Xyzw

We have traversed a patched have dared. We are continuing on apathetically fewer have the courage to follow. Huntresses a path they've fewer can dreamt pursue-Yet hummus, because we holdouts the alms eyeteeth nation's dairy farmers by our side we cannot fail! Let us therefore resolve that however fulfilling our first twenty five years have been, in the next twenty five years we will transform the lives of millions more, opening theme door to an India that's the land four dreams.DRP. Preshrinking Chairman,Guajarati-operative Maltreating Federation Across India,overrunning, millions wake up to the taste of Maul, the flagship brand name for a variety adulterously marketed bathe Gujarat Co-operative Maltreating Federation (GAMMA). One could start the daybed boiling (as Is the traditional Indian practice) one of the different varieties of liquid milk supplied In pouches and making one's morning tea resource.If one preferred use creamer, one could reach for the Malay creamer the shelf. For the breakfast, butter the toasts with Maul regular butter or, if you are calorie conscious, with Maul Elite butter. Drink a cup of Maul chocolate milk. Make sandwiches with one of the different varieties of Maul chessman take them the office; add Maul ghee (clarified butter) to one's dishes for lunch; cook your lunch with a currycombing Maul panderer cottage cheese and have a sweet dish made from Maul gulag jamming.If it is a hot day,have an Maul ice cream; and when you return home after the office; relax with tea or coffee, whitened with Malay creamer or Maul milk. If you are a pizza fan, bake a pizza and top it with Maul mozzarella cheese, and functionality for the Dewitt a glass of warm Maul milk. In India, Maul wasn't merely of the most well known brands, headway of Coca Cola or Pepsi, and even ahead of age old brandish as Dale, Lifebuoy and Lug, but a life style range of products, consumed In commemorators by a large number of Indians of different incommoded social strata.GAMM A was the sole marketing agency the products produced bathe different milk cooperative member societies of the State of Gujarat (see Exhibit 1 for a brief note on Gujarat and Exhibits for a map of India congratulates) and for those of other States marketing's products under the Maul brand name. There was no doubt that from the time of its inception in 1973, GAMMA was a great success story, as indeed was the co-operative movement in the milk sector initiated and carried to great heights by the â€Å"milkman of India†, DRP. Verges Current.But as on the year 2000, GAMMA was faced with a question of whether it should stick to Its core businesses dairy products, or diversify Into other products, In particular Into processed foods such as Jams, sauces and fruit Juices. Historical Background of GAMMA In the asses,in the district of Karri in the State figurate, India, a unique experiment hat time, In Proofreader. S. Incriminatory the purpose ofclassroomdiscussion. Copyrighted bathe a uthor. Not be copied roused without authoritarianism's. Not be used outside â€Å"MA. The author wishes outscores his gratitude to DRP.V. Current, Chairman, GAMMA, Mr.. B. M. Was, Managing Director, GAMMA and the other acquisitiveness's for providing access and data needed perpetrate case. The author also wishes thank the Research and Publicationscommittee, â€Å"MA for providing support for heartrendingly version fifths case. Gujarat, milk was procured from farmers by private milk contractors and y a private company, Polygon's Dairy in And, the headquarters of the district. The company had a virtual stranglehold on the farmers, deciding the prices both of the procured as well as the sold milk.Polygon's Dairy chilled the milk and supplied it to the city of Bombay. It also extracted dairy products such as cheese and butter. In 1946, under inspiration from a leading freedom fighter, Mr.. Bilharzias Patella (who belonged to Gujarat and who later became the Home Minister of the Centra l Government), Mr.. Tribunals Patella, a local farmer, freedom fighter and social worker, organized the farmers into co-operatives. These co-operatives would procure milk from the farmers, process the milk and sell it in Gujarat and in Bombay. In 1949, purely by chance, a dairy engineer, named DRP.Verges Current, who had Just completed his studies in dairy engineering in the U. S. A. , came to India and was posted by the Government of India to a Job at the Dairy Research Institute at And. A chance meeting between DRP. Current and Mr.. Tribunals Patella changed DRP. Currents life and the course of Indian's dairy industry. Though the purpose of this meeting was to simply to elicit some technical help from DRP. Current on commissioning some of the equipment Just purchased by his co-operative, especially the chilling and bespattering equipment, the two men instantly struck a rapport.After the commissioning problem was solved, DRP. Currents involvement with the Karri District Co-operativ e Milk Producers' Union Limited (that was the name of the co- operative registered) grew proverbially and it soon extended to the larger sociological issues involved in organizing the farmers into co-operatives and running these cooperatives effectively. He observed the exploitation of farmers by the private milk annotators and Polygon's Dairy and understood how co-operatives could transform the lives of the members.At first, the main activity was collection and processing of the milk brought everyday by the member farmers to the local office of the co- operative. It was soon realized that it was not enough to merely act as the collection and selling agents for the farmers. A variety of support services were required to enable the farmers to continue selling their milk of adequate quality and to avoid disasters such as death of their cattle (for a family owning Just one or two cattle and pending on its milk for their income, death of cattle could indeed be a disaster).The farmers we re progressively given new services such as veterinary care for their cattle, supply of cattle feed of good quality, education on better feeding of cattle and facilities for artificial insemination of their cattle 2 . All these were strictly on payment basis: none of the services were free. This experiment of organizing farmers into co-operatives was one of the most successful experienced prosperity on a scale they could not have dreamt often years earlier, since with good prices paid for their milk, raising mulch cattle could becomes good planetary source of revenue to many households.The co-operatives were expanded to cover more and more areas of Gujarat and in each area, a network of local village level co-operatives and district level co-operatives were formed on a pattern similar to that at And (the so called And pattern). Karri District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union became better known by the brand name of the products marketed by it (Maul) than by the name of the co-opera tive itself. Maul meant priceless in Sanskrit. It was also a word that was easy to pronounce, easy to remember and that carried a wholly positive connotation. This became the flagship brand for all the dairy products made by this Union.In 1954, Karri District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union built a plant to convert surplus milk produced in the cold seasons into milk powder and butter 3 . In 1958, a plant to manufacture cheese and one to produce baby food were added. Subsequent years saw the addition of more plants to produce different products. In 1973, the milk societies/district level unions decided to set up a marketing agency to market their products. This agency was the GAMMA. It was registered as a co-operative society on 9 July 1973 4 It had, as its members (ordinary share holders), the district level milk unions.No individual could become a shareholder in GAMMA. Starting from a daily procurement of 250 liters per day in 1946, GAMMA had become a milk giant with the milk pr ocurement at about 4 million liters per day by 1999 with 12 dairy plants all over the State of Gujarat. The Structure of the And Pattern The most important feature of the milk co-operative system of Gujarat that evolved was that they were run not by a separate bureaucracy with its own vested interests, but by the member-farmers themselves, with all the major decisions being taken by he latter alone.Any farmer could become a member by committing to supply a certain quantity of milk for a certain number of days in a year and would continue to be a member only if he kept up this commitment. Each day, the farmers (or, actually, in most cases, their wives and daughters) would bring their milk to the village collection centers where the milk would be checked for the quantity in full view of all, and the quality (the fat content) would be checked through a simple hydrometer, again in full view of all. The farmers would be paid in the evening for the milk applied by them in the morning, and in the morning for the evening milk.This presentiments in cash was a great attraction to the farmers who were usually cash starved. Thanks to the above mechanism, there were no disputes regarding quantity or quality of the milk supplied by each farmer. The co-operative system formed under the so-called And pattern had a three-tiered structure (Exhibit 3). At the base was the village level dairy co-operative society. This was composed of the milk producers, mostly residents of the same area, who had Joined the co-operative society. A typical membership figure would be about 200. A managing committee, of Chairperson.Care was taken to ensure that these meetings were held, and seen to be held, in an open and transparent manner. The next level was at the district, and this co-operative (called unions) had, as its members, the village dairy co-operative societies within the district, represented by the Chairpersons of the village level societies. For this co-operative, a Board footrests, consisting of 12 persons, was elected from among the members (I. E. , the Chairpersons of the village level co- operatives), with its own Chief Executive, called the Managing Director.The third bevel was at the State, where the cooperative (GAMMA in Gujarat) was formed with district level milk unions (and certain other milk unions from other states) as members. The State level organization was called the Federation. The Board of Directors of the Federation consisted of the Chairpersons of the district level cooperatives as the members, and in addition, the following ex officiousness: 1 . The Registrar of Co-operatives of the State concerned. 2. A representative from the National Dairy Development Board (ENDS), which was a body created by the Government of India to replicate the And pattern in the otherStates of India. 3. One nominated technical expert. 4. The Managing Director (CEO) of the State level federation. GAMMA was the State level federation for Gujarat. Broadly, the villag e level co-operatives did the procurement; the district level did the transportation and processing; and the Federation marketed the product. The Federation also handled strategic planning and investment. Each of the levels had a substantial amount of autonomy. For example, the village level societies decided entirely on their own, as to who should be admitted as a member, and what price the farmers should be paid for their milk.Thus the prices aid to farmers by different village societies in the State could be, and in fact were different. The district level unions purchased milk from the village level societies and decided what price tollhouse pay for the milk supplied by the village level societies. They, in turn, supplied milk to the State level Union, which decided what price it would pay the district unions. The price paid to all the district unions was the same. In this system, GAMMA planned what products it would sell and arrange to manufacture for each year and how much.Milk products were produced at different factories all over the State. These were owned by the district unions. There were, for example, six butter factories and seven milk powder factories in Gujarat. GAMMA did not heaviest own factories as such until recently, when it had set up a dairy at Changing near Mohammedan, the capital of Gujarat State. There was a committee, called the Programming Committee, which consisted of (I) Managing Director of GAMMA (it) Managing Directors of the Distinctions (iii) Their Head, Quality Control, GAMMA and (iv) Head, Finance, GAMMA.Discomfited finally decided the product mix for the coming year, based on the plans made by GAMMA, and translated the Lana into monthly allocations for each union for the milk to be supplied. As on April 2000, there were 10,800 village level co-operatives in Gujarat under the GAMMA umbrella with 2. 1 million milk producers. Out of districts in Gujarat, there were district level unions in 12 districts 5 A pattern similar to the And pattern had been built in other States in India also. This was done under a programmer launched by the Government offload, under the title â€Å"Operation Flood†.The operation was co-ordinate by National Dairy Development Board (ENDS), a body formed by the Government of India with this objective. DRP. Current was the Chairperson of the ENDS and the main moving force behind this programmer. As on April 2000, there were 22 State federations in India, with 170 district level unions, 72,774 village level societies and 9. 