The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 2~3

Two The Sea Beast The cooling pipes at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant were all fashioned from the finest stainless steel. Before they were installed, they were x-rayed, ultrasounded, and pressure-tested to be sure that they could never break, and after being welded into place, the welds were also x-rayed and tested. The radioactive steam from the core left its heat in the pipes, which leached it off into a seawater cooling pond, where it was safely vented to the Pacific. But Diablo had been built on a breakneck schedule during the energy scare of the seventies. The welders worked double and triple shifts, driven by greed and cocaine, and the inspectors who ran the X-ray machines were on the same schedule. And they missed one. Not a major mistake. Just a tiny leak. Barely noticeable. A minuscule stream of harmless, low-level radiation wafted out with the tide and drifted over the continental shelf, dissipating as it went, until even the most sensitive instruments would have missed it. Yet the le ak didn't go totally undetected. In the deep trench off California, near a submerged volcano where the waters ran to seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit and black smokers spewed clouds of mineral soup, a creature was roused from a long slumber. Eyes the size of dinner platters winked out the sediment and sleep of years. It was instinct, sense, and memory: the Sea Beast's brain. It remembered eating the remains of a sunken Russian nuclear submarine: beefy little sailors tenderized by the pressure of the depths and spiced with piquant radioactive marinade. Memory woke the beast, and like a child lured from under the covers on a snowy morning by the smell of bacon frying, it flicked its great tail, broke free from the ocean floor, and began a slow ascent into the current of tasty treats. A current that ran along the shore of Pine Cove. Mavis Mavis tossed back a shot of Bushmills to take the edge off her frustration at not being able to whack anyone with her baseball bat. She wasn't really angry that Molly had bitten a customer. After all, he was a tourist and rated above the mice in the walls only because he carried cash. Maybe the fact that something had actually happened in the Slug would bring in a little business. People would come in to hear the story, and Mavis could stretch, speculate, and dramatize most stories into at least three drinks a tell. Business had been slowing over the last couple of years. People didn't seem to want to bring their problems into a bar. Time was, on any given afternoon, you'd have three or four guys at the bar, pouring down beers as they poured out their hearts, so filled with self-loathing that they'd snap a vertebra to avoid catching their own reflection in the big mirror behind the bar. On a given evening, the stools would be full of people who whined and growled and bitched all night long, pausing only long enough to stagger to the bathroom or to sacrifice a quarter to the jukebox's extensive self-pity selection. Sadness sold a lot of alcohol, and it had been in short supply these last few years. Mavis blamed the booming economy, Val Riordan, and vegetables in the diet for the sadness shortage, and she fought the insidious invaders by running two-for-one happy hours with fatty meat snacks (The whole point of happy hour was to purge happiness, wasn't it?), but all her efforts only served to cut her profits in half. If Pine Cove could no longer produce sadness, she would import some, so she advertised for a Blues singer. The old Black man wore sunglasses, a leather fedora, a tattered black wool suit that was too heavy for the weather, red suspenders over a Hawaiian shirt that sported topless hula girls, and creaky black-on-white wing tips. He set his guitar case on the bar and climbed onto a stool. Mavis eyed him suspiciously and lit a Tarryton 100. She'd been taught as a girl not to trust Black people. â€Å"Name your poison,† she said. He took off his fedora, revealing a gleaming brown baldness that shone like polished walnut. â€Å"You gots some wine?† â€Å"Cheap-shit red or cheap-shit white?† Mavis cocked a hip, gears and machinery clicked. â€Å"Them cheap-shit boys done expanded. Used to be jus' one flavor.† â€Å"Red or white?† â€Å"Whatever sweetest, sweetness.† Mavis slammed a tumbler onto the bar and filled it with yellow liquid from an icy jug in the well. â€Å"That'll be three bucks.† The Black man reached out – thick sharp nails skating the bar surface, long fingers waving like tentacles, searching, the hand like a sea creature caught in a tidal wash – and missed the glass by four inches. Mavis pushed the glass into his hand. â€Å"You blind?† â€Å"No, it be dark in here.† â€Å"Take off your sunglasses, idjit.† â€Å"I can't do that, ma'am. Shades go with the trade.† â€Å"What trade? Don't you try to sell pencils in here. I don't tolerate beggars.† â€Å"I'm a Bluesman, ma'am. I hear ya'll lookin for one.† Mavis looked at the guitar case on the bar, at the Black man in shades, at the long fingernails of his right hand, the short nails and knobby gray calluses on the fingertips of his left, and she said, â€Å"I should have guessed. Do you have any experience?† He laughed, a laugh that started deep down and shook his shoulders on the way up and chugged out of his throat like a steam engine leaving a tunnel. â€Å"Sweetness, I got me more experience than a busload o' hos. Ain't no dust settled a day on Catfish Jefferson since God done first dropped him on this big ol' ball o' dust. That's me, call me Catfish.† He shook hands like a sissy, Mavis thought, just let her have the tips of his fingers. She used to do that before she had her arthritic finger joints replaced. She didn't want any arthritic old Blues singer. â€Å"I'm going to need someone through Christmas. Can you stay that long or would your dust settle?† â€Å"I ‘spose I could slow down a bit. Too cold to go back East.† He looked around the bar, trying to take in the dinge and smoke through his dark glasses, then turned back to her. â€Å"Yeah, I might be able to clear my schedule if† – and here he grinned and Mavis could see a gold tooth there with a musical note cut in it – â€Å"if the money is right,† he said. â€Å"You'll get room and board and a percentage of the bar. You bring 'em in, you'll make money.† He considered, scratched his cheek where white stubble sounded like a toothbrush against sandpaper, and said, â€Å"No, sweetness, you bring 'em in. Once they hear Catfish play, they come back. Now what percentage did you have in mind?† Mavis stroked her chin hair, pulled it straight to its full three inches. â€Å"I'll need to hear you play.† Catfish nodded. â€Å"I can play.† He flipped the latches on his guitar case and pulled out a gleaming National steel body guitar. From his pocket he pulled a cutoff bottleneck and with a twist it fell onto the little finger of his left hand. He played a chord to test tune, pulled the bottleneck from the fifth to the ninth and danced it there, high and wailing. Mavis could smell something like mildew, moss maybe, a change in humidity. She sniffed and looked around. She hadn't been able to smell anything for fifteen years. Catfish grinned. â€Å"The Delta,† he said. He launched into a twelve-bar Blues, playing the bass line with his thumb, squealing the high notes with the slide, rocking back and forth on the bar stool, the light of the neon Coors sign behind the bar playing colors in the reflection of sunglasses and his bald head. The daytime regulars looked up from their drinks, stopped lying for a second, and Slick McCall missed a straight-in eight-ball shot on the quarter table, which he almost never did. And Catfish sang, starting high and haunting, going low and gritty. â€Å"They's a mean ol' woman run a bar out on the Coast. I'm telling you, they's a mean ol' woman run a bar out on the Coast. But when she gets you under the covers, That ol' woman turn your buttered bread to toast.† And then he stopped. â€Å"You're hired,† Mavis said. She pulled the jug of white cheap-shit out of the well and sloshed some into Catfish's glass. â€Å"On the house.† Just then the door opened and a blast of sunlight cut through the dinge and smoke and residual Blues and Vance McNally, the EMT, walked in and set his radio on the bar. â€Å"Guess what?† he said to everyone and no one in particular. â€Å"That pilgrim woman hung herself.† A low mumble passed through the regulars. Catfish put his guitar in its case and picked up his wine. â€Å"Sho' 'nuff a sad day startin early in this little town. Sho' 'nuff.† â€Å"Sho' 'nuff,† said Mavis with a cackle like a stainless-steel hyena. Valerie Riordan Depression has a mortality rate of fifteen percent. Fifteen percent of all patients with major depression will take their own lives. Statistics. Hard numbers in a very squishy science. Fifteen percent. Dead. Val Riordan had been repeating the figures to herself since Theophilus Crowe had called, but it wasn't helping her feel any better about what Bess Leander had done. Val had never lost a patient before. And Bess Leander hadn't really been depressed, had she? Bess didn't fit into the fifteen percent. Val went to the office in the back of her house and pulled Bess Leander's file, then went back to the living room to wait for Constable Crowe. At least it was the local guy, not the county sheriffs. And she could always fall back on patient confidentiality. Truth was, she had no idea why Bess Leander might have hung herself. She had only seen Bess once, and then for only half an hour. Val had made the diagnosis, written the scrip, and collected a check for the full hour session. Bess had called in twice, talked for a few minutes, and Val had sent her a bill for the time rounded to the next quarter hour. Time was money. Val Riordan liked nice things. The doorbell rang, Westminster chimes. Val crossed the living room to the marble foyer. A thin tall figure was refracted through the door's beveled glass panels: Theophilus Crowe. Val had never met him, but she knew of him. Three of his ex-girlfriends were her patients. She opened the door. He was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a gray shirt with black epaulets that might have been part of a uniform at one time. He was clean-shaven, with long sandy hair tied neatly into a ponytail. A good-looking guy in an Ichabod Crane sort of way. Val guessed he was stoned. His girlfriends had talked about his habits. â€Å"Dr.Riordan,† he said. â€Å"Theo Crowe.† He offered his hand. She shook hands. â€Å"Everyone calls me Val,† she said. â€Å"Nice to meet you. Come in.† She pointed to the living room. â€Å"Nice to meet you too,† Theo said, almost as an afterthought. â€Å"Sorry about the circumstances.