representatives from over 130 nations, drafting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, approximately 95% insisted on new precautionary approaches. The National Academy of Science report on genetically-modified products urged greater scrutiny and assessments. Prominent FDA scientists have repeatedly expressed profound fears and reservations but their voices were muted not due to cogent scientific reasons but intense political pressure from the Bush administration in its efforts to buttress and promote the profit-potentials of a nascent biotech industry. To counterbalance this, industry-employed scientists have signed a statement in favor of genetically-modified foods. But are any of these scientists impartial? Writes the New York Times (Feb 20, 2000) (about a similar crisis involving genetic engineering and medical applications). Academic scientists who lack industry ties have become as rare as giant pandas in the wild lawmakers, bioethics experts and federal regulators are troubled that so many researchers have a financial stake [via stock options or patent participation] The fear is that the lure of profit could color scientific integrity, promoting researchers to withhold information about potentially dangerous side-effects. Looked at from outside of commercial interests, perils of genetically modified foods and organisms are multi-dimensional. They include the creation of new transgenic life forms organisms that cross unnatural gene lines (such as tomato seed genes crossed with fish genes) and that have unpredictable behavior or replicate themselves out of control in the wild. This can happen, without warning, inside of our bodies creating an unpredictable chain reaction. A four-year study at the University of Jena in Germany conducted by Hans-Hinrich Kaatz revealed that bees ingesting pollen from transgenic rapeseed had bacteria in their gut with modified genes. This is called a horizontal gene transfer. Commonly found bacteria and microorganisms in the human gut help maintain a healthy intestinal flora. These, however, can be mutated. Mutations may also be able to travel internally to other cells, tissue systems and organs throughout the human body. Not to be underestimated, the potential domino effect of internal and external genetic pollution can make the substance of science-fiction horror movies become terrible realities in the future. The same is true for the bacteria that maintain the health of our soil and are vitally necessary for all forms of farming in fact for human sustenance and survival. Without factoring in biotechnology, milder forms of controlling nature have gravitated toward restrictive monocropping. In the past 50 years, this underlies the disappearance of approximately 95% of many native grains, beans, nuts, fruits, and vegetable varieties in the United States, India, and Argentina among other nations (and on average 75% worldwide). Genetically-modified monoculture, however, can lead to yet greater harm. Monsanto, for example, had set a goal of converting 100% of all US soy crops to Roundup Ready strains by the year 2000. If this plan were effected, it would have threatened the biodiversity and resilience of all future soy farming practices. Monsanto laid out similar strategies for corn, cotton, wheat and rice. This represents a deepest misunderstanding of how seeds interact, adapt and change with the living world of nature. One need only look at agricultural history at the havoc created by the Irish potato blight, the Mediterranean fruit fly epidemic in California, the regional citrus canker attacks in the Southeast, and the 1970s US corn leaf blight. In the latter case, 15% of US corn production was quickly destroyed. Had weather changes not quickly ensued, most all crops would have been laid waste because a fungus attached their cytoplasm universally. The deeper reason this happened was that approximately 80% of US corn had been standardized (devitalized/mechanized) to help farmers crossbreed and by a method akin to those used in current genetic engineering. The uniformity of plants then allowed a single fungus to spread, and within four months to destroy crops in 581 counties and 28 states in the US. According to J. Browning of Iowa State University: Such an extensive, homogeneous acreage of plants is like a tinder-dry prairie waiting for a spark to ignite it. The homogeneity is unnatural, a byproduct again of deadening natures creativity in the attempt to mechanize, to grasp absolute control, and of what ultimately yields not control but wholesale disaster. Europeans seem more sensitive than Americans to such approaches, given the analogous metaphor of German eugenics. HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS Overall the biotech revolution that is presently trying to overturn 12,000 years of traditional and sustainable agriculture was launched in the summer of 1980 in the US. This was the result of a little-known US Supreme Court decision Diamond vs. Chakrabarty where the highest court decided that biological life could be legally patentable. Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, a microbiologist and employee of General Electric (GE), developed at the time a type of bacteria that could ingest oil. GE rushed to apply for a patent in 1971. After several years of review, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) turned down the request under the traditional doctrine that life forms are not patentable. Jeremy Rifkins organization, the Peoples Business Commission, filed the only brief in support of the ruling. GE later sued and won an overturning of the PTO ruling. This gave the go ahead to further bacterial gmo research throughout the 1970s. Then in 1983 the first genetically-modified plant, an anti-biotic resistant tobacco was introduced. Field trials then began in 1985, and the EPA approved the very first release of a GMO crop in 1986. This was a herbicide-resistant tobacco. All of this went forward due to a regulatory green light as in 1985 the PTO also decided the Chakrabarty ruling