31 million milk producer members in the different States. Each of the State level federations marketed their own brands. Maul was the brand marketed by GAMMA. Vagina was the brand name marketed bathe federation in the State of Andorra Pradesh.Interestingly, the State level federations could market their own products under their own brands anywhere in India, thus competing against heir sister federations. Thus GAMMA could market its Maul brand butter in Andor ra Pradesh competing with Vagina butter. It was believed by the officials of the National Dairy Development Board that such competition was healthy and would curb monopolistic tendencies. Objectives and Business Philosophy of GAMMA The main stakeholder of GAMMA was the farmer member for whose welfare, the GAMMA executives felt, it existed.Thus in an interesting reply, the Managing director of GAMMA, Mr.. B. M. Vass, told the case writer: Unlike other organizations, our objective is not maximize our profit. After all, the rammers themselves are the owners of the Federation. We are restricted, by our bye- laws, to giving a maximum of 12 percent on the peptidase capital as the dividend. So we are more interested in giving the best price for the farmers for their milk than in making a large profit. Thus we look at the price given to our suppliers as not a cost but as an objective.GAMMA had, as its main objective, â€Å"carrying out activities for the economic development of agriculturi sts by efficiently organizing marketing of milk and dairy produce, veterinary medicines, vaccines and other animal health products, agricultural produce in raw and/or processed form and other allied produce† 6 . This was to be done through: ; Common branding ; Centralized marketing ; Centralized quality control ; Centralized purchases and ; Pooling of milk efficiently.GAMMA had declared, as its business philosophy, the following 7 ; To serve the interests of milk producers ; To provide quality products that offer the best value to consumers for money spent. The biggest strength of GAMMA was the trust it had created in the minds of its consumers regarding the quality of its products. GAMMA, and its brand Maul, explained Mr.. Vass, stood for guaranteed purity of whatever products it had such trust was hardtop come by, this could provide a central anchor for Gammas future business plans, said Mr.. Was.Organization Structure of GAMMA (See Exhibit 4) GAMMA was a lean organization, which their executives believed led to a cost advantage. At its headquarters in the town of And, three General Managers and two assistant General Managers assisted the Managing Director (or the Chief Executive). The three General Managers looked after the functions of Marketing, Human Resource Development (HARD) and Quality Assurance. The General Manager (Marketing) was in charge of the whole marketing operation of the dairy products, liquid milk and ice cream.This General Manager was assisted by one Assistant General Manager (Marketing, Dairy Products) 8 and Managers (Commercial), (Exports) and (Liquid Milk). The General Manager (HARD) also looked after edible oils, administration, legal matters and new opportunities. The whole country was divided into five zones, each headed by a Zonal Manager responsible for the sales of all the products under his zone. They reported to the Chief Executive (Managing Director), but functionally each ported also to the various Assistant General Man agers/General Managers at the headquarters. Ender the zonal managers were the branch managers. Generally there were three product managers in each branch reporting to the branch manger: one each for the edible oil, dairy products and ice cream. They were assisted by sales officers and field salesperson. There were 48 sales offices spread over the country (of which only two were in Gujarat). The entire country had been represented in this structure. GAMMA had one overseas office, at Dublin. GAMMA had links with the Institute of Rural Management, And (IRMA), a premier management institute set up to produce Mambas who would work in rural areas.GAMMA attracted a number of its managers from the IRMA graduates, as well as from other business schools in India, although not from its premier management schools. The salaries offered by GAMMA were decent, but nowhere near those offered bathe private sector, especially multi-national corporations. The gap between the salaries that could be offe red by organizations such as GAMMA and the salaries expected by graduates from business schools was increasing in recent years. GAMMA executives, in interviews with the case writer, did not see this as a major robber.They stated that GAMMA in any case had never relied on talent from top business schools, since the graduated form these schools would not fit with the culture and value systems in the company. The Managing Director, Mr.. B. M. Vass was of the view that GAMMA offered excellent prospects for growth and Job satisfaction, and it would not find it difficult to attract suitable talent 9 GAMMA had an extensive sales and distribution system and a cold chain network starting from the milk producer and ending at the eventual consumer. It had a dealer network of 3600 dealers and 400,000 retailers, one of the largest such outworks in India.A cold chain had been established that linked all these dealers could ensure chilling of milk; ; Quick transportation to the district Union faci lities where the milk could be further chilled and dispatched to the consumers or to the processing units for conversion into milk products; ; Chilled trucks which could transport the milk products such as butter and cheese in refrigerated condition from the factories; ; Local chilling of milk to ensure its quick distribution to the customers through a network of trucks in many cities so that most consumers could have their milk cachets by 6 A. M. F not earlier; ; Deep freezers and refrigeration equipment in the dealers' premises to keep the products cold and prevent their deterioration; and ; Facilities in super markets and even larger retail stores to keep the products fresh. GAMMA had excellent relationships with what could be called super markets in India (actually these were Just large departmental stores) which stocked their products, especially cheese, butter, milk powder, sweets and, in some cases, milk. Diversification Moves by GAMMA Even at the time of its formation, GAMMA had three major products in its portfolio: quid milk, butter and milk powder.Gradually, many new products were added to its range, largely milk derivatives. In milk alone, it sold full cream milk, semi toned milk, and fully toned milk, all with different names and in readily identifiable pouches. By reducing the fat, it could not only sell separately fat derivatives such as cream and butter (which were also products that yielded a higher margin), but also make the resultant milk available at cheaper prices, so that poorer people also could consume milk.It had undertaken a unique experiment in the asses to supply milk to places as ar away as Delhi and Calcutta through insulated rail tankers, and this was so successful that it had continued since then. In the asses, GAMMA introduced its cheddar cheese and in 1983, a cheese spread. In the same year, it entered also the sweet market (milk based) through the introduction of Maul Shrinking, a sweetish sour item produced by milk and curd (a form of yogurt). Malay, a dairy whitener was introduced and was priced below the prevailing brands and soon became the market leader.In asses, GAMMA introduced a whole lot of new products: a condensed milk called Maul Imitate; Maul Elite, a low fat, low cholesterol spread utter, and Maul ice cream. After 1996, it went on to introduce a still greater variety of products: pizza (mozzarella) cheese, cheese slice, cheese powder, Mali pander(a form of cottage cheese), gulag Cajun(a sweet primer to be processed by deep frying to make a sweet called gulag Cajun), buttermilk, a chocolate based broadleaved Intramural and chocolates. In 1996, GAMMA launched its Maul brand ice cream. Naiad's ice cream market was estimated to be around RSI. 8 billion in the year 2000. GAMMA launched its ice creams in fourteen flavors in the city of Iambi and the State of Gujarat. It was priced at about 30 percent less than the prevailing prices, and it also emphasized that it was fully vegetarian, I. E. , it did not contain any gelatin. This was an important attribute tomato consumers in Gujarat, which was a predominantly vegetarian state. In less than a year, Maul ice cream commanded a share of about 55 percent in Gujarat and 30 percent in Iambi 10 had reached 30 percent.In 1997, GAMMA also scored a major achievement when it managed to get some of the co-operatives in the other States of the country, trying to launch their own ice cream brands, to sell all their ice creams under the Maul brand name. This enabled Comfit leverage the capacity of more than 180 co-operatives in the country, with a milk procurement of more than 11 million liters per day, and located close to the markets 1 1 In addition, it also diversified into non-milk products. The most important of this diversification was into edible oils in 1988.At that time, the prices of edible oils were being manipulated by oil traders with the result that the prices were shooting up to unacceptable levels. Even though oil seed gro wers' co-operatives existed, most of them were run badly and losing money. Edible oils have always been a very sensitive abject in India,leading to even fall of governments. Hence the government persuaded ENDS to arrange for procurement of clean, unadulterated groundnut oil and sell it through its own outlets. Thus it was essentially a market intervention operation.Besides, this provided ENDS to reorganize the groundnut farmers' co- operatives as it had done with milk producing farmers four decades earlier. Gujarat was the right State for this experiment, since more than 60 percent of the country groundnut oil production was accounted for by Gujarat. GAMMA marketed this oil on behalf ENDS. GAMMA launched a new brand, named Dharma (literally meaning low), not wanting to carry over the Maul brand name which was deeply associated in the public mind with milk derivatives. Outsold its oil on a platform of absolute purity, a claim it could Justifiably make.Since much of the edible oil in India was (and continues to be) adulterated, purity could be a differentiating factor. It also coined a slogan, Dharma, Shut Dharma, meaning, literally, flow, pure flow. The launch was also supported by an advertising campaign with a catchy Jingle. Later, mustard and certain other oils were also marketed under the Dharma brand name. Even though the IL traders fought backbiter and often violently, and used their political connections to the full, Dharma was able toehold its own and became the leading brand of packaged edible oils.However, it must be said datelining in edible oils was found to be a far more difficult task as compared to dealing in milk, and the success achieved in organizing groundnut farmers into co-operatives was limited. In the late asses, GAMMA undertook distribution of fruit based products on behalf of ENDS. This was done under yet another brand name introduced by GAMMA: Sofas (literally meaning fruitful, having achieved). Under this name hereunder a mango rink s old under attracted (also in small mall. Sizes to be served in aircraft), tomato ketchup, and a mixed fruit Jam.In fact, the launches of all these products were completed during a single year, 1998-99. The success of these products was very limited as on the year 2000. By the year 2000, the range of products marketed GAMMA was truly wide: three varieties of milk, flavored milk, buttermilk, four varieties family powder, two varieties of butter, five varieties of cheese, two varieties of ghee clarified butter), chocolates, chocolate drink, sweets, ice cream, edible oils and fruit and vegetable based rodents. Exhibit 5 gives the product portfolio of GAMMA as on the year 2000. At the Iambi.Except in ice creams, chocolate and chocolate-based beverages, Maul brand was the market leader in each and every one of its products. Exhibit 5 also shows the market shares of the various products of GAMMA. Its main sources of competitive advantage were seen its executives as: (I) low costs due to th e elimination of middle men, a lean organization and relatively lower pay scales as compared to Macs (it) its scale and scope of operations and (iii)its strong brand name which stood for purity and laity. Out of the total procurement of 4. 6 million liters of milk per day by GAMMA, about 2. Million liters were sold as liquid milk and the rest as milk products. The milk consumption in India in 1999 at about 225 grams per day was still way below that in developed countries, and even less than in many developing countries. The variation in availability between rural and urban areas was strikingly high: 121 grams vs.. 400 grams per day. Thus there was a need and scope for increasing the consumption of milk in its liquid form, especially in rural areas, although for every rupee spent, the attrition value of milk was way below other high protein and fat items, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.It was expected that by the year 2011-12, the milk production in India would reach 180. 76 mill ion tons, and the per capita consumption would be about 547 grams 12 . Exports were negligible: about RSI. 271 million in 1999-2000 13 Out of Gammas total income of RSI. 18 billion, approximately RSI. 2. 75 billion was accounted for by sale of liquid milk; about RSI. 3 billion by the sale of edible oils; RSI. 4 billion by butter; about RSI. 2. 4 billion by ice creams; and the rest by the other products. The exact breakup of these products was not available.The share of processed fruits and vegetable items was still quite small. The growth rates of Gammas sales in differentiates were quite different. The following table gives the approximate growth rates in these segments: Table 1 Growth rates in Gamma's Businesses (Percent) 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 Liquid milk procurement 24. 6 3. 8 3. 6 Liquid milk N. A. 14 10 Butter 27 8 13 Cheese N. A. 37 39 Ghee 41 31 N. A. Milk powder 0 0 18 Ice cream N. A. 100 100 Edible oils 13 20 18 (N. A. Stands for â€Å"not applicable†). Source: GAM MA Annual reports.The profit margin in milk was generally low, due to the need to keep down the price of this essential commodity, which was also consumed by the poor and the lower of milk consumption, especially by the poorer people, and hence to achieve its objective, GAMMA endeavored to keep the price of liquid milk as low as it could. Edibles were also low margin items, their sales prices being controlled rigidly by the government and input prices being essentially set by the oil traders. In the words of Mr.. Current, they were in this business due to larger societal considerations than for the sake of profits.Competition in Different Products The nature of competition varied among the different products. In the case of liquid milk, competition was from private dairies and contractors. There was also competition from newly emerging private dairies that had started supplying milk to the consumers as well as sweet makers. There was intense competition for the supply of milk, which was sought after, especially in the festival seasons, by the sweet makers who derived large profits from the sale of their sweets. Consumers were generally not very particular about the brand of liquid milk, so that the sales pended to a large extent on dealer push.However, there was scope to establish differentiation through appraising the customers of the quality not only of the initial milk itself, but also the quality of the supply chain, which ensured the stability of milk. For butter and cheese, new entrants were making their mark. Britannic, a firm engaged in manufacture and sale of biscuits, had entered into foods business, and more particularly in milk and milk related products such as butter. Britannic had introduced new forms of cheese such as cheddar cheese slices, and supported its rodents with extensive advertising campaigns.It was believed that advertisements played a powerful roller the demand for particular brands of butter and cheese. The sweet market was highly f ragmented, heterogeneous small time local operators producing their own brands and unbranded forms of sweets. The sales of sweets soared in the festival seasons, drawing milk supply by offering higher prices. Other food companies such as Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HALL), a subsidiary of Milliners, and Nestle had also entered into the business of ready made or near ready sweets (such s gulag Cajun, which Just needed tube deep fried to get it ready).Branded ready or near ready sweets were advertised and heavily promoted through campaigns such as through mail orders to housewives. The ice creams market was an emerging marketing India, witnessing the entry of numerous players. The national scene was dominated bandstand Lever with its Quality and Walls brands, accounting for about 45 percent of the market. GAMMA was the other national player, with about 30 percent of the market. There were, in addition, very powerful regional players such as Vidalia Ice Creams in the WesternIndia who commande d substantial (in excess of 30 percent) of the regional market shares. Ice creams were largely promoted through local promotions, hoardings (billboards) and advertisements. About ice creams, Mr.. Vass said in an interview with the case writer: In ice creams, positioning and promotions are not the only things. Indian ice cream market is likely to expand very rapidly. The Indian consumerism changing. They will not Just stick to milk. Ice creams will no longer be made at home. A large number of consumers with disposable incomes will seek value added products, including ice