† He stood at the edge of the marble foyer, as if afraid to step on the white carpet. She walked past him and sat down on the couch. â€Å"Please,† she said, pointing to one of a set of Hepplewhite chairs. â€Å"Sit.† He sat. â€Å"I'm not exactly sure why I'm here, except that Joseph Leander doesn't seem to know why Bess did it.† â€Å"No note?† Val asked. â€Å"No. Nothing. Joseph went downstairs for breakfast this morning and found her hanging in the dining room.† Val felt her stomach lurch. She had never really formed a mental picture of Bess Leander's death. It had been words on the phone until now. She looked away from Theo, looked around the room for something that would erase the picture. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Theo said. â€Å"This must be hard for you. I'm just wondering if there was anything that Bess might have said in therapy that would give a clue.† Fifteen percent, Val thought. She said, â€Å"Most suicides don't leave a note. By the time they have gone that far into depression, they aren't interested in what happens after their death. They just want the pain to end.† Theo nodded. â€Å"Then Bess was depressed? Joseph said that she appeared to be getting better.† Val cast around her training for an answer. She hadn't really diagnosed Bess Leander, she had just prescribed what she thought would make Bess feel better. She said, â€Å"Diagnosis in psychiatry isn't always that exact, Theo. Bess Leander was a complex case. Without compromising doctor-patient confidentiality, I can tell you that Bess suffered from a borderline case of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. I was treating her for that.† Theo pulled a prescription bottle out of his shirt pocket and looked at the label. â€Å"Zoloft. Isn't that an anti-depressant? I only know because I used to date a woman who was on it.† Right, Val thought. Actually, you used to date at least three women who were on it. She said, â€Å"Zoloft is an SSRI like Prozac. It's prescribed for a number of conditions. With OCD the dosage is higher.† That's it, get clinical. Baffle him with clinical bullshit. Theo shook the bottle. â€Å"Could someone O.D. on it or something? I heard somewhere that people do crazy things sometimes on these drugs.† â€Å"That's not necessarily true. SSRIs like Zoloft are often prescribed to people with major depression. Fifteen percent of all depressed patients commit suicide.† There, she said it. â€Å"Antidepressants are a tool, along with talk therapy, that psychiatrists use to help patients. Sometimes the tools don't work. As with any therapy, a third get better, a third get worse, and a third stay the same. Antidepressants aren't a panacea.† But you treat them like they are, don't you, Val? â€Å"But you said that Bess Leander had OCD, not depression.† â€Å"Constable, have you ever had a stomachache and a runny nose at the same time?† â€Å"So you're saying she was depressed?† â€Å"Yes, she was depressed, as well as having OCD.† â€Å"And it couldn't have been the drugs?† â€Å"To be honest with you, I don't even know if she was taking the drug. Have you counted them?† â€Å"Uh, no.† â€Å"Patients don't always take their medicine. We don't order blood level tests for SSRIs.† â€Å"Right,† Theo said. â€Å"I guess we'll know when they do the autopsy.† Another horrendous picture flashed in Val's mind: Bess Leander on an autopsy table. The viscera of medicine had always been too much for her. She stood. â€Å"I wish I could help you more, but to be honest, Bess Leander never gave me any indication that she was suicidal.† At least that was true. Theo took her cue and stood. â€Å"Well, thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you. If you think of anything, you know, anything that I can tell Joseph that might make it easier on him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'm sorry. That's all I know.† Fifteen percent. Fifteen percent. Fifteen percent. She led him to the door. He turned before leaving. â€Å"One more thing. Molly Michon is one of your patients, isn't she?† â€Å"Yes. Actually, she's a county patient, but I agreed to treat her at a reduced rate because all the county facilities are so far away.† â€Å"You might want to check on her. She attacked a guy at the Head of the Slug this morning.† â€Å"Is she in County?† â€Å"No, I took her home. She calmed down.† â€Å"Thank you, Constable. I'll call her.† â€Å"Well, then. I'll be going.† â€Å"Constable,† she called after him. â€Å"Those pills you have – Zoloft isn't a recreational drug.† Theo stumbled on the steps, then composed himself. â€Å"Right, Doctor, I figured that out when I saw the body hanging in the dining room. I'll try not to eat the evidence.† â€Å"Good-bye,† Val said. She closed the door behind him and burst into tears. Fifteen percent. She had fifteen hundred patients in Pine Cove on some form of antidepressant or another. Fifteen percent would be more than two hundred people dead. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't let an-other of her patients die because of her noninvolvement. If antidepressants wouldn't save them, then maybe she could. Three Theo Theophilus Crowe wrote bad free-verse poetry and played a jimbai drum while sitting on a rock by the ocean. He could play sixteen chords on the guitar and knew five Bob Dylan songs all the way through, allowing for a dampening buzz any time he had to play a bar chord. He had tried his hand at painting, sculpture, and pottery and had even played a minor part in the Pine Cove Little Theater's revival of Arsenic and Old Lace. In all these endeavors, he had experienced a meteoric rise to mediocrity and quit before total embarrassment and self-loathing set in. Theo was cursed with an artist's soul but no talent. He possessed the angst and the inspiration, but not the means to create. If there was any single thing at which Theo excelled, it was empathy. He always seemed to be able to understand someone's point of view, no matter how singular or farfetched, and in turn could convey it to others with a succinctness and clarity that he seldom found in expressing his own thoughts. He was a born mediator, a peacemaker, and it was this talent, after breaking up numerous fights at the Head of the Slug Saloon, that got Theo elected constable. That and heavy-handed endorsement of Sheriff John Burton. Burton was a hard-line right-wing politico who could spout law and order (accent on order) over brunch with the Rotarians, lunch with the NRA, and dinner with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and wolf down dry banquet chicken like it was manna from the gods every time. He wore expensive suits, a gold Rolex, and drove a pearl-black Eldor-ado that shone like a starry night on wheels (rapt attention and copious coats of carnuba from the grunts in the county motor pool). He had been sheriff of San Junipero County for sixteen years, and in that time the crime rate had dropped steadily until it was the lowest, per capita, of any county in California. His endorsement of Theophilus Crowe, someone with no law enforcement experience, had come as more than somewhat of a surprise to the people of Pine Cove, especially since Theo's opponent was a retired Los Angeles policeman who'd put in a highly decorated five and twenty. What the people of Pine Cove did not know was that Sheriff Burton not only e ndorsed Theo, he had forced him to run in the first place. Theophilus Crowe was a quiet man, and Sheriff John Burton had his reasons for not wanting to hear a peep out of the little North County burg of Pine Cove, so when Theo walked into his little two-room cabin, he wasn't surprised to see a red seven blinking on his answering machine. He punched the button and listened to Burton's assistant insisting that he call right away – seven times. Burton never called the cell phone. Theo had come home to shower and ponder his meeting with Val Riordan. The fact that she had treated at least three of his ex-girlfriends bothered him. He wanted to try and figure out what the women had told her. Obviously, they'd mention that he got high occasionally. Well, more than occasionally. But like any man, it worried him that they might have said something about his sexual performance. For some reason, it didn't bother him nearly as much that Val Riordan think him a loser and a drug fiend as it did that she might think he was bad in the rack. He wanted to ponder the possibilities, think away the paranoia, but instead he dialed the sheriff's private number and was put right through. â€Å"What in the hell is the matter with you, Crowe? You stoned?† â€Å"No more than usual,† Theo said. â€Å"What's the problem?† â€Å"The problem is you removed evidence from a crime scene.† â€Å"I did?† Talking to the sheriff could drain all of Theo's energy instantly. He fell into a beanbag chair that expectorated Styrofoam beads from a failing seam with a sigh. â€Å"What evidence? What scene?† â€Å"The pills, Crowe. The suicide's husband said you took the pills with you. I want them back at the scene in ten minutes. I want my men out of there in half an hour. The M.E. will do the autopsy this afternoon and this case will close by dinnertime, got it? Run-of-the-mill suicide. Obit page only. No news. You understand?† â€Å"I was just checking on her condition with her psychiatrist. See if there were any indications she might be suicidal.† â€Å"Crowe, you must resist the urge to play investigator or pretend that you are a law enforcement officer. The woman hung herself. She was de-pressed and she ended it all. The husband wasn't cheating, there was no money motive, and Mommy and Daddy weren't fighting.† â€Å"They talked to the kids?† â€Å"Of course they talked to the kids. They're detectives. They investigate things. Now get over there and get them out of North County. I'd send them over to get the pills from you, but I wouldn't want them to find your little victory garden, would you?