Imagine the human and social consequences when people, almost from birth, learn to sit passively, singly or in groups, in front of a box that is bombarding them with images and words, often at high volume and in glowing colors.
In the darkened theater, with stars as our guides, we attended tutorials on how to smoke, drink, dress, marry, give birth; learned to know the look of China or Manhattan or of falling in love, the feel of a kiss, the smart of a slap, and got dialogue coaching for the push-pull of courtship.
Boliden's history includes births, learning, first love, tough decisions, and a recent marriage!
Repeated and concentrated exposure to these chemicals can contribute to a variety of health concerns, including birth defects, learning impairment and liver damage, the center says.
Thousands of couples, for example, have used intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a treatment for male infertility, despite some evidence that the resulting children may have higher rates of birth defects, learning disabilities and sterility in boys.
It's hard not to be reminded of these when considering Driving With Plato, a friendly guide to "the meaning of life's milestones" from birth, to learning to walk, starting school and on to passing your driving test, marrying and having a mid-life crisis, retiring and dying.
Does it make sense that these and other brands are allowed to make products that expose people throughout their supply chains — cotton farmers to garment workers to consumers — to cancer-causing and endocrine-disrupting agents that can cause birth defects, learning disorders, and even death?
The new perspective respects the ecology of everything: birth, death, learning, health, family, work, science, spirituality, the arts, the community, relationships, politics.
"Whilst the final frontier of preventing premature birth, by learning more about factors that influence it, is still a long way off, there are encouraging signs for mothers in the Philippines, that more effective treatment for premature babies is on the way" said Dr Willibald Zeck, UNICEF Chief of Health and Nutrition.