Occupational Therapy

Early June 2011 my grandfather suffered a minor stroke at the age of 76. He was quickly admitted to John Muir in Walnut Creek, a few days went by and he only seemed to be getting worse; when unfortunately my family’s worst nightmare became a reality. My grandfather endured another stroke, but this time it was much more serious. This put my family in an enormous amount of emotional distress, everyone was terrified and we had no idea what was going to happen to my grandfather. It happened so fast, all we wanted were answers.But, when we got answers, they were far from what we wanted to hear. A few days after my grandfather’s second stroke my family met with his doctors who showed little hope or optimism. They told us we were lucky he was still alive, but with the condition he was in now we were never going to see him walk again, he would probably never talk again, and he was definitely never going to be able to live independently ever again. As he kept explaining to us wh at was going to happen to my grandfather’s life, the words cut like daggers.My cousins and I watched our parents bewail with sorrow as we just sat aside our grandfather’s hospital bed feeling helpless and confused. About a month went by while my grandfather was still in John Muir, and his progress was nothing to rave about. We would visit him daily, but he never seemed to be getting much better. He couldn’t eat, talk, or move, but we just reminded him to keep fighting and we knew, with hope, he would be able to make a substantial recovery. When my grandfather was dismissed from the John Muir hospital in Walnut Creek, he moved into the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Leandro.While in San Leandro, he started to receive more intense therapy, his recovery was slow but we started seeing improvements; he was able to eat solid food, without a pump, began to talk again. While visiting my grandfather in San Leandro I was introduced to occupational therapy for the first time. I had no idea what occupational therapists did or even what occupational therapy was, but as I sat in on a few of my grandfather’s sessions I became very interested. According to the World Federation of Occupational Therapy, â€Å"occupational therapy is a profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through engagement in occupation. But, when I sat down and talked with Julie Roberts, an in-home occupational therapist, she sighed, â€Å"[describing what OTs do is] really the hardest part of the job; there are so many different things we do and everyone has their own individual qualifications. † When Julie goes into a home to meet with her clients for the first time, she greets them with a smile and tells them she’s there to â€Å"help them with their job of living. † Occupational therapy is an integral part of the therapeutic aspects of a person’s recovery.Although many people may see OTs for physical disabilities, itâ₠¬â„¢s also very common for someone to go to an OT for help with their mental or emotional state. Since everyone suffers uniquely from their various disabilities, typically the therapeutic process begins with an â€Å"individualized evaluation during which the client, their family and their occupational therapist determine the individual’s goals† leading to â€Å"a customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach his/her goals† and once their therapy is over an â€Å"evaluation to monitor progression towards meeting the client’s goals† is conducted.Occupational therapists focus on â€Å"adapting the environment, modifying the task, teaching the skill, and educating the client/family in order to increase participation in and performance of daily activities. † â€Å"For instance, teaching an elderly woman with a hip replacement how to get in and out of the bath tub while minimizing her fall r isk, or helping a man recovering from a car accident use grabbers to reach things to keep his back safe. † According to Roberts the most important part of her job is helping people â€Å"adapt to living with their disability as efficiently as possible. During my visitation I went to an assisted living home in Antioch with my mentor, OT Stephanie Morano, I was able to sit in on a therapy session for a 92-year-old woman named Fern. Fern suffered from a GI bleed and although she was living somewhat independently, she had trouble moving and limited mobility. During the session I sat in on Stephanie used a balloon to help Fern feel comfortable standing and regain her balance, while strengthening her core just by making Fern stand in front of her couch while they batted the balloon back and forth.Morano is also an in-home OT, meaning her main focus is to â€Å"evaluate their [patients] level of independence, cognition, and safety. † Moreover, â€Å"occupational therapists p rovide intervention to maximize independence and function through remedial and compensatory strategies, with the ultimate goal of the client’s regaining the ability to live independently at home. † Typically in-home OTs work with the geriatric community and spend most of their days in assisted living facilities or in homes with elderly people. According to Roberts most of her elderly patients suffering from various disabilities, are retired and don’t understand why she’s there; they don’t think they need her help, until she starts showing them what she does. † Outside of home health there are a plethora of different areas to specialize in occupational therapy, a wonderful thing about this career is the ability to change your area of expertise.Roberts and Boray both adamantly told me that home health is not for beginning OTs, when doing home health you are completely isolated from any other OTs, whereas in other areas you are surrounded by othe r OTs with other specific areas of knowledge that you can ask for advice. A few of the most popular areas of specialization include pediatrics, which is working with small children in â€Å"schools, community, and child based inpatient hospitals. † Although many times children need the same type of care as adults, the specialization comes in the way that the OTs address the needs in a way to specifically benefit a child.Jennifer Boray, an OT that has worked in many areas, including pediatrics through the Mount Diablo Unified school district expressed to me that working with children is a wonderful experience to begin being an OT with because their willingness to learn and their want to succeed is fresh and enlightening. Many OTs also work in acute care hospitals, helping people stabilize their medical after a traumatic event, such as a stroke, spinal cord injury, or brain injury.Occupational therapy plays an important role in facilitating early mobilization, restoring functio n, preventing further decline, as well as coordinating the patient’s transition and discharge planning. Skilled nursing facilities also employ many OTs, in skilled nursing facilities the OTs focus on each individual’s needs and typically help with activities of daily living and self-reliance, such as dressing and eating. There are also many outpatient clinics in hospitals for patients that are in need of individual treatment, but are still able to function on their own.The many faces of occupational therapy allow Boray to â€Å"easily move through this career and learn new things every day,† she loves that if she ever â€Å"gets tired of home health care it will always be an option to find something new in this industry† but she plans on being in home health care for the rest of her life. Although occupational therapy is crucial to a person’s recovery, it is still an overlooked career in many ways. Even the OTs that I’ve talked to told me th at going into college they had no idea what occupational therapy was.Many students begin school wanting to pursue a career in physical therapy or rehabilitation when they are approached by a teacher or counselor with information about occupational therapy. Roberts explained when she went to college her career counselor suggested Julie look into occupational therapy, but she â€Å"had no idea what it was. † Like most people, she was initially confused, â€Å"so they just reteach people how to live? † But, as she investigated the career, she realized it was exactly what she was looking for.Being an OT is an extremely rewarding career, not only for the therapist, but also the patient. While my grandfather was in the hospital he began to get hopeless, he knew that he wasn’t making much of a recovery and it was hard for him to find the want to keep fighting, until he began his occupational therapy. It may not seem like a big deal, but when he isn’t able to hol d a fork or stabilize his hand to raise it to his mouth, it frustrated him, but after trying and trying with his OT he was finally able to feed himself.When he took his first bite of food by himself after his stroke, his eyes lit up and it was obvious that he was beginning to believe in himself again. As time went on, the tasks he began to strive to achieve got bigger; eventually dressing himself, showering by himself, and contrary to the doctor’s belief, walking by himself, were all things my grandfather wouldn’t have been able to do if it wasn’t for occupational therapy. Roberts professed to me her passion for helping people is what â€Å"drew [her] into occupational therapy and kept [her] there. â€Å"Seeing the joy on a sixteen year old girls face when she finally puts her hair in a ponytail for the first time is an indescribable feeling,† Julie told me, glowing, â€Å"but the thanks that comes after, the true gratitude she feels, that’s what I love. † When Boray asked me why I was interested in occupational therapy, I told her about my grandfather, and how beneficial occupational therapy was for him. After I was finished telling her about my situation she started glowing, and replied â€Å"that’s what makes it all worth it, seeing a young girl inspired by n OT makes me know that we’re doing something right. † In doing this project and researching occupational therapy, I’ve learned a lot about the career and it’s definitely something that I’m interested in pursuing in college. Since very few people are aware of what occupational therapy really is, there is a huge demand for OTs throughout the nation, and world. According to the Medical University of South Carolina, occupational therapy’s projected growth rate is over 23% from 2006 to 2016. Roberts declared that becoming an OT was â€Å"the smartest thing† she has ever done.She is a divorced single mother of t wo, who makes â€Å"more than enough† to support herself. She’s â€Å"never been out of a job† and she was easily able to take breaks for periods of time while she was having kids and traveling. Roberts affirmed that she’s never â€Å"had to fish for a job;† and in this economy, that’s impressive. I found Boray’s ability to meet with me in the early afternoon very interesting, most people working full time jobs are locked into specific hours but when I walked into her home and saw her son playing with Legos on the floor I realized how much flexibility she really had.When asking Boray how she manages working full time and having a family, she explained â€Å"that’s one of the most wonderful things about working as an OT in home health; you really create your own schedule. † Jennifer is electronically contacted by her company on a weekly basis with a list of clients for the week; she then calls all of her clients individua lly and sets up times to meet with them that work well for her.Jennifer typically meets with 5 or 6 clients a day for about 45 minutes. Boray uses many â€Å"aspects of education† in her career every day, although the majority of her classes in school focused on muscle movement, she also uses lot of her psychology classes when dealing with patients, she evaluates a person mental state and sends it back into the doctor with her evaluations of their physical progress, â€Å"it’s a really interesting part of the job, but it can get tough. She also has to use her medical knowledge to deem what is appropriate for every client, for instance â€Å"if someone’s range of motion is limited because of a car accident but [she] notices they show signs of also possibly having a blood clot† she reports that to the doctor as well. Roberts agreed that the most important personality trait to have as an OT is â€Å"without a doubt, being a problem solver. † After wi tnessing the positive effects of occupational therapy, I’ve become very passionate about the career and spreading awareness about the benefits of this specific kind of therapy.I hope that with my video I will be able to show the class, exactly what occupational therapy is and how it positively affects the people who endure it. I would love for everyone to develop the same appreciation for occupational therapy as I have and really see the benefits of them. The flexibility in this career, along with the rewarding aspects have made it something I am greatly considering to pursue. Seeing my grandfather, along with Fern, and the women that I interviewed gave me an insight to this career that wouldn’t have been possible without my extensive research and strive to learn more.I’m immensely glad that I chose this topic to pursue and I think it will have a direct impact on my life, my mentor was wonderful and helped my very much through this entire process. I was inspired to join the American Occupational Therapy Association and am now periodically given information about breaking innovations in occupational therapy, as well as connecting with OTs in our area and starting to get my name out there, hopefully leading to helpful opportunities in pursuing this career in the near future.I’ve enjoyed expanding my knowledge about occupational therapy in general, and I found it very comforting that everyone I’ve been around in this career was so kind and willing to help; last summer before I ever even though about doing this for my project I was interested in learning more about being an OT and I’m glad I was motivated to do so because this was a life-changing experience.