† â€Å"I'm leaving now,† Theo said. â€Å"This is the last I will hear of this,† Burton said. He hung up. Theo hung up the phone, closed his eyes, and turned into a human puddle in the beanbag chair. Forty-one years old and he still lived like a college student. His books were stacked between bricks and boards, his bed pulled out of a sofa, his refrigerator was empty but for a slice of pizza going green, and the grounds around his cabin were overgrown with weeds and brambles. Behind the cabin, in the middle of a nest of blackberry vines, stood his victory garden: ten bushy marijuana plants, sticky with buds that smelled of skunk and spice. Not a day passed that he didn't want to plow them under and sterilize the ground they grew in. And not a day passed that he didn't work his way through the brambles and lovingly harvest the sticky green that would sustain his habit through the day. The researchers said that marijuana was only psychologically addictive. Theo had read all the papers. They only mentioned the night sweats and mental spiders of withdrawal in passing, as if they were no more unpleasant than a tetanus shot. But Theo had tried to quit. He'd wrung out three sets of sheets in one night and paced the cabin looking for distraction until he thought his head might explode, only to give up and suck the piquant smoke from his Sneaky Pete so he could find sleep. The researchers obvi-ously didn't get it, but Sheriff John Burton did. He understood Theo's weakness and held it over him like the proverbial sword. That Burton had his own Achilles' heel and more to lose from its discovery didn't seem to matter. Logically, Theo had him in a standoff. But emotionally, Burton had the upper hand. Theo was always the one to blink. He snatched Sneaky Pete off his orange crate coffee table and headed out the door to return Bess Leander's pills to the scene of the crime. Valerie Dr. Valerie Riordan sat at her desk, looking at the icons of her life: a tiny digital stock ticker that she would surreptitiously glance down at during appointments; a gold Mont Blanc desk set, the pens jutting from the jade base like the antennae of a goldbug; a set of bookends fashioned in the likenesses of Freud and Jung, bracing leather-bound copies of The Psychology of the Unconscious, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), The Interpretation of Dreams, and The Physician's Desk Reference; and a plaster-cast bust of Hippocrates that dispensed Post-it notes from the base. Hippocrates, that wily Greek who turned medicine from magic to science. The author of the famous oath that Val had uttered twenty years ago on that sunny summer day in Ann Arbor when she graduated from med school: â€Å"I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them. I will not give poison to anyone though a sked to do so, nor will I suggest such a plan.† The oath had seemed so silly, so antiquated then. What doctor, in their right mind, would give poison to a patient? â€Å"But in purity and in holiness I will guard my life and my art.† It had seemed so obvious and easy then. Now she guarded her life and her art with a custom security system and a Glock 9 mm. stashed in the nightstand. â€Å"I will not use the knife on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.† She'd never had a problem with that part of the oath. She was loathe to use the knife. She'd gone into psychiatry because she couldn't handle the messy parts of medicine. Her father, a surgeon himself, had been only mildly disappointed. At least she was a doctor, of sorts. She'd done her internship and residency in a rehab center where movie stars and rock idols learned to be responsible by making their own beds, while Val distributed Valium like a flight attendant passing out peanuts. One wing of the Sunrise Center was druggies, the other eating disorders. She preferred the eating disorders. â€Å"You haven't lived until you've force-fed minestrone to a supermodel through a tube,† she told her father. â€Å"Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will do so to help the sick, keeping myself free from all intentional wrongdoing and harm, especially from fornication with woman or man, bond or free.† Well, abstinence from fornication hadn't been a problem, had it? She hadn't had sex since Richard left five years ago. Richard had given her the bust of Hippocrates as a joke, he said, but she'd put it on her desk just the same. She'd given him a statue of Blind Justice wearing a garter belt and fishnets the year before to display at his law office. He'd brought her here to this little village, passing up offers from corporate law firms to follow his dream of being a country lawyer whose daily docket would include disagreements over pig paternity or the odd pension dispute. He wanted to be Atticus Finch, Pudd'nhead Wilson, a Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda character who was paid in fresh-baked bread and baskets of avocados. Well, he'd gotten that part; Val's practice had supported them for most of their marriage. She'd be paying him alimony now if they'd actually divorced. Country lawyer indeed. He left her to go to Sacramento to lobby the California Coastal Commission for a consortium of golf course developers. His job was to convince the commission that sea otters and elephant seals would enjoy nothing better than to watch Japanese businessmen slice Titleists into the Pacific and that what nature needed was one long fairway from Santa Barbara to San Francisco (maybe sand traps at the Pismo and Carmel dunes). He carried a pocket watch, for Christ's sake, a gold chain with a jade fob carved into the shape of an endangered brown pelican. He played his front-porch, rocking-chair-wise, country lawyer against their Botany 500 sophistication and pulled down over two hundred grand a year in the bargain. He lived with one of his clerks, an earnest doe-eyed Stanfordite with surfer girl hair and a figure that mocked gravity. Richard had introduced Val to the girl (Ashley, or Brie, or Jordan) and it had been oh-so-adult and oh-so-gracious and later, when Val cal led Richard to clear up a tax matter, she asked, â€Å"So how'd you screen the candidates, Richard? First one to suck-start your Lexus?† â€Å"Maybe we should start thinking about making our separation official,† Richard had said. Val had hung up on him. If she couldn't have a happy marriage, she'd have everything else. Everything. And so had begun her revolving door policy of hustling appointments, prescribing the appropriate meds, and shopping for clothes and antiques. Hippocrates glowered at her from the desk. â€Å"I didn't intentionally do harm,† Val said. â€Å"Not intentionally, you old buggerer. Fifteen percent of all depressives commit suicide, treated or not.† â€Å"Whatsoever in the course of practice I see or hear (or even outside my practice in social intercourse) that ought never to be published abroad, I will not divulge, but consider such things to be holy secrets.† â€Å"Holy secrets or do no harm?† Val asked, envisioning the hanging body of Bess Leander with a shudder. â€Å"Which is it?† Hippocrates sat on his Post-its, saying nothing. Was Bess Leander's death her fault? If she had talked to Bess instead of put her on antidepressants, would that have saved her? It was possible, and it was also possible that if she kept to her policy of a â€Å"pill for every problem,† someone else was going to die. She couldn't risk it. If using talk therapy instead of drugs could save one life, it was worth a try. Val grabbed the phone and hit the speed dial button that connected her to the town's only pharmacy, Pine Cove Drug and Gift. One of the clerks answered. Val asked to speak to Winston Krauss, the pharmacist. Winston was one of her patients. He was fifty-three, unmarried, and eighty pounds overweight. His holy secret, which he shared with Val during a session, was that he had an unnatural sexual fascination with marine mammals, dolphins in particular. He'd confessed that he'd never been able to watch â€Å"Flipper† without getting an erection and that he'd watched so many Jacques Cousteau specials that a French accent made him break into a sweat. He kept an anatomically correct inflatable porpoise, which he violated nightly in his bathtub. Val had cured him of wearing a scuba mask and snorkel around the house, so gradually the red gasket ring around his face had cleared up, but he still did the dolphin nightly and confessed it to her once a month. â€Å"Winston, Val Riordan here. I need a favor.† â€Å"Sure, Dr. Val, you need me to deliver something to Molly? I heard she went off in the Slug this morning.† Gossip surpassed the speed of light in Pine Cove. â€Å"No, Winston, you know that company that carries all the look-alike placebos? We used them in college. I need you to order look-alikes for all the antidepressants I prescribe: Prozac, Zoloft, Serzone, Effexor, the whole bunch, all the dosages. Order in quantity.† â€Å"I don't get it, Val, what for?† Val cleared her throat. â€Å"I want you to fill all of my prescriptions with the placebos.† â€Å"You're kidding.† â€Å"I'm not kidding, Winston. As of today, I don't want a single one of my patients getting the real thing. Not one.† â€Å"Are you doing some sort of experiment? Control group or something?† â€Å"Something like that.† â€Å"And you want me to charge them the normal price?† â€Å"Of course. Our usual arrangement.† Val got a twenty percent kickback from the pharmacy. She was going to be working a lot harder, she deserved to get paid. Winston paused. She could hear him going through the glass door into the back of the pharmacy. Finally he said, â€Å"I can't do that, Val. That's unethical. I could lose my license, go to jail.† Val had really hoped it wouldn't come to this. â€Å"Winston, you'll do it. You'll do it or the Pine Cove Gazette will run a front-page story about you being a fish-fucker.† â€Å"That's illegal. You can't divulge something I told you in therapy.† â€Å"Quit telling me what's illegal, Winston. I'm married to a lawyer.† â€Å"I'd really rather not do this, Val. Can't you send them down to the Thrifty Mart in San Junipero? I could say that I can't get the pills anymore.† â€Å"That wouldn't work, would it, Winston? The people at the Thrifty Mart don't have your little problem.† â€Å"You're going to have some withdrawal reactions. How are you going to explain that?† â€Å"Let me worry about that. I'm quadrupling my sessions. I want to see these people get better, not mask their problems.† â€Å"This is about Bess Leander's suicide, isn't it?† â€Å"I'm not going to lose another one, Winston.† â€Å"Antidepressants don't increase the incidence of suicide or violence. Eli Lilly proved that in court.† â€Å"Yes and O.J. walked. Court is one thing, Winston, the reality of losing a patient is another. I'm taking charge of my practice. Now order the pills. I'm sure the profit margin is going to be quite a bit higher on sugar pills than it is on Prozac.† â€Å"I could go to the Florida Keys. There's a place down there where they let you swim with bottlenose dolphins.† â€Å"You can't go, Winston. You can't miss your therapy sessions. I want to see you at least once a week.† â€Å"You bitch.† â€Å"I'm trying to do the right thing. What day is good for you?† â€Å"I'll call you back.† â€Å"Don't push me, Winston.† â€Å"I have to make this order,† he said. Then, after a second, he said, â€Å"Dr. Val?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Do I have to go off the Serzone?† â€Å"We'll talk about it in therapy.† She hung up and pulled a Post-it out of Hippocrates' chest. â€Å"Now if I keep this oath, and break it not, may I enjoy honor, in my life and art, among all men for all time; but if I transgress and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.† Does that mean dishonor for all time? she wondered. I'm just trying to do the right thing here. Finally. She made a note to call Winston back and schedule his appointments.