could be further extended to all plants and seeds, or the entire plant kingdom. It then took another decade before the first genetically-altered crop was commercially introduced. This was the famous delayed-ripening Flavr-savr tomato approved by the FDA on May 18, 1994. The tomato was fed in laboratory trials to mice who, normally relishing tomatoes, refused to eat these lab-creations and had to be force-fed by tubes. Several developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty mice died within two weeks. Without further safety testing the tomato was FDA approved for commercialization. Fortunately, it ended up as a production and commercial failure, and was ultimately abandoned in 1996. This was the same year Calgene, the producer, began to be bought out by Monsanto. During this period also, and scouring the world for valuable genetic materials, W. R. Grace applied for and was granted fifty US patents on the neem tree in India. It even patented the indigenous knowledge of how to medicinally use the tree f(what has since been called biopiracy). Also by the close of the 20th century, about a dozen of the major US crops including corn, soy, potato, beets, papaya, squash, tomato and cotton were approved for genetic modification. Going a step further, on April 12, 1988, PTO issued its first patent on animal life forms (known as oncomice) to Harvard Professor Philip Leder and Timothy A. Stewart. This involved the creation of a transgenic mouse containing chicken and human genes. Since 1991 the PTO has controversially granted other patent rights involving human stem cells, and later human genes. A United States company, Biocyte was awarded a European patent on all umbilical cord cells from fetuses and newborn babies. The patent extended exclusive rights to use the cells without the permission of the donors. Finally the European Patent Office (EPO) received applications from Baylor University for the patenting of women who had been genetically altered to produce proteins in their mammary glands. Baylor essentially sought monopoly rights over the use of human mammary glands to manufacture pharmaceuticals. Other attempts have been made to patent cells of indigenous peoples in Panama, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea, among others. Thus the groundbreaking Chakrabarty ruling evolved, and within little more than two decades from the patenting of tiny, almost invisible microbes, to allow the genetic modification of virtually all terrains of life on Earth. Certain biotech companies then quickly, again with lightening speed, moved to utilize such patenting for the control of first and primarily seed stock, including buying up small seed companies and destroying their non-patented seeds. In the past few years, this has led to a near monopoly control of certain genetically modified commodities, especially soy, corn, and cotton (the latter used in processed foods when making cottonseed oil). As a result, between 70-75% of processed grocery products, as estimated by the Grocery Manufacturers of America, soon showed genetically-modified ingredients. Yet again without labeling, few consumers in the US were aware that any of this was pervasively occurring. Industry marketers found out that the more the public knew, the less they wanted to purchase GM foods. Thus a concerted effort was organized to convince regulators (or bribe them with revolving-door employment arrangements) not to require such labeling. About the 50 Harmful Effects of GM Foods This article does more than dispute the industry and certain government officials claims that genetically-modified (GM) foods are the equivalent of ordinary foods not requiring labeling. It offers an informative list of the vast number of alarm signals, at least fifty hazards, problems, and dangers. also interspersed are deeper philosophical discussion of how the good science of biotechnology can turn against us as a thano-technology, grounded in a worldview that most seriously needs to be revisied. When pesticides were first introduced, they also were heralded as absolutely safe and as a miracle cure for farmers. Only decades later the technology revealed its truer lethal implications. Here the potentially lethal implications are much broader. The following list of harms is also divided into several easily referred-to sections, namely on health, environment, farming practices, economic/political/social implications, and issues of freedom of choice. There is a concluding review of means of inner activism philosophical, spiritual, worldview changing. Next there is a list of action-oriented, practical ideas and resources for personal, political and consumer action on this vital issue. Finally, I want the reader to know that this article is a living document, subject to change whenever new and important information becomes available. The reader is thus encouraged to return to this article as a resource, explore other parts of our site, and otherwise keep in touch with us and the Websites we link to. Most importantly please sign up for our newsletter so we can exchange vital information with you. Sign up now for our Newsletter to get invaluable updates and more HEALTH Recombinant DNA technology faces our society with problems unprecedented not only in the history of science, but of life on Earth. It places in human hands the capacity to redesign living organisms, the products of three billion years of evolution. Such intervention must not be confused with previous intrusions upon the natural order of living organisms: animal and plant breeding All the earlier procedures worked within single or closely related species Our morality up to now has been to go ahead without restriction to learn all that we can about nature. Restructuring nature was not part of the bargain this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics. Deaths and Near-Deaths 1. Recorded Deaths from GM: In 1989, dozens of Americans died and several thousands were afflicted and impaired by a genetically modified version of the food supplement L-tryptophan