3 CHoices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

3 CHoices - Essay Example Sound effects are a deciding factor in determining the audience response and viewership especially when it comes to horror, action and futuristic movies. Sound effects can be further categorised as: dubbing, special effects, background scores, playback, music track etc. Each category is applied in present day films and consequentially sound effect has tremendous significance in the success of a movie. The absence of sound in the 1927 film The General, a classic of the silent era, makes much room for convincing acting and gesticulation to make situations, conversations and the overall plot clear. Screenplay gets more space and opportunity to experiment and compensate for the lack of a sound track. The presence of a slow and detailed video shoot frame-by-frame can be seen in the film ‘The General’, deliberately reeled in a slow pace for the audience to understand the incidents in the movie and follow the overall plot. Closer shots are taken in order to lip read the dialogue. After watching silent movies and especially the movie that we’ve chosen to analyse and discuss: ‘The General’ we can say that a lot is left to the audience’s anticipation. The reactions of various characters in the movie can have multiple verbal interpretations or dialogue association where the visuals of lip movement or even the gesticulation is obscure. It is similar to reading a book where greater attention is required due to the complete absence of one sensation: that of sound. A movie is all about entertainment. If we consider the silent era series: Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy we can easily connect to the obvious fact that silent movies necessitate heightened visual drama, distinct actions and riveting visual effects to keep the audience invested in watching the movie till the end. All these movies and TV series have one thing in common: a convincing visual appeal. In the movie, ‘The General’, Buster Keaton performed several daring stunts

Children Whose Parents are Suffering from AIDS Essay

Children Whose Parents are Suffering from AIDS - Essay Example [International AIDS Society Communications Department (n.d)] AIDS is caused by a virus known as HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus. When a human body is infected by HIV, it attacks upon the healthy cells of the body such as the white blood cells that function to keep us safe from different diseases. It thrives and multiplies in those cells weakening and damaging the white blood cells and ultimately, the human body as it loses its protection shield. [American Psychiatric Association (n.d)] The HIV virus can be transmitted when the HIV containing fluids of one person transfer to another person. Thus, HIV can be transferred through sex, by sharing needles, syringes (especially, while drug abuse as it is done with precaution) etc, and new born babies with infected mother can also get the virus. HIV virus, however, doesn't thrive in a medium outside of a human body so according to known researches, it is not possible to get infected through external mediums, such as air and water. It is also known that insects do not carry the virus. [American Psychiatric Association (n.d)] In our fast-paced world where cut-throat competition prevails, people... [American Psychiatric Association (n.d)] [International AIDS Society Communications Department (n.d)] MENTAL DISORDERS AND ITS EFFECT ON CHILDREN In our fast-paced world where cut-throat competition prevails, people have seen a rise in the occurrence of emotional stress, distress and depression. However, people inflicted with a deadly disease such as AIDS are more prone to suffer from such mental disorders. The feeling of helplessness and depression is also because of the fact that most of the societies in our world have not learnt to accept people with AIDS. Certainly, it is not easy for them. This has, anyhow, proved to be more negative for patients with AIDS as they are not only going to be fight with a fatal disease for the rest of their lives but are also being treated as outcasts and aliens by their fellowmen. Even more worse is the fact that sometimes the virus itself make attack the brain cells which may result in a loss of memory among other things. [American Psychiatric Association (n.d)] "Every day, about 14000 new HIV infections occur everyday" [International AIDS Society Communications Department (n.d)] Looking at the vast and dismal number of people that are likely to get diagnosed with AIDS is not comforting. As AIDS have been publicized as an incurable disease, it doesn't come as a shock to know that most of the patients start suffering from depression. Depression, in its own right is a very harmful mental disorder. Its symptoms include loss of interest in daily activities, loss of sleep, appetite and weight. Considering that HIV weakens the immune system, if a patient also suffers from depression, it is unlikely that he is going to get any better as lack of sleep, appetite and diversions are going to adversely affect the immune system

Group conformity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Group conformity - Essay Example It is important to note that some may obey and adhere to the requirements of the groups where they belong while others may oppose them. Whether they oppose or conform to the standards of their groups; one thing is sure - groups affect them either socially, psychologically or even physically. This paper will explore group conformity; its meaning, types, causes and effects, experiments on the same and recommendations. At the onset of this paper, it is expedient to be well acquainted with group conformity. According to the TheFreeDictionary, conformity is defined as, â€Å"action or behavior in correspondence with socially accepted standards, convections or rules.† Group conformity can also be defined as, â€Å"yielding to group pressures† and can also be called â€Å"majority influence or group pressure† (McLeod). For people to be accepted in the various groups, they must adhere to the norms and rules and regulations of such groups, and must behave in a manner acce pted by the group members. They have to alter their behaviors in a way that is acceptable to the written and unwritten codes of association of their groups. There are consequences associated with non-compliance and rewards for compliance with group norms. The consequences may include: rejection, seclusion and stigmatization. Since the consequences are unpleasant, people are forced to toe the line and follow the dictates of the group. Further, group pressure is reinforced by rewards like a psychological feeling of belonging, material benefits and acceptance. Group conformity is a great influence that alters the behaviors of people to be in line with what is expected by a group. At times people may be forced to suspend reasoning for compliance and for the survival of a group. Group conformity is a subject that has elicited a lot of debate in social sciences like psychology and it has been subdivided into various types. According to McLeod, â€Å"Man (1969) identified three types of c onformity; normative, informational and ingratiational.† In normative conformity, members of the group bow to the pressures of the group to allow them to fit in pursuit of the rewards. The driving force for compliance is the fear of the consequences that can be faced in the event of disobedience. McLeod observes that in normative conformity individuals bow to the majority pressure in the public arena but internally reject them. Let’s give an illustration: in political spheres, individuals often find themselves conforming to the notion of democracy but in the real sense the minority are always dissatisfied but they just move on with the group since they lack options. It is a fact that that learning is a life-long process and an individual who lacks knowledge may choose to change behaviors to fit in a group with the aim of acquiring the same; in essence that is informational conformity (McLeod). Knowledge is a very precious commodity in life and people often endeavor to o btain it since it is associated with power. This can be practical in a learning environment where one copes with the norms and the rules of a learning institution in order to acquire knowledge. Finally, ingratiational conformity is founded on people’s strong desire to benefit from the warmth of acceptance within the group and the kindness that they can derive from group membership. McLeod notes that this conformity is similar to normative conform