Outline for arts speech †story of Hamlet Essay

IB TOK R3 1. Story of Hamlet A. Hamlet son of late king Claudius, mother remarried less than 2 months after her husband’s death. B. Ghost of late king visits Hamlet and tells him that the new king murdered him. C. Hamlet lashes out at everyone around him, including his love Ophelia. D. Hamlet plots to kill king E. Hamlet stages a play called â€Å"The Mousetrap,† in which a king is murdered by his brother, who then takes up with his wife, Claudius freaked out and Hamlet Claudius is guilty. F. Hamlet visited his mother and derides her for taking up such man. G. Polonius, Ophelia’s father, hid himself in Gertrude’s, Hamlet’s mother, room behind a curtain. When he calls out for help, Hamlet kills him thinking that it is the king. See more: outline format for essay H. Because of the murder, Hamlet is sent to England and when he returns to Elsinore, he sees a funeral-taking place, he finds that Ophelia has drowned. Her brother Laertes, blaming Hamlet for the death his father and sister, challenges Hamlet to a duel. I. At the duel, Laertes poisons his blade to make sure Hamlet will die. At the same time, Claudius inserts a poison pearl into a wine cup in hope that Hamlet will drink it. J. Every important character dies: Gertrude gets to the cup first, and dies. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poison blade, Hamlet mortally wounds Laertes. Hamlet then finds out that Claudius put poison in the cup and he goes after the king and kills him. Then Hamlet lies down and dies. K. This play is often referred to as â€Å"the one in which everybody dies.† 2. Differences between the two A. Mel Gibson version directed by Franco Zeffirelli 1. Starts differently 2. Only 135 min. cut out huge sections. 3. High number of extra- King actually seems to have power 4. Color -can relate 5. Play-in-play with spoken words- much more importance- used by hamlet as proof. 6. Seemed to be made to retell an old story 7. Switched around to make it more entertaining 8. Said by a critic to be written for the masses a. short b. cut out dialogue- easier for common people to understand c. fun to watch B. Olivier as hamlet directed by himself 1. Starts as the play does 2. Less extras- King seems to rule no one 3. 155 min -missing huge sections 4. Play-in-play in mime less importance done to jab at the king and queen for what they have done 5. New interpretation of an old story 6. Black and White cannot relate to lack of color as well 7. Friends of Hamlet left out a. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern not in b. Allows Hamlet to be less insane 8. Better sword play- build more suspense as to who will win 9. Cinematography changes feeling Darker a. castle is dark and so is the sky, see more of the dark sky b. Humor is cut out 3. Differences in Hamlet A. Soliloquies in Olivier to self allows him to get closer to subjects, inner turmoil, in Zeffirelli it is out loud, insanity 1. Kill Claudius when praying 2. To be or not to be B. In Zeffirelli- acts much more insane- wild eyed, over the top. C. In Olivier- much more reserved, caustic when speaking. 4. Other differences in characters A. Queen Gertrude 1. In Olivier a. actress is 29 years old Olivier is 41- looks strange b. drinks the poison knowing that she will die- to save Hamlet, a noble death 2. In Zeffirelli a. Devastating and tragic death- didn’t knew that the cup was poisoned, more of an impact on viewers. B. Ophelia 1. In Zeffirelli a. Completely mad, gives out bones and sticks and calls them flowers 2. Olivier a. Semi-mad, more out of it than insane C. Dead King 1. Zeffirelli a. King looks like he is alive and is just back visiting not freighting 2. Olivier a. Never see the face of the king, comes surrounded in fog b. Scary c. See the murder acted out 5. Conclusion A. Way the director influenced my perception of the story 1. Same story, many of the same lines, same characters, but different feelings emitted from both. a. Zeffirelli humorous, have fun watching it makes the ending more tragic more of a dramatic change b. Olivier is dark always fell that something terrible is going to happen end not as devastating c. Polonius: Words, words, words B. Olivier version constitutes what I believe to be a masterpiece when following Clark’s definition from unit four of our book. 1. follows all of the guidelines a. The original play by Shakespeare that it is based off of fills the first 5 requirements as well as the last. b. Olivier’s version creates the feeling of complete supremacy of the artist’s art. Whereas Zeffirelli’s is entertaining but not a masterpiece. c. Olivier’s version won 5 Oscars, Zeffirelli’s, none. Show preview only

Nature vs. Nurture Essay

Homosexuality, Addictions and Intelligence There have always been disputes on whether the decision to be homosexual or heterosexual was based on biological or environmental factors. These disputes are known as the Nature vs. Nurture argument. The two sides argue over how gender is chosen within a person. Based on reproductive organs, sex is easily determined at birth: male or female. Gender, however; is the sexual identity an individual takes on. It is possible for sex and gender to be different. For an example of nurture children who were both born with an injured or damaged reproductive organ, males usually can be raised successfully as females. In order to understand which factor is the deciding factor of a person’s gender, both sides of the case must be fully evaluated. DNA studies which appear to prove that gender is a genetic trait. Researchers have analyzed the makeup of the human brain of homosexuals and heterosexuals seeking a connection between gender and the brains physiology. They found when studying the part of the brain directly related to a persons’ sexual drive, that homosexuals had an enlarged hypothalamus, whereas heterosexuals had a normal one indicating a direct correlation between the brain and gender selections (AllPsych). In researching DNA’s role in gender identity, some scientist have identified the gene that determines a person’s sexual preference. Although there are mounting evidence of the existence of a â€Å"gay gene, â€Å"the opposition denies the existence (AllPsych). People in support of the Nurture argument claim that is an individual conscious or subconscious decision as to his or her gender identify. While many claim that people may control their sexual orientation, their brain, and not the other way around are actually controlling them. A person DNA and brain physiology control sexual preference which may be associated in the amygdale of the limbic system (Pscyhsmart). When scientist castrated the rats, stopping the creation of androgen, the male rats became submissive. When the androgen was given to the female rats, they began to display masculine behaviors. This experiment resulted in the male rat being submissive and allowing the female rat to  mount the male, unlike the normal male rat that would mount the female when engaging in reproduction ( Lippa 102). Similar to humans, if male do not have proper balance of hormones with his body, he may show feminine traits. These hormones are a biological aspect of gender that affects the decision to be homosexual or heterosexual. On the other hand, for the purpose of this discussion, addiction can take many forms, including not only substance use disorders, but also pathologic gambling, bulimia, and a host of other disorders. Dependency, abuse, and addiction are used relatively interchangeably; however, there is ongoing debate within the field regarding the best terminology. Furthermore, differences in how these phenotypes are surrounded can have an impact on the results of gene discovery efforts. Genetic loci that have been consistently associated with various forms of substance addiction, as well as those that demonstrate relevance to pharmacologic treatment. While the nature vs. nurture debate has raged, is the contribution of interactions between genetics and environment. In reality, â€Å"gene expression is environment dependent† and it impossible to obtain pure estimates of genetic vs. environmental contribution – one could not exist without the other. The environment a child experiences is partly a consequence of the child’s genes as well as external factors. To some extent a person seeks out and creates his or her environment. If she is of a mechanical bent she practices mechanical skills; if a bookworm, she seeks out books. Thus genes may create an appetite rather than an aptitude. Remember that the high heritability of short-sightedness is accounted for not just by the heritability of a gene for short sightedness but by the heritability of literate habits. Conversely, on the discussion of intelligence, there are three facts about the transmission of intelligence that virtually everyone seems to accept: 1. Both heredity and environment contribute to intelligence. 2. Heredity and environment interact in various ways. 3. Extremely poor as well as highly enriched environments can interfere with the realization of a person’s intelligence, regardless of the person’s heredity (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 1997, p.xi). Intelligence that appears to relate to ability to reason abstractly, to learn and to adapt. In closing, homosexuality, addictions and intelligence have reliable  statistical relationships with important social phenomena, but they are a limited tool for deciding what to make of any given individual. As stated by Ridley, â€Å"Mother Nature has plainly not entrusted our genetic capacities to the blind fate of a gene or genes; she gave us parents, learning, language, culture and education to program ourselves with.† WORKS CITED: Johnson, Ryan D. AllPsych (2005). â€Å"Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture†. Ridley, M. (1999). Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters. London: Fourth Estate Ltd. Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. (Eds.) (1997). Intelligence, heredity, and environment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Devolution ( public law ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Devolution ( public law ) - Essay Example 2005), has made clear that the government’s proposal to introduce a drink ban on public transport would help curb alcohol-related disorder alongside a range of other measures. With 23,000 incidents of alcohol-fuelled violence each week with relevant elevated alcohol consumption trends (Leifman, 2001), the agency has proposed that existing laws are enforced to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related violence on the streets and on public transportation. England’s objective of reducing harm caused by alcohol misuse is recognised and focuses on the prevention, minimisation and management of the harms caused by alcohol misuse. These measures addressed in its objectives aims to identify alcohol misuse and the enforcement of existing powers against crime and disorder and promotion of responsible drinking. Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (CDA98) and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) the partnership of both agencies are held responsible in the consideration of crime and disorder issues in their own core activities that improve safety and security in local neighborhoods. Criminal Justice Boards and Youth Offending and the Drug and Alcohol Action Teams shall be a voluntary forum for coordination of local priorities. They are tasked to bring together the key local agencies with an interest in reducing the harms caused by alcohol misuse: the health service, the criminal justice system and the local authority. With support of the Scottish Executive for a complete ban in on alcohol consumption in public places, (The Herald, July 19, 2006) the proposal, has spawned public outburst. Festivities organizers and popular across Wales and Scotland and gaming grounds personnel rallied against the ban with arguments pointed out that such is breach on human rights while legislative proposals control the sale and purchase of alcohol (Scotland Bill on Alcohol). It is apparent that Scottish culture towards drinking in a study (SSA, 2004) has

