by Peter Prontzos<\/p>\n
In civilized societies, perhaps the most despised person is the one who preys on\u00a0children. Even in jail, child molesters are often segregated from other\u00a0prisoners for their own safety.<\/p>\n
Human beings have a natural tendency to love their children and most will do\u00a0anything to protect them from harm. Noted primatologist Frans de Waal<\/a> has made a\u00a0convincing case that love originated from the evolutionary need to protect our\u00a0young, who are uniquely vulnerable in their early years.<\/p>\n It is difficult, then, to understand why we \u2014 especially those of us who are\u00a0parents \u2014 tolerate the kinds of attacks that are taking place on our children.<\/p>\n But as Joel Bakan describes in Childhood Under Siege,<\/a> they are being assaulted\u00a0in ways that are often extremely subtle, but also extremely profitable.<\/p>\n From junk food to video games to toxic chemicals to prescription drugs, the\u00a0danger to children\u2019s health is being deliberately increased \u2014 all to improve the\u00a0bottom line.<\/p>\n Bakan provides numerous horror stories regarding children\u2019s games, some of which\u00a0can be extremely violent. He describes, for instance, an online game called,\u00a0Whack Your Soul Mate, in which a player can choose how to kill his or her\u00a0\u201clove.\u201d In one manifestation, \u201cthe man hands the woman a heart-shaped box of\u00a0chocolates, and watches as she opens the box and a spring-loaded cleaver pops\u00a0out and cuts her head off, blood gushing everywhere \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n What wholesome fun.<\/p>\n Shifting to other threats, the author details how pharmaceutical companies\u00a0manipulate research as well as reports in medical journals to hide the fact that\u00a0many of the drugs that are prescribed for children are actually ineffective,\u00a0dangerous, or both.<\/p>\n The book also provides horror stories of children over-dosing on drugs, or\u00a0killing themselves while under the influence.<\/p>\n Big pharma spends huge sums of money to entice doctors to prescribe these drugs,\u00a0with tactics ranging from dinners and vacations to visits by what has been\u00a0termed, \u201cPharma babes\u201d<\/a> \u2014 often former cheerleaders who may offer \u201csexual\u00a0favours\u201d and other gifts to their clients.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, the increasing amounts of artificial chemicals in our foods\u00a0and environment take a huge toll on children. Babies are most vulnerable when\u00a0they are developing, and nowhere are they more at risk than in the womb, (as\u00a0documented in Arthur Janov\u2019s new book, Life Before Birth<\/a>).<\/p>\n And Scientific American recently reported that, \u201cfetuses are particularly\u00a0vulnerable to \u2026 even extremely low levels of some environmental contaminants.\u201d<\/p>\n This work provides some grim examples of this threat, such as the diseases and\u00a0deaths associated with the tar ponds of Sydney, N.S., and the dangers from\u00a0Bisphenol A (BPA), \u201ca key ingredient in food and drink containers [including\u00a0baby bottles], plastic wraps and the lining of cans.\u201d<\/p>\n Bakan, who teaches law at UBC (and who wrote The Corporation<\/a>), also describes\u00a0how British Columbia has, \u201cthe most astonishingly neglectful child labour laws\u00a0in North America<\/a> \u2026 [where] a child at 12 years old can go to work, in just about\u00a0any job, hazardous or not.\u201d<\/p>\n This particular law was introduced by the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell\u00a0to make B.C. more \u201ceconomically competitive,\u201d (according to a government\u00a0statement). Bakan explains that corporations \u201ctend to favour permissive labour\u00a0laws\u201d since they can pay children less than adults, and because children are\u00a0less likely to resist harsh or unfair working conditions.<\/p>\n Bakan stresses that \u201cscience\u201d can be misused by corporations in their drive to\u00a0increase profits. As Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin explained in a Massey\u00a0Lecture<\/a>, science \u201cis a human productive activity that takes time and money, and\u00a0so is guided by and directed by those forces in the world that have control over\u00a0money and time.\u201d<\/p>\n I had two primary emotions when reading this book. One was sadness in hearing\u00a0about so much needless suffering inflicted upon young and innocent lives. The\u00a0pain that their parents felt is hard to imagine.<\/p>\n The other feeling was, frankly, outrage, at what we allow big business to do to\u00a0our children.<\/p>\n I believe that parenting is not only the most important job in the world, it is\u00a0also the most difficult. By what right do corporations have to make this vital\u00a0and demanding work even harder?<\/p>\n Society needs to help parents to ensure the well-being of their children, and\u00a0Bakan explains that for roughly 100 years, Canada and many other countries\u00a0gradually strengthened the laws to protect children.<\/p>\n Beginning around the 1980s, however, child protection was significantly reducedas corporate-friendly neo-liberal policies \u2014 including privatization and\u00a0de-regulation \u2014 spread around the world. (Such policies allowed Wall Street\u00a0speculators to make the toxic investments which triggered the global recession).<\/p>\n Reversing this dangerous trend is the goal of Childhood Under Siege.<\/p>\n By informing parents (and others who care about children) of the dangers that we\u00a0face, Bakan hopes that an informed public will demand that our governments live\u00a0up to their prime responsibility: to protect its citizens \u2014 especially its\u00a0children \u2014 from harm.<\/p>\n This review was originally published on Nov. 3, 2011 in the Vancouver Sun<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Peter Prontzos In civilized societies, perhaps the most despised person is the one who preys on\u00a0children. Even in jail, child molesters are often segregated from other\u00a0prisoners for their own safety. Human beings have a natural tendency to love their children and most will do\u00a0anything to protect them from harm. Noted primatologist Frans de Waal … <\/p>\n