creating a debilitating ailment known as Eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS) . Released without safety tests, there were 37 deaths reported and approximately 1500 more were disabled. A settlement of $2 billion dollars was paid by the manufacturer, Showa Denko, Japans third largest chemical company destroyed evidence preventing a further investigation and made a 2 billion dollar settlement. Since the very first commercially sold GM product was lab tested (Flavr Savr) animals used in such tests have prematurely died. 2. Near-deaths and Food Allergy Reactions: In 1996, Brazil nut genes were spliced into soybeans to provide the added protein methionine and by a company called Pioneer Hi-Bred. Some individuals, however, are so allergic to this nut, they can go into anaphylactic shock (similar to a severe bee sting reaction) which can cause death. Using genetic engineering, the allergens from one food can thus be transferred to another, thought to be safe to eat, and unknowingly. Animal and human tests confirmed the peril and fortunately the product was removed from the market before any fatalities occurred. The animal tests conducted, however, were insufficient by themselves to show this. Had they alone been relied upon, a disaster would have followed. The next case could be less than ideal and the public less fortunate, writes Marion Nestle author of Food Politics and Safe Food, and head of the Nutrition Department of NYU in an editorial to the New England Journal of Medicine. It has been estimated that 25% of Americans have mild adverse reactions to foods (such as itching and rashes), while at least 4% or 12 million Americans have provably more serious food allergies as objectively shown by blood iImmunoglobulin E or IgE levels. In other words, there is a significant number of highly food-sensitive individuals in our general population. The percentage of young children who are seriously food-allergenic is yet higher, namely 6-8% of all children under the age of three. In addition, the incidence rates for these children has been decidedly rising. Writes Dr. Jacqueline Pongracic, head of the allergy department at Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ive been treating children in the field of allergy immunology for 15 years, and in recent years Ive really seen the rates of food allergy skyrocket. The Center for Disease Control confirmed the spike on a US national level. Given the increased adulteration of our diets, it is no wonder at all that this is happening. Yet the FDA officials who are sacredly entrusted to safeguard the health of the general public, and especially of children, declared in 1992, under intense industry-lobbying pressure, that genetically-modified (GM) foods were essentially equivalent to regular foods. The truth is that genetically modified foods cannot ever be equivalent. They involve the most novel and technologically-violent alterations of our foods, the most uniquely different foods ever introduced in the history of modern agriculture (and in the history of biological evolution). To say otherwise affronts the intelligence of the public and safeguarding public officials. It is a bold, if not criminal deception to but appease greed-motivated corporate parties and at the direct expense and risk of the publics health. The FDA even decided against the advice of its own scientists that there was no need at all for FDA allergy or safety testing of these most novel of all foods. This hands-off climate (as promoted by the Bush Administration and similar to what was done with the mortgage and financial industry) is a recipe for widespread social health disasters. When elements of nature that have never before been present in the human diet are suddenly introduced, and without any public safety testing or labeling notice, such as petunia flower elements in soybeans and fish genes in tomatoes (as developed by DNA Plant Technology Corporation in the 1990s), it obviously risks allergic reactions among the most highly sensitive segments of our general population. It is a well-know fact that fish proteins happen to be among the most hyper-allergenic, while tomatoes are not. Thus not labeling such genetically modified tomatoes, with hidden alien or allergenic ingredients, is completely unconscionable. The same applies to the typical GMO that has novel bacterial and viral DNA artificially inserted. Many research studies have definitively confirmed this kind of overall risk for genetically modified foods: CORN- Two research studies independently show evidence of allergenic reactions to GM Bt corn, Farm workers exposed to genetically-modified Bt sprays exhibited extensive allergic reactions. POTATOES A study showed genetically-modified potatoes expressing cod genes were allergenic. PEAS A decade-long study of GM peas was abandoned when it was discovered that they caused allergic lung damage in mice. SOY In March 1999, researchers at the York Laboratory discovered that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by 50% over the year before, which corresponded with the introduction of genetically-modified soy from the US. It was the first time in 17 years that soy was tested in the lab among the top ten allergenic foods. Cancer and Degenerative Diseases 3. Direct Cancer and Degenerative Disease Links: GH is a protein hormone which, when injected into cows stimulates the pituitary gland in a way that the produces more milk, thus making milk production more profitable for the large dairy corporations. In 1993, FDA approved Monsantos genetically-modified rBGH, a genetically-altered growth hormone that could be then injected into dairy cows to enhance this feature, and even though scientists warned that this resulted in an increase of IGF-1 (from (70%-1000%). IGF-1 is a very potent chemical hormone that has been linked to a 2 1/2 to 4 times higher risk of human colorectal and breast cancer. Prostate cancer risk is considered equally serious in the 2,8. to 4 times range. According to Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Chicago