Research paper about Pitney Bowes Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

About Pitney Bowes - Research Paper Example As a leader in the provision of software and hardware capabilities relating to information, the organization faces the need to institute new and improved ways of operations in order to realize its objectives. The organizational development plan, therefore, seeks to shed light on some of the most critical areas of action in addition to offering the new strategies that should be adopted by the organization in order to realize these transformations. Introduction and scope of the plan The major purpose of this organizational development plan is to bring about change and transformation at Pitney Bowes and improve the performance of the organization in the various sectors, as spelled in this plan. Specifically, the plan seeks to enable the organization to realize its objectives as spelled out in the strategic plan, achieve its vision and to transform the overall performance of the organization towards the better. In the context of managing mails, the company seeks to revolutionize the indu stry, as it has always done. More importantly, the plan seeks to ensure that the organization lives up to its mission statement of delivering shareholder and customer value through the provision of quality services in the market. Essentially, this is a document geared towards steering the development of the organization taking consideration of the fact that the present business environment has become almost uncertain and, hence, organizations must always strive to achieve and deliver the best in the market (Pederson, 2010). The plan will further monitor the realization of these goals through a systematic process that links up to the very expectations of the clients and other stakeholders of the organization. The plan is anchored on the Pitney Bowes organizational culture which stresses on the empowerment of staff and building the confidence of the organization’s customers scattered across the world (Lusterman, 2001). It s important to realize that any tangible organizational success can only be realized if the strategies and objectives of the organization are spelled out well and understood by all stakeholders. Everybody should be in the capacity to clearly understand their duties and roles towards the overall development of the organization. Background Pitney Bowes has always pursued a range of activities geared towards the development of the organization since its formation (2006). Much of these changes have always revolved around the establishment of a proper organizational structure that can ensure easy management and decision making. In addition, globalization and the new options brought about by technology have compelled the organization to radically transform its operations in order to comply with these demands of time. This is realized in the areas of research, development and technology where huge investments have been made in the recent past in order to improve operations and facilitate global operations. Indeed, the organization development p lan presents a good basis for the organization to effectively coordinate its operations and manage its increasing affairs across the world. The concept of organizational development is no longer a conventional affair in the business world. It requires proper strategies and sufficient resource allocations in order to succeed. Pitney Bowes has always been a leading provider of services and products in communication across

ASSESSMENT 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ASSESSMENT 2 - Essay Example This demonstrates the interdependence that exists between the managerial decisions made by the two firms and this affects the pricing and output in the market. Monopolistic market structure is characterized by the presence of multiple of firms that sell similar but non-identical products to equally informed consumers. Consumers are thus presented with an opportunity of picking either product from any of the consumers, as they are substitutes of each other and thus serve the same purpose. Edward Chamberlin and Joan Robinson first described the monopolistic market structures in the 1930s and generated the characteristics of such a market. Duopoly and monopolistic market structures differ significantly in the number of producers, type of goods and the government influence that is exerted in each situation. This paper seeks to highlight the differences between the two market structures and this affects the performances of the firms involved. The paper also seeks to provide a case study of firms in the united states that operate under the two different market structures and how their success and failure has been influenced by this market struct ure (Weron and Weron, 438). The first obvious characteristic of duopoly market is the presence of only two firms, sellers or produces whose actions or lack of it affects the managerial decisions of the other. For long, a number of firms in the United States have operated under a duopoly market structure but has since changed due innovation and technological advancement. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are the major soft drink manufacturers in the United States and they literally control the market and its dynamics. Visa and MasterCard have also remained as the major plastic money providers not just in the United States but also in major economies around the world (Weron and Weron, 439). In a duopoly market structure, the decisions made by one of

Bill Levitt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bill Levitt - Essay Example Unquestionably, Bill Levitt, whose family had been in the custom home building business, envisioned how this atmosphere of new found prosperity and the lack of adequate housing in the overcrowded cities of the East could pave the way for mass production home construction that would forever change the landscape of America - Suburbia was born. Prior to the post-World War II era home ownership in urban America was primarily reserved for the affluent. Custom home building was the norm and the cost was prohibitive to many people. The vast majority of the urban population lived in cramped apartments and row houses and, for the majority, home ownership was only a dream. Levitt, however, seizing on his experience and knowledge of home building understood that through streamlining the building process and standardizing the home designs, he could mass produce homes affordable to the average family. Levitt, though, went a step further by creating massive housing developments on the outskirts of urban industrial cities which offered the prospect of middle class comforts at a price almost any young family could afford (Hales 1). Levitt did not stop with merely building affordable homes; He astutely created communities within these huge developments that offered the convenience of shopping, recreation, church and schools all designed and created within the developments. Levitt sold more than homes; he sold a new way of life complete with a sense of upward mobility and community to the burgeoning young families of the early 1950's. In order to mass produce affordable homes, Levitt drew on several different sources: the efficiency of assembly line production with interchangeable parts coupled with simplistic architectural designs the emphasized open floor plans and modern conveniences. "Levitt sacrificed individuality and custom design for low-cost efficiency" ('Building' 3). To accomplish this Levitt offered only a few models of home choices in each of his developments. Additionally to save on the cost of construction these single family homes were constructed on slab foundations instead of the traditional basement. He did not skimp on quality, however. All the homes constructed used quality products in the building process and the homes offered modern conveniences that appealed to his target audience of young families looking to own their own home on the outskirts of the urban hubs. A testament to Levitt and Sons Builders was the fact that "between 1950 and 1960, 20 million people were drawn to mass housing d evelopments on the outskirts of America's cities" ('Building' 1). To facilitate the low production costs of his homes, Levitt streamlined every facet of home construction. He assembled groups of workers that performed the same tasks over and over again moving from home to home within the development. One group would prepare the building site. One group would pour concrete. One group would rough frame. One group would apply siding. In short, each and every task had specific workers to complete each specific task. This ensured efficiency, speed, unsurpassed productivity and cost containment previously unheard of in the home building industry. Additionally, as there were limited home models constructed his company saved on material cost by purchasing in bulk. His building plans were so well designed

Assignment #3 480 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

#3 480 - Assignment Example Knowledge: HRD practitioner should portray that is knowledgeable. He or she must portray the knowledge of overcoming special challenges that are common in the working environment, carrying out complicated tasks, as well as understanding the process of change in the working environment. Additionally, HRD practitioner should have a good understanding of job learning strategies as well as management strategies (Hytonen, 2002). Task: The tasks of HRD practitioner are diverse. They range from training colleagues in an organization to being active in seminars. It is also the responsibility of HRD practitioner to enhance team work, provide internal consultancy, mentor other workers, and coach other employees. Apart from advocating job rotation, HRD practitioner also facilitates the success of special projects and carries out special assignments and excursions (Hytonen, 2002). Additionally, it is the responsibility of the HRD practitioner to ensure that an organization’s objectives have been achieved. He or she achieve these enhancing social interactions between colleagues and customers, as well as maintaining and developing the knowledge and skills of people working in his or her organization. Hytonen T. (2002). Exploring the Practice of Human Resource Development as a Field of Professional Expertise. Retrieved

Mechanical orientation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mechanical orientation - Essay Example III (2009), he averred that â€Å"according to HomeDoctor.net, a roofing nail has a diamond-shaped sharp tip to help it nail through decking without splitting it. That is why it is important to use roofing nails when doing a roofing job. Roofing nails are made of galvanized steel to protect them from the elements. When installing roofing nails always make sure the nail is flush to the shingle. A countersunk nail will rip the shingle, and a nail that is not completely nailed down will eventually work its way out† (par. 6). There are different lengths of nails to use depending on the roofing materials one is working on. For asphalt shingles, Root III indicated that â€Å"when installing asphalt shingles on felt only to any grade decking you should use 1-inch long roofing nails. When installing dimensional shingles to felt only, Roofhelp.com recommends you use 1 1/4-inch nails. If you are putting a layer of asphalt shingles over an existing layer of asphalt shingles on to a 3/4-inch deck or a plank deck then you should be using 1 1/2-inch nails. If your decking is less than 3/4 inch then a 1 1/2-inch nail will suffice. For dimensional shingles being installed over a layer of existing dimensional shingles you should always use a 1 1/2-inch roofing nail† (Root III, pars. 4 & 5). A rubber mallet is â€Å"a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface† (Dictionary.com, par. 1). Wallender identified the following uses of a rubber mallet, to wit: â€Å"for ceramic tile, it helps gently tap tile into place; laminate flooring: great for this brittle material; tap carpeting onto tacking strips; a â€Å"sounding device† if you need to hear what is behind a wall or in a pipe; PVC pipe work; and two tight-fitting sections of drywall† (Wallender, par.1), among others. According to needs, the rubber mallet come in different types and prices, such as the

Trend and analysis of SLS hotel external environment Research Paper

Trend and analysis of SLS hotel external environment - Research Paper Example The SLS Luxury brand caters to a specific class of people who desire a lifestyle of high-class service, sophistication, â€Å"over the top† luxury, and an atmosphere that fulfills these needs. SLS Hotels have created a new paradigm in the luxury hotel experience that speaks to a global, sophisticated audience. â€Å"SLS† stands for â€Å"style, luxury, and service. This speaks to the needs of today’s sophisticated travelers, offering an array of widely customizable features and an unwavering commitment to innovation and superior guest service (Hotels, 2014). The sort of products and administrations requested by customers is generally impacted by their convictions and state of mind which, on the other hand, are affected by social molding. The surrounding social entities and the associated activities. The Hollywood presence, for instance, presents the hotel with great opportunity for the constant flow of clients who even stay for longer periods. The hotel location is a great contributor to the accessibility by the target population who include the diplomatic tourists and business persons in Los Angeles. Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, in particular, is a popular destination for people seeking luxury and high-class lifestyle. The Hollywood movie industry, high-end shopping options and opportunities, beaches and resorts such as Santa Monica Pier and Venice boardwalk, attractions such as the Universal Studios, many museums and cultural events in L.A constitutes to the main social factors that make the destination popular (Enz, 2009). Being an economic hub, Los Angeles provides the hotel with an adequate supply of market as business people from all over the world frequently come to the city for conferences (Hotels, 2014). The growing population of Beverly Hills is also a social factor to consider. Currently, the population of the city stands at over 34,000 people. However, the population has various demands depending on the age-group and socioeconomic factors.