Government Regulation of Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Government Regulation of Climate Change - Essay Example n the atmosphere is believed to cause extreme climatic conditions such as droughts, torrential rains, floods and heat waves and these have catastrophic effects on human beings and animals. However, of growing concern is the fact that human activities as a result of industrialization are responsible for causing global warming which is a main contributor to climate change. As such, government regulation of climate change is imperative in order to address this dire situation which is a major threat to people’s lives in the near long run if left unabated. Gore (2006, p. 5) says: â€Å"In every corner of the globe- on land and in water, in melting ice and in disappearing snow, during heat waves and droughts, in eyes of hurricanes and in tears of refugees- the world is witnessing mounting and undeniable evidence that nature’s cycles are profoundly changing.† These extreme changes in climate are making some parts of the globe uninhabitable. Thus, a holistic approach should be taken in order to combat this threat to the climate. Whilst industrial development is necessary to our lives, it must be noted that environmental concerns should also be given priority since they can lead to catastrophic climate changes discussed above. Therefore, government regulation on climate change is imperative. This can significantly help in addressing some of the problems that are caused by human activities with regards to the impacts of global warming. The government being the overall authority in the country, it has the power effect measures that are designed to address the issue of climate change. The government can use command and control regulations where it promulgates policies that are meant to ensure that certain actions are prohibited. For instance, the government can put measures that are meant to minimise the use of substances that are responsible for emitting excessive quantities of greenhouse gas emissions such as coal. The government can also put stringent measures that

Reconstructing gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reconstructing gender - Essay Example Although chromosomes do play a certain role in gender development, it is definitely not the only determinant (Gibson, 2014). Social interactions and especially socialization of gender roles also play a part. The other important issue that is discussed here is the fact that gender is not a choice between two gender types, but it is a spectrum whose range cannot be defined definitively. Michael Messner also agrees with Lorber. In his article which looks at organized sports and its use on the gendering process, he argues that gender is not something that people have, but is a process, which he calls gendering process. Michael Messner goes to the point of arguing that the development of organized sports in the 20th century was a gendering process and a response to the rising economic feminist movement. He argues that organized sports were deliberately made over competitive and physically demanding in an attempt to make the male gender look more powerful and to give it hegemony. Michael Kimmel also agrees with this view. He argues that he father is the first person who evaluates the masculinity of the person and that this then affects a man for the rest of his life. Additionally, it is evident that gender is a scan process rather than a genetic one. Jill Nelson talks about gender, especially femininity and the way it relates to race. She argues about how three features have always defined what a beautiful woman is; hair, skin complexion and body shape. And because all the three factors with regard to how a woman is regarded as beautiful or not seen to favor Caucasian race as opposed to the Negro race. The black woman has always not received the appreciation she deserves as a woman. Although Jill Nelson’s essay seems to border more on the issue of race and not gender, she does forward a string point of how social processes define gender. According to what she talks about, not only is gender conceived

Drug Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Drug Education - Essay Example Thos who had not used an illegal drug were only 15%. Effective and efficient drug education is essential because young individuals are faced with numerous influences to using both illicit and licit drugs. Drug education plays a counterbalancing role through shaping a normative culture of moderation, safety and making decisions that are informed. Schools have been helped by various departments to develop a sustainable and ongoing drug education programs and policies that are based on approach that aims at minimizing harm. The approach aims at reducing the adverse health, economic and social impacts of drugs. This is achieved through limiting or minimising the hazards and harms of using drugs for both the individual and the community without eliminating the use necessarily. Globally, it has been recognised that teachers are perfect in providing young individuals with the knowledge and skills for making sound choices and decisions on drug use. As such, there is need to adequately train teachers. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to document a comparative analysis of the following two models: Youth development and Diversionary activities and Drug use prevention through social marketing. Youth Development and Diversionary v. Drug use prevention through social marketing Under youth development and diversionary we have the positive futures. A positive future is a social inclusion national activity-based program for young individuals. The program aims at helping young people from communities that are deprived. It helps them to leave a healthy life through steering them away from alcohol and drug misuse and crime. In addition to that, the program provides young individuals with role models thus widening their horizons and providing them with access to new opportunities within an environment that is cultural familiar (Positive Futures Impact Report, 2006, p. 5). Positive future target young adults aged between ten (10yrs) and nineteen (19yrs) old. In its endeavour to en sure youths live a positive and health lives, it has partnered with organisations such as Diageo GB. This is a drinks business comprising of a collection of brands that are widely known internationally such as wine, spirits and beers. The positive future activities have managed to enrol majority of young individuals to its activities. For instance, as at September 2005, one hundred and nine thousand five hundred and forty six (109,546), young individuals had enrolled in the positive future regular activities. Moreover, young people who attended the programs of positive future were fifty seven thousand (57,000). Through attending these programs, the youths have been able to achieve a lot. For example, their behaviours, self esteem and self confidence were greatly improved. In its urge to mould the youths in the society, the positive future takes an approach that is developmental. Unlike other social policy initiatives that are sports-based, positive futures is not a sport development or diversionary program as traditionally practiced or understood. On the contrary, it uses a relationship strategy whose aim is to interact with young people in a trustful and respectful manner. In that case, young individuals are able to interact with positive role model who guides them on the right path rather than

Canada Food Guide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Canada Food Guide - Essay Example inst salty foods in the light of the increased heart disease and blood pressure related problems within the population.A major criticism of this advice is that it is still not clear whether there are any actual benefits or drawbacks of a balanced sodium diet.The last two decades have seen the discoveries of concepts like trans fats, and omega-3 fatty acids .The teenage population has been faced with growing rates of obesity .In the year 2002 alone the Statistics of Canada expressed its alarm at the degrading health of its population. The survey was based upon the information regarding 130,000 people aged 12 and older and the levels of obesity were at an all time high with an overall decrease in physical activity. â€Å"The survey found that between 1994-95 and 2000-01, the number of obese Canadians aged 20 to 64 grew by 24 per cent to almost 2.8 million. Increases in obesity rates were greatest among men and women aged between 45 and 54, who accounted for a quarter of all obese adults in Canada. Among children, nine per cent were considered obese. Another 20 per cent were considered overweight.†1 To inquire into the reasons for these alarming statistics the survey reviewed the consumption trends within the population and found that â€Å" children and adolescents who reported eating fruits and vegetables five or more times a day were substantially less likely to be overweight or obese than those who consumed them less frequently. Forty-one per cent of children and adolescents reported they ate at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.†2 In the light of these changes, the institution of Health Canada announced that the Food Guide would receive a makeover to â€Å"address changes in eating patterns, food supply and diets, as well as advances in nutritional science.† 3 The draft Food Guide was released in April 2006 with the draft recommending a daily number of servings of fruit and vegetables from a range of five-to-10 to four-to-eight. After a three

Write a case comment on Bowman v Fels [2005] EWCA Civ 226, [2005] 1 Essay

Write a case comment on Bowman v Fels [2005] EWCA Civ 226, [2005] 1 WLR 3083 - Essay Example First, it summarizes the pertinent facts of the case. Second, it identifies the relevant legal issues raised in the case. Third, it analyzes the relevant legal issues raised in the case. Fourth, it critically makes considerations on the legal issues raised in the case. The English courts distinguished the two separate types of LPP. Legal advice is the first type of LPP, which protects the communication between lawyers and their clients. Second, litigation privilege that protects the information and documents created with the intention of litigation (Hostettler 2009, pp. 82). Furthermore, litigation privilege covers documents and advices given to by third parties. Historically, litigation privilege is the first form of LPP that the English courts recognized. The first time ECJ dealt with LPP was in a case involving AM & S v Commission. Ability of the commission to have access to communication between an undertaking, which it suspected of anti-competitive behavior and its lawyers, was the main concern of the case (Jones & Newburn 2007, pp. 102). The case maintained that written communications exchanged between an independent lawyer and his customer, made for the purpose and interest of the client’s rights of defense had privilege. A directive in 1991 significantly influenced the LPP of the community because it placed a wide-range of limits on the protection accorded to the lawyers and their clients. Consequently, controversy arose during Directive’s drafting process and its last amendments. In Order bar, the ECJ reviewed the legality of Article 2 a (5) of the 1991 Directive. Based on the review of the directive’s legality, some group of legal professionals have the obligation to inform competent authorities of any act likely to indicate attempts of money laundering. In addition, the directive compels legal professional to avail to the relevant authorities all required information upon their request. Article