and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, this induces the malignant transformation of human breast epithelial cells. Canadian studies confirmed such a suspicion and showed active IGF-1 absorption, thyroid cysts and internal organ damage in rats. Yet the FDA denied the significance of these findings. When two award-winning journalists, Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, tried to expose these deceptions, they were fired by Fox Network under intense pressure from Monsanto. The FDAs own experiments indicated a spleen mass increase of 40-46%- a sign of developing leukemia. The contention by Monsanto that the hormone was killed by pasteurization or rendered inactive was fallacious. In research conducted by two of Monsantos own scientists, Ted Elasser and Brian McBride, only 19% of the hormone was destroyed despite boiling milk for 30 minutes when normal pasteurization is 15 seconds. Canada, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand have banned rBGR. The UNs Codex Alimentarius, an international health standards setting body, refused to certify rBGH as safe. Yet Monsanto continued to market this product in the US until 2008 when it finally divested under public pressure. This policy in the FDA was initiated by Margaret Miller, Deputy Director of Human Safety and Consultative Services, New Animal Drug Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine and former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto. This is part of a larger revolving door between Monsanto and the Bush Administration. She spearheaded the increase in the amount of antibiotics farmers were allowed to have in their milk and by a factor of 100 or 10,000 percent. Also Michael Taylor, Esq. became the executive assistant to the director of the FDA and deputy Commissioner of Policy filling a position created in 1991 to promote the biotech industry and squelch internal dissent. There Taylor drafted a new law to undermine the 1958 enacted Delaney Amendment that so importantly outlawed pesticides and food additives known to cause cancer. In other words carcinogens could now legally be reintroduced into our food chain. Taylor was later hired as legal counsel to Monsanto, and subsequently became Deputy Commissioner of Policy at the FDA once again. On another front, GM-approved products have been developed with resistance to herbicides that are commonly-known carcinogens. Bromoxynil is used on transgenic bromoxynmil-resistant or BXN cotton. It is known to cause very serious birth defects and brain damage in rats. Glyphosate and POEA, the main ingredients in Roundup, Monsantos lead product are suspected carcinogens. As to other degenerative disease links, according to a study by researcher Dr. Sharyn Martin, a number of autoimmune diseases are enhanced by foreign DNA fragments that are not fully digested in the human stomach and intestines. DNA fragments are absorbed into the bloodstream, potentially mixing with normal DNA. The genetic consequences are unpredictable and unexpected gene fragments have shown up in GM soy crops. A similar view is echoed by Dr. Joe Cummins, Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario, noting that animal experiments have demonstrated how exposure to such genetic elements may lead to inflammation, arthritis and lymphoma (a malignant blood disease). 4. Indirect, Non-traceable Effects on Cancer Rates: The twentieth century saw an incremental lowering of infectious disease rates, especially where a single bacteria was overcome by an antibiotic, but a simultaneous rise in systemic, whole body or immune system breakdowns. The epidemic of cancer is a major example and is affected by the overall polluted state of our environment, including in the pollution of the air, water, and food we take in. There are zillions of potential combinations for the 100,000 commonly thrust upon our environment. The real impact cannot be revealed by experiments that look at just a few controlled factors or chemicals isolates. Rather all of nature is a testing ground. Scientists a few years ago were startled that combining chemical food additives into chemical cocktails caused many times more toxic effects than the sum of the individual chemicals. More startling was the fact that some chemicals were thought to be harmless by themselves but not in such combinations. For example, two simple chemicals found in soft drinks, ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate, together form benzene, an immensely potent carcinogen. Similarly, there is the potential, with entirely new ways of rearranging the natural order with genetic mutations and that similar non-traceable influences can likewise cause cancer. We definitively know X-rays and chemicals cause genetic mutations, and mutagenic changes are behind many higher cancer rates or where cells duplicate out of control. In the US in the year 1900, cancer affected only about 1 out 11 individuals. It now inflicts 1 out of 2 men and 1 out of 3 women in their lifetime. Cancer mortality rates rose relentlessly throughout the 20th century to more than triple overall. Viral and Bacterial Illness 5. Superviruses: Viruses can mix with genes of other viruses and retroviruses such as HIV. This can give rise to more deadly viruses and at rates higher than previously thought. One study showed that gene mixing occurred in viruses in just 8 weeks (Kleiner, 1997). This kind of scenario applies to the cauliflower mosaic virus CaMV, the most common virus used in genetic engineering in Round Up ready soy of Monsanto, Bt-maise of Novaris, and GM cotton and canola. It is a kind of pararetrovirus or what multiplies by making DNA from RNA. It is somewhat similar to Hepatitis B and HIV viruses and can pose immense dangers. In a Canadian study, a plant was infected with a crippled cucumber mosaic virus that lacked a gene needed for movement between plant cells. Within less than two weeks, the crippled plant found what it needed from neighboring genes as evidence of gene mixing or horizontal transfer.