Should Students Be Graded on Attendance Essay Example for Free

Should Students Be Graded on Attendance Essay Should a student be graded on his or her attendance in class? No, a student should not be graded on their attendance in class. A student should be graded on their work that they do in class not the fact they are sometimes not in attendance. A student should not be graded on their class attendance for many reasons. One of those main reasons could be a continuous illness. A student with a continuous illness has no choice but to miss days out of class. For example a student with diabetes has to go to doctors appointments to have their glucose level checked. This student can quickly get sick and need medical attention, which will cause them to miss class. Would you rather have a student in your class sick and not learn anything or would you have them miss class and seek medical attention. A student that misses class often can possibly pass that class. It all depends on the grade that they have. Yes missing class sets the student back and causes him or her to spend time making up the work that they have missed, but that does not mean they are going to fail. If this student is passing that class they can afford to miss one class every often. It is when they start to miss too many classes that you should start to deduct points from their grade. A student with a passing grade and does his or her work should not be graded on their attendance because you never know what the circumstances of their absence might be. Often time’s college students feel that since they are paying for school they have the right to miss class. True students are paying for class but that does not give them the right to miss class. Yes you are paying for your education and you should be able to miss class whenever you would like too. It’s the student and their parent’s money and they should be able to waste it however they want. Some students feel that they pay a teacher to come to class everyday and that if that teacher misses days out of class then they have the right to miss class. In some cases this statement is true. It’s their money and they feel as though they have the right to miss class since they are paying for it. Students should not be graded on their classroom attendance. A student can have a good average and if they miss class and get a grade for not being present it could lower their grade. Students sometimes do not miss class intentionally, events just happen that cause them to miss class. Although a student pays for their education it does not give them the right to miss class at any time. Students are in school to get an education and should attend class everyday.

Cause and effect AID Essay Example for Free

Cause and effect AID Essay There are many factors that cause Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is a disease caused by a virus called HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). First of all, HIV is caused by having sex through unprotected sex with a person who has infected by HIV. HIV may be transmitted through unprotected heterosexual or homosexual, vaginal, anal, or oral sex. The main routes of transmission are unprotected vaginal and anal sex. Besides that, one can be infected with HIV through blood transmission. Sharing needles and reusing syringes that contaminated with HIV-infected blood may cause blood transmission from one to another. In most of the cases, this incident occurs when there is sharing and reusing needles among drug users. In addition, HIV may be transmitted if there is use of contaminated surgical instruments or equipments and blood transfusion with infected blood during medical treatment or operation. It could happen when health care workers are involved in needle prick accidents. Moreover, one of the ways to be infected with HIV is through mother-child transmission infection. This is a condition where mothers who are infected by HIV are at risk of giving the disease to their baby during pregnancy and giving birth process. Besides that, HIV transmission can occur during breastfeeding by an infected mother as well which is called vertical transmission. Effects of AIDS AIDS causes damage to the human body in many ways. AIDS reduces the ability of the infected person to fight other diseases. HIV infection causes AIDS as well as a number of health problems. HIV infection affects many organs of the body, including those within the immune, gastrointestinal, mucosal, respiratory and neurological systems. First of all, HIV virus affects the immune system as the virus attacks lymphocytes called T cells. These T cells also called as CD4 are essential for fighting disease causing germs. When CD4 T-cells are infected, the count of T cells eventually decreases in the body of patient, it becomes susceptible to infections. Besides that, HIV infection that caused AIDS also contributes to weight effects. People who infected HIV may lose muscle and fat where they are difficult to regain the weight once they lost their weight. Complete loss of appetite is also one of the symptoms which may cause rapid weight losing or diarrhea which can lead to dehydration. AIDS wasting syndrome is one of the concern for HIV patients where they loss their 10 percent or more of their body weight. Presentation of argument The main reason that causes AIDS is through having unprotected sex. Unprotected sex is a term used to describe anal or vaginal sex without a condom. According to Health Protection Agency, most cases of HIV in the UK are caused by having sexual contact. HIV transmits through unprotected homosexual or heterosexual, vaginal, anal, or even oral sex. HIV moves from a body fluid of infected person into the body and bloodstream of their sexual partner during sexual contact. HIV can be transmitted via delicate and absorbent mucous skin of penis, vagina, lining of rectum and sometimes mouth and throat as well. HIV infection doesn’t occur every time unprotected sex takes place. However, it could happen any time unprotected sex takes place. According to scientists, an infected person will transmit HIV to their partner once in every 900 times they have unprotected sex. Thus, the more people one has unprotected sex with, the more chances HIV infection can passes on. There are different kinds of sexual behaviours according to relative risks. Sexual behaviours such as masturbation, kissing, touching, oral sex on a man with condom or oral sex on a woman with a barrier method may cause HIV infection at a very low risk whereas anal intercourse wand vaginal sex without a condom may cause HIV infection at high risk. It is possible to catch HIV through unprotected oral sex, but the risk is much lower. The risk of HIV transmission through oral sex will be higher if the person giving oral sex has mouth ulcers, sores or bleeding gums and/or if the person receiving oral sex has been recently infected with or another sexually transmitted infection.

