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I recently had to write a paper for a college class on consumerism, community & my opinions on 7 different sources from which I pulled info. I've been struggling with some of my papers this semester but this one I felt like I was in my "groove" on this paper & it came very easily.
I was so happy with it that I decided to share it with my readers.
Enjoy!!
Lori
P.S. If you are coming across this article while doing research for a college paper, you may use any part of this article. Just be sure you cite where it came from. Thank you. :)
Consumerism – we see this in greater quantity this time of year. People buying gifts that will only be used for a week or two and then will not see the light of day for a long time. Has consumerism affected our health? How has big pharma affected our consumerism towards the health of our children? Colin Beavan, Annie Leonard, Pico Iyer the cluster New Ethics of Consumption and Brenda Watson all talk about how our lives today affect our health.
The World English Dictionary defines consumerism(1) as “Advocacy of a high rate of consumption and spending as a basis for a sound economy. The U.S. pays the highest amount when it comes to medical costs but yet we are the sickest nation in the world. The income from vaccines alone for big pharma is $34 billion a year. Parents of children are the consumers of big pharma. They blindly line for these drugs without doing their homework first. The ingredients that are in these vaccines haven't been tested for short or long term health affects. Annie Leonard (2) states in her story of stuff “There are over 100,000 chemicals that are used in the production of materials today. And tests have only been done on a fraction of those chemicals.”
Big pharma is going to do anything and everything they can to protect their income. This is why you see so much advertising on TV today for drugs and for viewers to “talk to their doctors” about this drug. With over 140 vaccines coming down the pipeline over the next 20 years, big pharma won't make money if we are healthy only if we are kept sick. Many ingredients in vaccines haven't been tested for short term or long term safety. The affects of SV-40 from the Polio vaccine in the sixties is only now becoming apparent with brain cancer being the common denominator in these patients.
Colin Beavan (3) talks about kids that live in the big city have more cases of asthma because of all the diesel pollutants in the air from trucks that deliver goods for stores and other places. (203)
This is another area that big pharma doesn't want you to know about. Vitamin D3 taken daily can reduce or eliminate asthma attacks all together. I've had asthma since I was seven and haven't had a major attack in years. I contribute this to my high daily intake of Vitamin D3. Big pharma is trying outlaw supplements because they bite into their income, they can't regulate them. If Codex Alimentarius is pushed thru, then supplements will only be allowed thru prescriptions.
During Mr. Beaven's (4) visit, he talked about his daughter getting really sick during their trip to Italy. It was contributed to febrile seizures that the doctors said she would outgrow in time. What
aren't we being told about this episode? What medications or vaccines did Isabella receive prior to this visit?
I looked at the CDC website to see what vaccines are required for travel to Italy. No special vaccines are required but they do recommend the flu shot, chicken pox vaccine, Polio, MMR and the DPT shots. The flu shot alone has been known to cause reactions that are neurological in nature, including seizures. The MMR shot has been linked to autism. A good question for Mr. Beavan would be what vaccines did she prior to this trip?
Pico Iyer (5) talks about taking trips that are thousands of miles without a second thought. You are traveling with dozens if not a hundred other passengers. You are breathing the same recirculated air they are. Most of the time passengers get sick after traveling on air craft. Sometimes this can happen within a few days or sometimes it happens within a few weeks.
Our reliance on big pharma as part of our consumerism is one of the reasons we are chronically sick as a nation. We are the vaccinated country in the world. But yet our kids are the sickest in the world and we pay higher medical costs than other countries. Why are more people traveling when they are sick than they were thirty years ago? Many travel out of necessity for work but how many are traveling for leisure? When I flew on an airplane for travel during the late 70s and early 80s, you had
to be well in order to get on a plane. Currently they only worry if there is a big outbreak of a communicable disease.
In Ethics of Consumption (6) cluster, there is a section on “Our Thirst for Bottled Water”. The chart on page 567 shows some liquids that are consumed by the gallons per year by the average U.S. Citizen. Soft drinks are at the top of the chart followed by tap water, coffee, beer & milk. Bottled water is on the way up. Part of this trend is being fed by the fashion that its fashionable to carry bottled water around.
Depending on the plastic that is used, bottled water can leach chemicals into the water that is toxic to the human body. Styrofoam coffee cups leach styrene into the human body, this has been known to disrupt the endocrine system which is also linked to our hormones. All of this leads to stress on the body which lead to a breakdown overtime. This is one of the reasons why chronic illness is so prevalent today.
In Brenda Watson's youtube video (7) “Brenda Watson's Detox Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps – Personal and Household Products, Watson talks about how many chemicals are in the average home for personal use and for use around the home. She also talks about how 89% of them haven't been tested for safety. “Even toothpaste comes with a poison control warning label.”
Everyday when we are watching TV, looking at a magazine ornewspaper we are bombarded by ads for cleaning products for our homes. The inactive ingredients are 99% of the product but these inactive ingredients haven't been tested for safety. We as consumers need to be more proactive by telling the producers of these products that we want to know what is in these cleaning products.
Its time that us as consumers stand up for what it right. We have a right to know what our food is being treated with. We have a right to know all of the dangers of the medicine we are being prescribed, not just the parts they want us to know about. We have a right to know about the dangers of the products being used in the making of furniture, carpets and other household goods. Its time the government stop taking the sides of big corporations and stand up for the people.
Works Cited Page
1. "Consumerism | Define Consumerism at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
2"Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
3. Beavan, Colin. No Impact Man: the Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Print.
4. "Colin Beavan." DMACC, Boone. 04 Nov. 2011. Lecture.
5. Iyer, Pico. "Nowhere Man." Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 327+. Print.
6. Sandage, Tom. "Our Thirst For Bottled Water." Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 564+. Print.
7. Watson, Brenda. "Brenda Watson's Detox Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps - Personal and Household Products - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