Analysis of Love in “A Rose for Emily” Emily Grierson Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Love in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† Emily Grierson Essay Love was finally seen as infatuation when the dead body was found lying in the bed outlasting fake love. People can feel like they truly love someone, but actually, they only have a short-lived admiration for that person. Faulkner clearly creates excellent examples of mistaking infatuation for true love. Infatuation can cause people to perform stupid deeds that people normally would not do. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† Emily Grierson mistakes infatuation for love causing her to buy arsenic poison, kill Homer Barron, and retain his body after his death. Earlier in Emily’s life, she was unable to find love because of the lack of finding or keeping suitors. The reason she could not find or keep suitors was that of her father. Her father did not believe that any man was worthy enough to marry his daughter. His family was of higher rank so Emily could not marry a man of a lower social class. This caused her to never find love and to never experience true feelings for someone. The only love she knew and had was the unusual love from her father. She did not have a mother figure in her life to her father’s love was all she had. When her father died, Emily had no love at all. She was truly alone without her father and since her father denied all men, she was left with nobody. Emily’s thoughts of love are twisted because she never got to experience true feelings of her own. This is why Emily becomes insane and acts irrationally. She does not know what love truly feels like and can not process what love really is. She only knows the temporary feelings she has. Hogan 2 Sometime after her father died, a man, by the name of Homer Barron, comes into her life. Emily and Homer start to interact with each other, and she starts to develop feelings that she has never experienced before. She starts confusing those feelings and lust for love. Emily begins to think that sinc e Homer is spending time with her it is love, but she is completely wrong. Emily starts to act irrationally and goes to the druggist to buy arsenic poison. She tells the druggist that she wants the best poison he has. After the druggist names a couple, he tells her, â€Å"They’ll kill anything up to an elephant. But you want is† (paragraph10, sectionIII). Emily cuts him off and tells him she wants arsenic. The druggist tells her she has to tell him what she will do with it, but she just looks at him â€Å"†¦erect, her face like a strained flag† (paragraph14, sectionIII). She continued staring at him and he finally gives her the poison. This shows how Emily was determined to buy the poison no matter what because she has the false love for Homer. Emily bought the arsenic because of her infatuation with Homer Barron. She did not want to lose him because she thought she was in love with him. Emily was afraid that she would be alone for the rest of her life after she found out that â€Å"Homer himself had remarkedhe liked men† (paragraph1, section). Since Homer liked men, he would not marry her and love her the way she wanted to be loved. Even though that was true, it would not stop her from trying to change his mind, even if she had to use the arsenic to do it. Emily was unaware of the things infatuation was causing her to do. Emily, mind truly lost, kills Homer Barron, but before she does she tries to change his mind about liking men. Miss Emily prepares for their wedding, gathering every necessity appropriate. She buys a man’s toilet set in silver with his initials on it and a complete outfit of men’s clothing for him. Homer comes to see Emily one day and that was the last time people see Hogan 3 him. People believe that they are on a long honeymoon, but actually, she has him locked upstairs. When Emily realizes her efforts to persuade Homer to return the love has failed, she resorts to poisoning him with the arsenic. She believes this is the only way she can have him forever. Instead of giving Homer a proper burial, Miss Emily keeps his body upstairs, so she can have him for the rest of her life. The false love she has causes her to keep a corpse in her home until she dies. She not only keeps his dead body but also sleeps in the bed with it. This type of psychotic behavior is because of her infatuation for Homer Barron. Also, her lust for Homer causes her to have sexual relations with his dead body. Emily is still a virgin since her father did not approve of any of her suitors, so she never marries or takes her maidenhead. She did not want to die a virgin so she has intercourse with her so-called true love even though he is not alive. This is justified in her head because she loves him, but little did she know, she was only infatuated with him. When Miss Emily died and w as buried, people went upstairs and opened the room where Homer’s body was. His body had â€Å"apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace† (paragraph7, sections). This showed how Emily sleeps and cuddles with his dead body and how psychotic she has become because of infatuation and lust. Miss Emily only wants true love, but she did not know what true love really is. She mistakes infatuation and lust for love. Her father stops her from experiencing love by denying all of her suitors. Then when Homer gives her some attention and friendship, she grows temporary feelings for him and lets them drive her to do insane deeds. She buys the arsenic poison, kills Homer with the poison, and instead of properly disposing his body she keeps it so she would always have him to love. Miss Emily is not a bad person, she just does not have someone so she Hogan 4 is lonely. In reality Emily Grierson only wants to love and wants to be loved, but the lack of receiving it causes her to mistake love for lust and infatuation leading to the demise of her mind.

Comparing societies with reference to social organisation

Comparing societies with reference to social organisation Discuss the similarities and differences between any TWO societies. In your answer, make reference to the role of cultures, norms, values and inequality in social organisation. The twentieth century is packed full of History. The revolution that hit Russia in 1917 is arguably one of the most economic interpretations of History in the twentieth century. This led to one of the first and definitely the biggest Communist state the world has ever seen. Spanning over Seventy years the Russian revolution had a huge impact on world affairs. This essay will look in to the similarities and differences in the norms, values and inequalities of social stratification, between Communist Russia and modern day Capitalist Britain. Everyone in Communist Russia was required to have jobs. Children, retired and disabled were the only exceptions. If you did not have a job in Communist Russia you would then be considered a parasite on the proletariat (Jary,D.Jary,J.1995) and could end up in jail for such an offence. Income was not the same: However, your salary was determined by the nomenklatura government. If you were a factory worker you would be able to achieve a bonus, this was only if you did not question and were a great worker. With your salary you were unable to buy land. The land was and maybe still is owned by the state. (Oxley,P.2001) In modern day Capitalist Britain we have cultural diversity, and perceive things in an ethnocentric way. Not everyone in modern day Capitalist Britain is required to work. We have a very beneficial welfare state (Jary,D.Jary,D.1995) which looks after every member of society not just the people who cannot work. Also if Britons wanted to buy land they could do such a thing. Saunders (1990) sees the old class divisions based on work becoming less and less relevant. For Saunders, what you do with your money is more significant than how you get it. (Saunders, P.1990 cited in Moore, S.2001) In Modern day Capitalist Britain over the past few years, people from all types of heritage have had greater access to higher education through a meritocratic society. Because of this, wealth distribution is altering and social mobility is occurring. The British class system is still very much in tact although in a more subconscious way. The British believe the playing field has levelled, but British still pigeon hole people dependent on class. (www.kwintessential.co.uk). In Communist Russia, despite Marxist-Leninist notions of a classless society, there were a Capitalist ruling class, the nomenklatura, which consisted of party officials and key personnel in the government and other important sectors such as heavy industry. This class enjoyed privileges such as roomy apartments, country dachas, and access to special stores, schools, medical facilities, and recreational sites. The social status of members of the nomenklatura increased as they were promoted to higher positions in the party. (http://www.country-data.com ) Many people in modern day Capitalist Britain believe in the idea of equal educational opportunity. They believe that everybody within the society should attain an equal chance and their educational qualifications should be based on merit, on their ability and effort. If a person is clever and works hard they should do well no matter what his/her social class or background may be. (Haralambos,M.1996) People knew little about the educational system in Communist Russia. After the coup that brought down the Soviet Empire, Russia released many of its secrets including those involving its education. Communist Russia did not let non-Communist teachers teach. They had a huge mission to ensure Communism was drilled in to them at a very early age. (Corin,C.2002 and Fiehn,T.2002) After 1917, Russia based its entire school system on the teachings of German philosopher Karl Marx (1818 1883). Marxism states that one should achieve freedom through giving up the self to benefit the state. This Marxist theory created an unpopular form of government from a democratic point of view; however, it made Communism an efficient educator. (http://www.milford.k12.il.us) Marxists argue that the working class rarely challenge Capitalism. This is because the people who have the control on economy also control the family, education, media and religion in fact all the cultural institutions that are responsible for socialising individuals. Neo Marxist Althusser (1971) argued that the function of those cultural institutions is to maintain and legitimate class inequality. (Althusser,L.1971 cited in Moore,S etal 2001). This is very similar to modern day Capitalist Britain The social structure of Communist Russia was characterized by self-perpetuation and limited mobility. Access to higher education, a prerequisite to social advancement, was steadily constrained in the post-war decades. Moreover, the sluggish economy of that period reduced opportunities for social mobility, thus accentuating differences among social groups and further widening the gap between the nomenklatura and the rest of society. (http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11420.html 20/10/2010) In modern day Capitalist Britain Social class is an umbrella category. Being of a different class may involve differences in culture, economic circumstances, educational status, dietary preferences, housing conditions, property Ownership and power. There will always be fuzzy edges with people who could be counted in more than one category and people who have encountered social mobility. (http://www.ucel.ac.uk) There are many differences in norms, values and the social structure in Communist Russia and modern day Capitalist Britain. Looking at the impact the nomenklatura government has had on Russia and how that stopped any sort of meritocracy, and in turn they had a sort of ascribed status. If the people of Communist Russia did not work they could have faced a prison sentence. Also it looks at how Karl Marx had a huge impact on Communist Russia. How much affect did it have, as there was no room for non Communist teachers? This was there secondary socialisation and it moulded how the youth of Communist Russia were to think. However it can be seen that social mobility is occurring in modern day Capitalist Britain. The British believe that there is a level playing field however; subconsciously, Britons are still classed individuals. Modern day Britons also believe everyone has a right to equal education opportunities. Evidently, social mobility in modern day Capitalist Britain is occurring. Posing the question, ultimately is there a difference between Communism and Capitalism?