Legislation Of Health And Safety Construction Essay

Legislation Of Health And Safety Construction Essay This report provides a brief overview of the legislation, which sets out the duties imposed on everyone at workplaces.This outlines the responsibilities of every person at the workplace, the consultative framework, the requirements for reporting injuries and dangerous occurrences, the use of codes of practice, how the legislation is administered. One important principle underlying the legislation is that by bringing all parties in the workplace into consultative and decision-making processes, there will be greater commitment to workplace health and safety. INTRODUCTION Health and safety all about is keeping people from costing harmed by work or turning ill by taking the correct precautions or safeguard and supplying a satisfactory working environment. A risk assessment or judgment is nothing more than a proper way of examination of what reason behind safety of worker in danger and cause harm to work. Risk assessment/judgment should be a practical workout, directed at getting the right way of controls of safety in place keep it simple and set the outcomes into practice [HSE : 2001]. Steps include in risk assessment Make systems for implementing the health and safety assesses identified as necessity by the risk assessment; Put up emergency processes; Offer clear information and training to employees; Guidance in particular to the health and safety troubles of an industry or of a particular procedure applied in a number of industries. The important functions of guidance are: To understand serving people to realized what the law says and provide for instance how demands based on EC Directives meet with those beneath the Health and Safety at Work Act; To aid people follow with the law; To establish technical proposal. Figure Overall safety scheme HAZARDS A health hazard is any chemical or biological substance or physical stressor that causes or aggravates illness in humans. Chemical health hazards occur in many different forms. They can be liquids, such as benzene; solids, such as silica dust; or gases, such as hydrogen sulfide. Normally, it is much easier to determine the cause of an injury on the job than it is an illness due to the following reasons: The chemical substance causing the disease may be odorless or invisible. Symptoms may be mistaken for common non-occupational illnesses. Diseases may not become apparent until many years after the exposure to a hazardous substance. 2.1 Routes of Entry Chemical health hazards can enter the body in different ways: Inhalation from the lungs into the blood stream. Absorption through the skin into the blood stream. Ingestion through digestive tract into the blood stream. 2.2 Types of Hazard Controls Engineering Controls Engineering controls, which involve changes in a machine, work process, chemical, or a building that eliminate or reduce exposure to health hazards are recommended by OSHA as the best method to control hazards. Administrative Controls Administrative controls are used to reduce the number of workers who are exposed to a hazard or to distribute the exposure among more workers so that each workers exposure is less. Administrative controls do not eliminate or reduce the amount of the hazard in the workplace. Personal Protective Equipment Personal protective equipment does reduce exposure to hazards but it is the least desirable protection because it may be uncomfortable, used improperly, or fit poorly. 2.3 Type of Hazards Slips or trips The slip or trip at work in almost all kind of businesses activities or work place cause many serious injurious such as food and catering. Falls from a height Falls from ladders results serious harm to people and to protect falls from height, the work is planned or designed and conveyed out by capable people and adopt the hierarchy for managing and dealing with risks. Fire and explosion Each year many peoples health and safety in danger because of the flammable materials present at workplace or they work with it like heating fuel(LPG gas), Petrol, Paint thinners and during wielding gas used. Musculoskeletal disorders Manual (or mechanical) carrying or moving or delivering or working with loads by hand or using bodily force or power . Noise High levels or degrees echo of noise at work can probably cause hearing damage deafness to both age group young and old. Electricity Electricity can cause non-fatal shocks, falls from ladders caused by contact with overhead or underground power cables. Poor electrical installations or facilities and faulty or defective electrical gadgets can lead to huge fires and sometimes blast result in death or danger to safety and health to others. Radiation Different kinds of radiation harmful and very dangers to human and environment like UV radiation, Laser, X-ray. First aid and accident reporting First aid means emergency care given before regular medical  aid can be obtained. It basically involve treating any physical damage to the body caused at work and giving immediate care to more serious and of great consequence casualties before the medical help are obtainable. Through with this at the beginning management of injury or damage suffered at work, lives can be saved and minor injuries prevented from turning into major ones[ Work cover: ISBN 978 1 ]. Reporting accidents and ill health of worker at workplace is a legal demand. LEGISLATION There are certain mass of legislation are provided and come year by year for the safety and health of worker at workplace. We discuss some important Laws available [HSE: 2001]. 2.1 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (risk assessment). Choose specially and sufficient risk assessment is made of:- The risks to all employees whilst they are working; The risks to all workers originating from companys operations; The recognition of the measures needed to follow with the applicable statutory conditions. These Risk Assessments will be examined at least yearly. Interpretation of Risks: Hazard or danger Hazard Material Risk involved 2.2 Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995(the Act). The aim of the Act is to provide for the health and safety of people employed in, engaged in or affected by industry [ Work cover: ISBN 978 1 ]. Specifically, the Act aims or objectives to: †¢ assure the health, safety and welfare of employees at work †¢ protect people at or near workplaces from risks to health and safety †¢ promote an occupational environment for employees that harmonize with their health and safety needs †¢ foster a co-operative, consultative relationship between employers and employees The Act covers employers, employees, self-employed persons, manufacturers, service providers, designers, importers, suppliers and installers [HSE : 2001]. 2.3 Workplace Health and Safety Regulations 1996. The function and purpose of regulations is to give details of requirements that must be observed in the workplace. Regulations are the second tier of legislation. While they are subordinate to the Act, they still represent legal requirements, and failure to comply will generally be an offence punishable by a fine. The Act broadly outlines the legal obligations employers and workers have to workplace health and safety. The Regulations set out goals for meeting these legal obligations and making workplaces safe. Employers and workers can tailor safety measures to the needs of individual workplaces provided the outcomes specified in the Regulations are achieved[ Work cover: ISBN 978 1 ]. Risk management is a key element of the Regulations. Other important issues outlined in the Regulations include the need to: †¢ communicate with all parties at the workplace, including health and safety committees or employees safety representatives and those responsible for managing workplaces particularly whenever any proposed change to a workplace is likely to affect health or safety †¢ keep records relating to a number of workplace matters †¢ make any relevant health and safety information available to workers. 2.4 Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 Under the Act, the functions of the health and safety committee are to: †¢ Foster consultation and co-operation between employers and people working at the workplace †¢ Initiate, develop and implement measures that will ensure workplace health and safety †¢ Keep abreast of changes in standards of workplace health and safety †¢ Recommend to the employer that programs, measures and procedures about workplace health and safety are established, maintained and monitored †¢ Keep information provided by the employer about hazards that may arise at the workplace in a place where employees can access them Figure The law on consulting employees about health and safety in your Health and safety in Construction This section provides a brief outlines the main health and safety management requirements during a construction project by including and addressing the following project specifies [OGC: 2003]: Objectives, the key health and safety performance and success criteria during construction and for the finished asset. Background, the key health and safety drives ( such as the intention to achieve excellence as a client and to align the project with current national improvement campaigns. A business case that recognizes the need for client health and safety leadership and commitment Quality plans that measure health and safety performance during design, procurement and construction(including , where appropriate, facilities maintenance etc) Project organization, addressing responsibilities for the management of health ans safety risks as part of project governance. CONCLUSION A systematic and regular audit of Safety Systems and Performance can lead to significant improvements. There are certain laws and legislation are made in favor of workers and employee for their safety and there are so many committee and representative are assign to groups of worker under safety representatives. The main function of safety representatives to look into possible hazards and dangerous happening at the workplace (whether or not they are drawn to his attention by the employees he represents)

Somewhere to call home :: essays research papers fc

Somewhere to call home The Middle of Somewhere stresses the important facts of racism and equal rights among human beings. This interesting and compelling story is about an African family who fought the government for what they believed was right. In the times of segregation, the white people pushed around the blacks. It was the few blacks that chose to stand up for themselves and fight back for what they believed in. â€Å"The middle of somewhere†. If spoken aloud, it makes you think. This must be a place where you call home. Somewhere where you feel safe and where everything around you is comfortable. In the novel, Rebecca and her family always talk about Pofadderkloof. Pofadderkloof is the place where the whites want to move all the black people of the village in order to replace the area with a white suburb. They tell the black people that in Pofadderkloof the houses will be larger and will have a running tap. Also, they will have two bedrooms and a stove. Rebecca’s family was the only family to know that they were telling all lies just to get them to move. When Rebecca’s best friend, Noni and her family move to Pofadderkloof, she is hurt to the point of crying everyday. When a member of Noni’s family actually notices that everything that was told to them were all lies, she goes back to the village on foot for about two days to tell everyone. She refers to Pofadderkloof as â€Å"the middle of nowhere†, because of the one-bedroom houses and miles of dry plain with no markets or available jobs. Pretty soon, the whole village comes together and forms a c ommittee to help each other for what is right. They don’t want to go to the middle of nowhere. There want to stay home in the village, in the middle of somewhere. In the middle of somewhere is home; that’s where everything feels right. The village was the home to many, but it was a key part in Rebecca’s family’s life. To Rebecca, home was everything to her. She loved going home after school to play hopscotch, or jumping rope in front of her house with her friends near the beautiful jacaranda tree. When she heard that bulldozers were coming to tear her house down, she was terrified. She couldn’t sleep at night. It was all she could think about.

Apitherapy :: Health Medicine Medical Healthy Essays

Apitherapy Medicine, like all other fields, is subject to trends. In recent years, trends towards "alternative healing" have emerged on top. They surface everywhere: gingko biloba tablets appear at the convenience store counter, and major beverage companies have introduced herbal iced teas with different supplements that are rumored to help with everything from memory to stress. There are are health food stores everywhere providing "all natural" alternatives for everything from caffeine to fertility drugs. Perhaps the reason for this trend is that medicine has failed to provide cures for so many afflictions without having unbearable side effects, or perhaps the reason is that medicine has advanced so much that attempts to create medicines that are less harmful than synthesized medicines have resulted in this natural trend. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that stores are being bombarded with vitamin supplements, herbal foods, and "natural" drugs claiming to do what modern medicine has found difficult to accomplish. One type of "alternative healing" is called Apitherapy, and is what I will be discussing in this paper. Apitherapy is defined as "the healing use of the products of the honeybee hive" (1). Much of apitherapy is based on the properties of bee venom, though there are other byproducts which have claimed to be benificial. The major reason this therapy has come to light is because bee venom is composed of 30 different components, many of which are peptides that should provide an anti-inflammatory affect, as well as other agents which stimulate the body's immune system. Pure bee venom (Apitox) has been tested and found to be safe in humans and animals by the International Pain Institute (2). As with many alternative therapies, apitherapy has not been extensively tested scientifically. There have been some. The American Apitherapy Society (AAS) has tested it in relation to treating osteoarthritis. There are many supporters of honeybee byproducts as a treatment, but overall most clinical testing has failed to prove that there is much medicinal value in apitherapy. The only proven treatment has been for desensitization for those with life-threatening bee sting allergies (3). The support for apitherapy is a function of two things: potential clinical efficacy and personal experience stories. The byproducts of honeybees seem to have a lot of potential for effective treatment of many medical conditions.

