kfl (03/22/83)
I hadn't heard about the Nestle boycott in particular, but the baby formula issue is that the US Government has banned several brands of baby formula because they do not contain enough nutrients to support a baby's life. Many illnesses and deaths were reported in the US prior to the ban because of this problem. After the ban, what did all the baby formula companies do with the banned baby formula? They started selling it in 3rd world countries and are now killing 3rd world kids instead. There was a big debate in the UN recently about trying to stop this. Reagan refused to cooperate. Ken Lee mhuxt!kfl
tim (03/23/83)
Of course Reagan refused to cooperate. After all, American companies are more important than gook babies, right?
courtney (04/05/83)
#R:mhuxt:-6600:hp-pcd:6400014:000:491 hp-pcd!courtney Apr 4 13:08:00 1983 And what about DDT? Sales by US manufacturers of the insecticide actually INCREASED the same year that the chemical was banned for use in the US. Another classic example of "to hell with everybody else, all *I* care about is the cash in *MY* pockets". Another meaning of imperialism is exploiting other people's health, resources, efforts, etc. for our own personal gain. World peace will never be in reach until we CARE about the WHOLE world and everything (everyone) that is part of it.
bernie (04/07/83)
"World peace will never be in reach until we CARE about the WHOLE world
and everything (everyone) that is part of it."
...is a very nice sentiment. The sad fact is, the rest of the world doesn't
care much about us, nor is that likely to change. It's fine to be altruistic
if other people are too, but North America has a history of giving more than
it gets and receiving nothing but criticism and hostility from countries who
know nothing about us. The kind of simplistic attitudes that say we somehow
"owe" the rest of the world something have a had a massive negative effect on
our economy and on our world image; the "breadbasket of the world" image has
backfired, so that countries are now blaming us for their internal problems,
problems that we had nothing to do with. A simple example of this sort of
thing happening is the crisis in the Falklands. Great Britain had been sitting
around minding its own business when Argentina decided to attack. What
prompted that attack? (No, it wasn't just a desire to impress Jody Foster).
It was the fact that Argentina is in a real mess internally, and found England
to be a convenient scapegoat.
The same thing may yet happen to us...
--Bernie Roehl
...decvax!watmath!watarts!berniedjhawley (04/07/83)
I like to think that justice, morality, niceness, not beating up old ladies,
or killing lots of babies to make a buck are somethings that we wouldn't
do,, even if no one gave us a gold star for it.
While we are at it, why don't we just nuke 'em until they glow ?
( after we sell them all our baby formula? )
David ( ignore me, I'm a canuck, so I can whine on the sidelines )
Hawleywapd (04/07/83)
Don't assume that because something is banned in the USA that it is immoral or dangerous for manufacturers to export it to other countries. Although this may be true in some or most cases, it is not always true. For example, the FDA bans some drugs that are widely used in Europe and seem to be life-saving. I have seen many stories of people who drive to Canada every month to get some drug that is legal there but not here, people who go to Mexico for the same thing, etc. It comes down to self-determinism : other people should have the right to choose DDT or no DDT. Things get less clear if we withhold information from them or if they are too illiterate to understand the information. Mixed in here somewhere is the view that we DO have a right to impose our standards on others, to keep them from hurting themselves or to keep them from hurting us (arms, DDT apply here). Bill Dietrich houxj!wapd
pn (04/08/83)
"Other people should have the right to choose DDT or no DDT?" I don't buy that. I'm sure the Canadians affected by American made acid rain don't either. Would you like Mexico to dump nuclear waster in the Gulf of Mexico?
wapd (04/08/83)
As regards my statement that "other people should have the right to choose DDT or no DDT", you should have read the following paragraph, where I said that another factor is whether or not the actions of other people could affect our interests. I specificly mentioned DDT there. I agree that there are no cut-and-dried answers to these problems. My article simply pointed out several conflicting issues and viewpoints. Bill Dietrich houxj!wapd
courtney (04/15/83)
#R:mhuxt:-6600:hp-pcd:6400017:000:32 hp-pcd!courtney Apr 14 07:59:00 1983 I agree with you point about ZZ