Smoking as a Public Health Issue

Smoking as a Public Health Issue INTRODUCTION Smoking is an extremely crucial public health issue which is considered to be an immediate and serious threat to many developing countries across the globe (WHO 2005). Being one of the most significant determinants of increased rate of mortality and ill-health throughout the world, smoking is still a preventable epidemic (OTC 2005). Active cigarette smoking has long been known to predispose common people to several types of mouth diseases, lung cancer, atherosclerotic vascular diseases, impotence etc. and enhanced exposure to environmental tobacco smoke has deleterious effects to public health (Ong and Glantz 2004). Cigarette is utilised as an apparatus for self-administering nicotine which significantly causes drug dependency. It has been observed that nicotine inhalation via cigarette smoking is far more swift technique of drug intake as compared to heroin injections because nicotine takes not more than 7 seconds to travel from lungs into brain whereas, it takes 14 seconds for the heroin to reach the brain (DiFranza, Savageau and Fletcher et al 2007). Smoking prevalence as a global epidemic necessitates serious attention as about 1.3 billion people across the globe have been reported to smoke cigarettes and thereby experience numerous smoking-related health issues (Webb, Bain and Pirozzo 2005). In accordance with a study it has been estimated that by 2025-2030 approximately 10 million people are anticipated to die because of widespread smoking habitude (Edwards 2004). There are numerous ramifications of smoking in almost every area of knowledge including politics, economics, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, pharmacology and pathology. This all-inclusive nature of the subject encompassing the bio-psychosocial segments of life makes it an appealing exploratory premise for the study. 1.1 Overview of the Report The report is designed to highlight the key epidemiological evidences pertaining to cigarette smoking, based on the global mortality rates and several stages of the worldwide tobacco epidemics. Moreover, the epidemiology of smoking habitude amongst general population of UK has been represented on the basis of age, gender and socio-economic factors. The central part of the report discusses a number of smoking related risk factors to public health and also evaluates the responsiveness of public towards the identified risks. Later segment of the report proposes the practical interventions to address the global epidemic of smoking which subsequently leads to conclude the overall study. 1.3 Rationale of the Study The main objective of this report is to accentuate smoking as a major public health issue and highlight the related health risks to general society based on the epidemiological evidences. By expounding on the public behaviour towards smoking and its damaging effects to the general populace, the study attempts to appraise the subject area. The report also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of current public health services pertaining to smoking cessation by probing in the interventions designed to reduce the underlying risks and improve public health. CIGARETTE SMOKING: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE The epidemiological evidences suggest that the consistently augmenting patterns of smoking lead to enhance worldwide mortality rates and the recent studies suggest that the developing countries have slightly higher smoking induced mortality rate especially in men, as compared to the developed countries (Table: 01). Table: 01 Estimates of Smoking Induced Global Mortality Rates Millions of Death from Smoking (Uncertainty Range) Men Women Developed Countries 2.43 (2.13 2.78) 75% 25% Developing Countries 2.41 (1.80 3.15) 84% 16% Total 4.83 (3.94 5.93) 80% 215 Source: Ezzati and Lopez 2000 In western countries smoking prevalence has been estimated to be 30% which is considerably less as compared to Asian countries where smoking prevalence is evidently incremental as for example 53% in Japan, 63% in China and 73% in Vietnam (European Commission 2007). There has been significant variation in EU pertaining to smoking trends as for instance 18% in Sweden to 42% in Greece however; the average smoking prevalence in EU was about 32% (European Commission 2007).   The segmentation of worldwide tobacco epidemic in four different stages has been exhibited below in Figure: 01, Figure: 01 STAGES OF THE WORLDWIDE TOBACCO EPIDEMIC Source: http://www.info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/lung/smoking/#cancer Smoking trends in Great Britain indicate that the overall gender-specific adult smoking rates have been declined by approximately 0.4% per annum since the year 2000 (Robinson and Bugler 2008) however, the most recent statistics reveal that smoking prevalence during 2007-2008 in UK has remained more or less the same. Gender-specific cigarette smoking trends in UK during 2004-2008 are exhibited below in Table: 02, TABLE: 02 CIGARETTE SMOKING BY SEX (2004-2008), UK PERCENTAGE (%) 2004 2005 2006 2007 2007 Men 26 25 23 22 22 Women 23 23 21 20 21 All 25 24 22 21 22 Source: General Lifestyle Survey 2008 The age-specific smoking prevalence trends observed in UK indicate that the age group of women between 20-24 years i.e. approximately 31% of young women in UK are indulged in smoking behaviour and similarly, men aged between 25-34 i.e. approximately 30% of men are also found to be regular smokers (Friis and Sellers 2009). Age-specific cigarette smoking trends in UK during 1978-2008 are exhibited below in Table: 03, TABLE: 03 CIGARETTE SMOKING BY AGE (1978-2008), UK AGE % 16-19 20-24 25-34 35-49 50-59 60+ 1978 34% 44% 45% 45% 45% 30% 1988 26% 37% 36% 36% 33% 23% 1998 31% 40% 35% 31% 28% 16% 2008 22% 30% 27% 24% 22% 13% Source: General Lifestyle Survey 2008 Representing the link between cigarette smoking and socio-economic sector of the UK society, it has been observed in a survey that smoking is much more prevalent amongst people associated with routine and manual occupations which includes approximately 30% of men and 27% of women whereas, people associated with managerial and professional occupations exhibit a slightly reduced smoking trend which includes 14% of men and 14% of women following smoking behaviour (Robinson and Bugler 2008). Socio-economic classification of cigarette smoking trends in UK during 2008 are exhibited below in Table: 04, TABLE: 04 SMOKING IN UK: SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION PERSONS AGED 16 AND OVER, GREAT BRITAIN: 2008 (%) Men Women Large employers and higher managerial 14 11 Higher professional 12 12 Lower managerial and professional 16 16 Intermediate 21 22 Small employers / own account 22 21 Lower supervisory and technical 26 24 Semi-routine 31 28 Routine 33 30 Source: General Lifestyle Survey 2008 SMOKING INDUCED RISK FACTORS TO PUBLIC HEALTH Smoking patterns are greatly influenced by the individuals bio-psychosocial status and considerably vary depending upon diverse factors including fiscal condition, population size, age, gender, and the existence of regulatory models. It has been studied that social pressures play an integral role in an individuals conformation towards a specific set of beliefs or behaviour and smoking too, like other forms of substance dependencies is shaped up in accordance with the surrounding environment of a smoker (Killoran et al 2006). Gender-specific smoking induced risk factors considerably fluctuate depending upon the societal, cultural and religious beliefs as for example 40% of young women in Spain have been reported to indulge in active smoking behaviour on the other hand, China remains less affected when it comes to smoking habitude in women which has been reported to be less than 5% only (European Commission 2007). Similar is the case with other Asian countries including India, Pakistan , Bangladesh etc. where smoking induced risks to women are significantly less as compared to men because of conservative culture and traditions in the region. Moreover, the statistics also exhibit that the smoking induced risk factors are less common in older age groups, in both men and women as the lowest ratio of smoking has been observed amongst people aged 60 and over (Merrill 2010) because younger generation is much more enthusiastic to experiment and usually exhibits callous attitude towards health risks. There has been a sustained and analogous pattern of smoking induced risks observed between both the manual and non-manual populace of the socio-economic sector in UK, which signifies the growing awareness of public towards the underlying public health issue. Apart from bio-psychosocial risk factors there are a number of other smoking related risks to public health which are summarised as follows: 3.1 Passive Smoking Second hand smoking, environmental smoking or passive smoking are all detrimental and risk the life of a non-smoker that is consciously or unconsciously exposed to hazardous effects of smoking induced chemical compounds and probable human carcinogens. Passive smoking has been identified as the most critical cause of smoking related ill-health and incremental mortalities in general population, due to lung cancers and coronary heart diseases. 3.2 Tobacco Carcinogenesis Excessive tobacco consumption in the form of cigarette, cigar, pipe smoking enhances the risk to mouth, larynx, and oesophagus cancers and if complimented by heavy alcohol intake, can subsequently trigger the tumours in tobacco carcinogenesis (DoH 2007). 3.3 Occupational Hazards Persistent interaction between smoking and a variety of industrial agents can develop a number of cancers as suggested by numerous experimental and epidemiologic data. It has been studied that the smokers working within the environment containing asbestos or uranium ores significantly provides the means to stimulate tobacco carcinogens and an increased risk of lung cancer (DoH 2007). 3.4 Coronary Heart Diseases Several studies suggest that cigarette smoking significantly contributes in premature sudden death from coronary diseases especially in populations where arteriosclerosis is prevalent thus, exerting a pronounced secondary effect to hyperlipidemia and hypercholesteremia subsequently increasing the risk of hypertension and heart attack (Ong and Glantz 2004). Air Pollution Studies suggest that excessive air pollution complimented by cigarette smoking, leads to death from acute pulmonary disease and lung cancer. The carcinogens contained in pollutant air is inhaled in relatively small doses and on the other hand, cigarette smoke is highly concentrated and inhaled directly into the lungs therefore, the damaged caused to the respiratory tract by the air pollution alone, is comparatively less than the damage caused by the intense tobacco smoke. However, for non-smokers the passive smoking in combination with the pollutant air can be a serious risk to health as heavily polluted air contains approximately 100,000 particles per cubic centimetre whereas inhaled cigarette smoke contains more than 5 billion particles per cubic centimetre (Webb, Bain and Pirozzo 2005). ANALYSING PUBLIC RESPONSIVENESS TO THE IDENTIFIED RISKS Despite of consistent efforts by the local governments and numerous international health organisations, it has been observed that the public awareness programs regarding smoking cessation are considered to be effective to varying degrees; as it is extremely difficult to determine the consumers perception towards the smoking related health consequences and addictive nature (Bauld et al 2003). The consumer base in the developing countries remain exceedingly unacquainted with the country-specific smoking related information and health policies as the preventive interventions like awareness campaigns, registration system to assess disease patterns and the identification of smoking related trends are not vigilantly established. Moreover, the consumer base in the developing countries expect low-cost and reliable preventive measures however, the fiscal limitations makes it difficult for the local governments to entrench inexpensive and equally effective smoking awareness schemes and interve ntions; as a result of which the public responsiveness towards addressing the smoking epidemic is significantly pitiful especially where it looms largest. In addition to this, smoking cessation becomes a complex issue due to its addictive attribute and several studies have rated it as amongst the most evil drug dependency as compared to heroin and cocaine (Donaldson and Donaldson 2003). The addictive trait of cigarette smoking is characterised by a cluster of behavioural, cognitive and physiological phenomena which consequently develops due to enhanced substance use resulting in increased desire for smoking which becomes a persistent exercise and as the time passes, the chances of withdrawal becomes unattainable. It has also been studied that the superfluous social acceptance of smoking has significantly contributed to its sweeping popularity and prevalence amongst the general population (Marmott and Wilkinson 2006) and this ignorant public attitude combined with lack of awareness; results in natural inclination of the masses to consider it a harmless and a nontoxic habitude (Stevens, Raftery, Mant and Simpson 2004). From the economic perspective, the tobacco industry generates humungous revenues by influencing the developing countries as a profitable target for market expansion, which is mutually advantageous to the developing countries leading them to compromise on their public health issues against enhanced fiscal benefits. Tobacco industry considerably influences the political set-up of several countries to advertise and promote cigarette smoking and their intriguing commercial campaigning significantly draw the attention of younger generation that are already less-informed and easily fall prey to such marketing tactics. Pre-targeted and smartly designed commercials significantly mislead the naive public and successfully manoeuvre them by relentless denial of tobaccos unfavourable health impacts. PRACTICAL INTERVENTIONS FOR SMOKING EPIDEMIC The smoking related health outcomes can be substantially controlled by integrating effective tobacco control policies and interventions that are capable to cease or significantly reduce its prevalence and consumption amongst the general population. It has been studied that tobacco smoking does not limit the effects of its pervasiveness to smoker itself rather the people present in the surrounding environment (Farmer and Lawrenson 2004) as for example, non-smoking adults including cohabiting partners and children of the smoker are also adversely affected. Hence, it becomes essential to edify the smokers to acknowledge their social responsibility towards the general public and strongly discourage them to exhibit their smoking habitude in public (Douglas et al 2007). The success rate of the practical interventions adopted in the developed countries has found to be much practicable as compared to the developing countries because the regulatory frameworks are stringent and the law enforce ment agencies are also equally efficient. In order to enable the general population to effectively combat with smoking-related public health issues, it is imperative to establish prudently designed and effectually devised practical interventions; for discouraging cigarette smokers and providing maximum protection to children, pregnant women, elders and other non-smoking adults by entrenching a number of the below mentioned tobacco controlling key initiatives: 5.1 Establish a Highly Informative Setting A highly informative environment can be established by effectively conveying the most updated and evidence-based tobacco related public health information to the general population and specifically highlighting all the associated risk factors. The local governments must exhibit maximum commitment towards smoking cessation campaigns by formulating effective regulatory framework and providing suitable means to the healthcare professionals to implement it (Scott and Mazhindu 2005). Highly developed countries and the international health organisations must also facilitate the poor countries by financing the research projects to evaluate causes, consequences and costs of tobacco use in the respective regions and thereby, devise a preventive strategy accordingly. 5.2 Media Campaigning Media is the most constructive tool to speedily communicate with the masses therefore, it is imperative to utilise both print and electronic media for positive campaigning and specifically rope-in the e-media to target todays internet savvy, younger generation. In the wide-ranging interest of public health, it is the social responsibility of media world to completely prohibit the enticing cigarette advertisements and instead make noble use of the media by broadcasting regular public service messages to discourage the prevailing smoking behaviours. 5.3 Stringent Policies to Reduce Tobacco Consumption Substantial increase in tobacco prices can significantly reduce its consumption especially amongst younger generation or those that are unable to afford. Governments must also concentrate on formulating such policies that can completely forbid the promotional campaigns and considerably restrict the sales through vending machines (DoH 2007). Since smoking is one of the most prevailing global epidemics therefore; strict rules and regulations shall be imposed to discourage smoking in public places as for example bus stops, restaurants, educational institutions, offices, hospitals and cinemas etc. This would not only limit its consumption but will also signify the governments seriousness towards addressing the underlying public health issues. Moreover, the tobacco industry shall be consistently introduced to consistent and rigorous tax networks so that the target of promoting controlled use of cigarette smoking can be achieved (DoH 2007). On the other hand, governments can attain dual be nefits by expanding the tax network for the tobacco industry thus reducing its consumption amongst general populace and can generate more taxed revenue. 5.4 Discouraging Nicotine Dependency Regular smokers become heavily reliant upon nicotine intake and therefore, seek for certain other alternatives as a substitute to cigarettes including chewable tobacco, tablets, patches and inhalers, if their accessibility to cigarette smoking has been disrupted. The governments while designing smoking related preventive strategies must acknowledge that nicotine is highly addictive and therefore, it is wise to introduce less-harmful and inexpensive alternatives to regular cigarettes and subsequently educate them to overcome their nicotine dependency by adopting practical interventions through professional medical assistance (Prabhat, Chaloupka, Corrao and Binu 2006). Moreover, the developed countries and international health organisations can also donates such inexpensive nicotine alternatives to poor and deprived countries in order to promote smoking cessation and healthy living across the globe. 5.5 Support Groups Nicotine dependency significantly damages the internal health of people which restricts them to participate in healthy sports activities. Governments can help the local bodies to establish tobacco control support groups in their respective neighbourhoods and to organise healthy activities and events to promote constructive attitude amongst general population. A strategically designed tobacco control program also facilitates in mobilising the civil society to effectively contribute both their money and time to engage nicotine dependent people in healthy activities (Prabhat, Chaloupka, Corrao and Binu 2006) and thereby, motivating them to overcome their cigarette smoking habitude. Formation of such support groups provide easy and consistent access of tobacco-specific valuable information to the smokers and also enhance their awareness to the associated risk factors. CONCLUSION Smoking has been established as a consistently prevailing global epidemic and that is so, because the related effects of smoking are not restricted to the smoker himself, but also extend to others through a range of risk factors including passive smoking and air pollution etc. which makes it a substantial risk to public health. Provided the fact, it is not only essential to discourage smoking behaviour in smokers but also educate the non-smokers to protect themselves from the associated health risks. Apart from individual preventive measures, there is a growing need for integrating practical interventions to ensure reduced exposure to tobacco smoke especially in public places by providing separate smoking and non-smoking areas or installing ventilation or completely banning smoking through industry led voluntary agreements or by introducing stringent statutory requirements. To conclude, cigarette smoking is radically injurious to public health and honest efforts are required at both individual and communal level to enhance public awareness towards the associated risks and particularly support the smokers to quit their smoking habit. Smoking as a Public Health Issue Smoking as a Public Health Issue It is now a matter of common public acceptance that smoking causes ill health. This statement can be backed up by huge amounts of authoritative literature (Dobson et al 1999) (Smoking Kills 1998) (Choosing Health 2001) The subject of this essay however, is whether or not it is a Public Health issue. We will argue strongly that it is and produce evidence to support this stance. The Wanless Report (2002 ) defines Public Health as â€Å"The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised efforts and informed choices of society, organisations – public and private, communities and individuals† On that basis we would suggest that the argument is already made since there is little doubt that smoking – both active and passive – will shorten life and cause disease. The evidence to support this statement comes from papers such as that by Prescott ( et al. 1998) who carried out a huge study looking into the effects of primary smoking and the risk of myocardial ischaemia in the general population. The results of the study were absolutely unequivocal with a finding of an increased risk of myocardial infarction in women of 2.24 and in men of 1.43. the reasons for the sex difference are several including genetic factors (Bennett 2004) and hormonal factors (Chapman 1999) To take a step further back, we have to define Health An authoritative definition of Health comes from the WHO who currently tell us that health is â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ( WHO 1992). A difficulty with this definition is that today many people confuse the attainment of happiness with the attainment of health (Kemm 2001). Ironically, in the context of this essay, Freud also offered us an observation on the definition of Health when he observed that most people equated well-being with happiness rather than health (Freud 1975) and he amplified this by observing that he had been advised by his doctors to give up cigars in order to improve his health. He commented that he was far more healthy but much less happy (Saracci 1997). Although Freud’s comment was clearly flippant, it does exemplify a deeper truth, that part of the problem with smoking is the pleasure that some people derive from it. One can always advance the argument that in a free society one should always have freedom of choice to damage yourself if you wish. (Hegel 1971) That is clearly the case, but in adopting that view you must also accept two further consequences of that position. One is that society is expected to pick up the bill when you are ill (via the NHS) and that by smoking, you may not only damage yourself but you may well damage others through the medium of passive smoking. (Kuhse Singer 2001) It is these latter points which actually make the issue one of Public Health. The Public (in general terms) are expected to fund the necessary treatment when you become ill. This is not an isolated incident as over 200,000 patients are diagnosed annually with some form of smoking related malignancy and over 120,000 will die from the disease. This is quite independent of those that develop other complications of smoke-related illness. (NHS Cancer Plan 2000). If you add to this number, the carers and the other economic costs to the community, the argument that it is not a Public Health issue clearly fails. We have raised the issue of passive smoking as one of the criteria for suggesting that smoking is an issue of public health. The evidence for this is rapidly accumulating. We can point to the cleverly designed study by He (et al.2004) which  was able to point to the statistical differences in illness rates between those industrial workers who had a constantly smoky atmosphere to breathe and those who were able to avoid it. There is little doubt that choosing to smoke where others will inhale the smoke is a demonstrably anti social behaviour. As if to underline our view, we can point to the fact that the Government takes a similar view as it has produced a series of Government White Papers (Choosing Health 2004) (Building on the Best 2003) and regulations (Saving lives 1999) which are all aimed at improving the health of the nation by reducing its collective exposure to cigarette smoke References Bennett Gottleib 2004 Passive smoking more risky for women with a missing gene. BMJ: 2004 Vol 26 320-322 Building on the best 2003 Department of Health: HMSO. 09/12/2003 Chapman S 1999 Smoking and Women: beauty before age? BMJ, Mar 1999; 318: 818. Choosing Health 2004 Government White Paper consultation on improving people’s health 28.6.04 BMJ, Dec 2004; 319: 1522. Dobson et al, 1999; National Centre for Social Research, RCP, 1999; Freud S. 1975 Letter to Lou Andreas-Salome, 1930 May 8. Cited in: Sigmund Freud house catalogue. Vienna: Là ¶cker and Wà ¶genstein, 1975: 49. He, T H Lam, L S Li, L S Li, R Y Du, G L Jia, J Y Huang, and J S Zheng2004 Passive smoking at work as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in Chinese women who have never smoked BMJ, Feb 2004; 308: 380 384. Hegel GW. 1971 Philosophy of Mind: Being Part Three of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1830). Wallace W, trans. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1971. Kemm 2001 The pursuit of happiness Cancer Nurs. 2000;23(1):20–31 Kuhse Singer 2001 A companion to bioethics ISBN: 063123019X Pub Date 05 July 2001 NHS Cancer plan 2000 A plan for investment, a plan for reform Department of Health. HMSO. 27/09/2000 Prescott, Merit Hippie, Peter Schooner, Hans Ole Hein, and Jà ¸rgen Vestbo 1998 Smoking and risk of myocardial infarction in women and men: longitudinal population study BMJ, Apr 1998; 316: 1043 – 1047 Saracci R 1997 The world health organisation needs to reconsider its definition of health BMJ, May 1997; 314: 1409. Smoking Kills1998 A White Paper HMSO: December 1998 Wanless report: HMSO 2002 World Health Organisation. 1996 Ethics and health, and quality in health care–report by the director general. Geneva: WHO, 1996. (Document No. EB 97/16.) PDG 20.8.05 Word count 1,192