Essay --

This book honestly kind of is kind of weird. The reason behind this is the fact that the novel is really instable and its theme and setting, because at one point where one point in time in a certain setting, and it literally the blink of an eye you are another in time and in another setting. Basically the first part of the novel is talking about how fond good got the idea of writing this book that we are about to read. And it talks about his education and his time in Dresden as a prisoner of war. We realize that it's taken him long time to come up with this book because of all of the imagery that he can't seem to portray his writing. Spurts I missed of the story is Billy Pilgrim, here is an optometrist who was later drafted into world war two. Before Billy shipped overseas, his dad dies in a hunting accident. He begins his war career in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, where he is immediately taken prisoner behind German lines. Just before he is captured, he experiences what he calls â€Å"time shifting† and he sees his entire life from beginning to end, all in one big sweep. The lead is then sent through aware railway car to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. Billy has a breakdown and is sent into his time shifting again. He and the other prisoners of war are sent to the city of Dresden, and their Presentment is one of the former slaughterhouses. Then the firestorm of Dresden begins when the allies carpet bomb the city of Dresden with incendiary bombs. This caused most buildings to be caught on fire and all of the oxygen sucked out into the fire's that were blazing. This caused about 130,000 people to be suffocated to death. The only way that Billy and the other prisoners of war survived is by hiding in an airtight meat locker i... ...p of what I was reading. He is a very different kind of author and it's hard to explain but I just really feel like I wouldn't want to read another one of his books. 19. As I stressed throughout these multiple questions I feel like the most important phrase that he has said in the book is â€Å"so it goes†. The reason why I feel as if it is most important is because it explains his life out of how dying is a fact of life and we can't do anything to stop it. This really asked the entire gloominess of the novel because we realize his indifference to death. If I had to make a T-shirt slogan for this book I think you have to be 99 problems but, so it goes. My reason behind this is that there is a popular song out there were talks about he has 99 problems but a cheating girlfriend is not one of them, I added the fact that even if you have 99 problems that's just the way life Essay -- This book honestly kind of is kind of weird. The reason behind this is the fact that the novel is really instable and its theme and setting, because at one point where one point in time in a certain setting, and it literally the blink of an eye you are another in time and in another setting. Basically the first part of the novel is talking about how fond good got the idea of writing this book that we are about to read. And it talks about his education and his time in Dresden as a prisoner of war. We realize that it's taken him long time to come up with this book because of all of the imagery that he can't seem to portray his writing. Spurts I missed of the story is Billy Pilgrim, here is an optometrist who was later drafted into world war two. Before Billy shipped overseas, his dad dies in a hunting accident. He begins his war career in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, where he is immediately taken prisoner behind German lines. Just before he is captured, he experiences what he calls â€Å"time shifting† and he sees his entire life from beginning to end, all in one big sweep. The lead is then sent through aware railway car to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. Billy has a breakdown and is sent into his time shifting again. He and the other prisoners of war are sent to the city of Dresden, and their Presentment is one of the former slaughterhouses. Then the firestorm of Dresden begins when the allies carpet bomb the city of Dresden with incendiary bombs. This caused most buildings to be caught on fire and all of the oxygen sucked out into the fire's that were blazing. This caused about 130,000 people to be suffocated to death. The only way that Billy and the other prisoners of war survived is by hiding in an airtight meat locker i... ...p of what I was reading. He is a very different kind of author and it's hard to explain but I just really feel like I wouldn't want to read another one of his books. 19. As I stressed throughout these multiple questions I feel like the most important phrase that he has said in the book is â€Å"so it goes†. The reason why I feel as if it is most important is because it explains his life out of how dying is a fact of life and we can't do anything to stop it. This really asked the entire gloominess of the novel because we realize his indifference to death. If I had to make a T-shirt slogan for this book I think you have to be 99 problems but, so it goes. My reason behind this is that there is a popular song out there were talks about he has 99 problems but a cheating girlfriend is not one of them, I added the fact that even if you have 99 problems that's just the way life

Aids Treatments

Aids is one of the most threatening disease which is effecting the lives of many people around the globe, plus the most astonishing fact is that it is effecting people and spreading at an exponential rate and as public awareness programs focus on it The most disturbing fact is that as the number of cases double a cures not in sight nor a vaccine has been developed and Aids is still an incurable condition.The human immunodeficiency virus has a direct and a lethal on life, at its very core, the transmission occurs principally via blood, semen and â€Å"vaginal fluid other bodily fluids, like the saliva, contain far too low a concentration of the virus to be dangerous Both blood and semen signify life and potential life in a concrete way.† (Paskin, 1994)AIDS is the most severe stage, of the infection with what we know as the AIDS virus. AIDS is also generally accepted as a syndrome, a collection of specific, life-threatening and dangerous signs that is due to an underlying immune deficiency, a deficiency not caused by any known conditions and illnesses other than infection with the AIDS virus.It destroys the body's capacity to ward off bacteria and viruses that would ordinarily be fought off by a properly functioning immune system, and it is the diseases, the opportunistic infections, caused by these outside agents that eventually kill the victim; or, death results from a form of cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, that is far more aggressive in AIDS patients than among those who do not suffer from AIDS.Thus, one can say that AIDS killed the person, since the addition of the ‘S’ defines a syndrome: the collection of diseases and symptoms that resulted from the weakened immune system.Putting it another way, one can say that the â€Å"AIDS virus itself does not kill, nor does it generally cause the various diseases associated with the syndrome; most of the disastrous events are simply the result of the damage to the immune system.† (Elli, 1992)The t reatment of HIV-related immunological and neurological disease involves the control of HIV replication by specific anti-viral drugs, boosting the host's own immune response to HIV, dampening down any potentially harmful results of the immune response, and reconstituting the defective cell-mediated immunity.Thus, a broad range of approaches are being tried. This in some way reflects the uncertainty regarding the pathogenesis of this infection. The management of the specific opportunist infections and tumors that arise because of the immunodeficiency are covered in Chapter 4.Here, we will focus on the treatment of the underlying HIV infection. The ultimate goal for the HIV-infected person would be the eradication of HIV infection. However, this is unlikely to be achieved as the virus integrates into the host chromosome, and therefore all infected cells would have to be removed.This may be possible in renewable tissue, such as lymphoid cells, but not within the nervous system, where ce lls cannot be replaced. However, if the virus could be suppressed to the level where it is not damaging the host or continuing to infect new cells, then the disease process may be halted.The virus can potentially be inhibited in three ways: (1) by preventing binding or fusion to the target cell; (2) by inhibiting replication and release; and (3) by inducing non-infective particlesDespite many public health efforts and programs for the awareness of the disease around the globe it is still seen that in many underdeveloped countries Aids awareness programs do not work and people are still indulging into acts like prostitution and unsafe sexual activities.So therefore to address this issue governments in these countries have conducted many health programs such as making people aware about the effects of the disease and   raising more informational sessions for people indulging into behaviors which are a main source in spreading this virus.Now governments around the worlds are funding projects which are related to the disease so that the people at large do not get affected by the disease.These public health efforts around the world especially in Asian and African countries has led to people becoming more aware of the hazards of the aids epidemic and because of these health awareness programs people to not indulge into unprotected sexual behavior.Works CitedPaskin, J. M. HIV and AIDS. Publisher: Bios Scientific Publishers. Place of Publication: Oxford, England. Publication Year: 1994.Elli, Ottoman. HIV Infection and Intravenous Drug Use. Publisher: Praeger Publishers. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1992

Genetically Modified Foods and the Labeling Debate Essay

There has been an ongoing debate between consumers and the government regarding the use of Genetically Modified Foods in the market today. â€Å"Since the introduction of the â€Å"Flavr Savr† tomato, biotechnology companies continue to introduce genetically engineered agricultural products to consumers† (Whittaker). The â€Å"Flavr Savor† tomato was the first food available to consumers that was produced using technology involving the recombinant DNA techniques in 1993. This was the dawn of a new generation in food production, and thus a whole new world of genetically engineered foods. At the present time the government, more specifically, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not regulated labeling products that contain genetically engineered foods. Currently the policy for labeling all consumer products must meet the standards of the safety and nutritional assessment. The evaluations of genetically engineered foods by legal authority require that bioengineered foods must meet the same standards set forth for all imported and exported foods marked for human and animal consumption and according to the US FDA genetically modified (GM) foods meet these guidelines. Since the early 1990’s scientists has been researching new and improved techniques to bring plumper, juicer and insecticide resistant agricultural products to all consumers. But research such as this is nothing new to the scientific community and for over 50 years techniques have been used to create strains of wheat, rice, pears and many more crop species to create high yielding products that are capable of growing anywhere and anytime of the year. Currently, only one tenth of the world actually uses GM plants with the countries of Canada, US, Brazil and Argentina growing 90 percent of the GM crops (Freedman). With the majority of these crops being produced in North America, the US is seeing GM foods everywhere and this is drawing attention to different agencies and groups pushing to educate the public by labeling any products that contain genetically engineered foods. The US Food and Drug Administration has been dealing with the battle against labeling products with genetically modified organisms (GMO) for years, but regardless of the consistent scrutiny the FDA sticks firmly to the current regulations that govern the labeling of all foods for human and animal consumption. Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act, which drives the FDA’s safety regulations for food and food ingredients, â€Å"unless a significant safety risk exists or there is a sincere need for consumers to distinguish between food products before purchase, the FDA hesitates to mandate labeling of food products† (Leggio). Joseph A. Levitt, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition with the US Food and Drug Administration states in his â€Å"Should the FDA Adopt a Stricter Policy on Genetically Engineered Foods? † testimony that â€Å"bioengineered foods and food ingredients must adhere to the same standards of safety under the FD&C act that apply to their conventionally bred counterparts† (Levitt, 81). With the strict laws set forth, the FDA remains consistent with its decision to maintain their current labeling program as it adheres to all safety standards of any food for consumption. The US FDA also assures the public that they have done significant research for decades on biotechnology foods to ensure it is safe for consumers, and additional testing is conducted years prior to the release of a GM product to the shelves. Scientists address all of the potential concerns to include the potential to adding new allergy causing proteins, removing vital nutrients and the possibility of introducing toxins, in these studies to ensure that unexpected results do not occur, â€Å"this testing provides a way to detect such changes at the development stage† (Levitt, 79) and it will also delay any release of products until they are able to find a solution. The FDA takes such precautions and studying all aspects of this technology to be confident that the risks are non-existent. Although the government has provided the public with research, publications, testimonies and scientific proof that the current law governing the labeling of food and animal products is appropriate and doesn’t require change, there is still much concern of the risks that the technology poses to humans. Barbara Boxer, a US Senator from California, introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Right-To-Know Act in 2001 in her testimony in â€Å"Should the FDA Adopt a Stricter Policy on Genetically Engineered Foods? † which states â€Å"all foods containing or produced with genetically engineered material bear a neutral label† (Boxer, 76). This act was created based on the lack of data and concerns that GM products are introducing risks of exposure to many health issues to include food allergens, lack of nutrition and toxic ailments. These claims are legitimate, however, the US FDA does take precautions as stated by Joseph A. Levitt, specifically with these risks while conducting trials during the developing stages of the product. In 2011 there was a petition filed against the FDA which warranted the need for labeling of GM products. According to this petition â€Å"consumers are misled when food labels do not differentiate foods with known health properties from novel foods with unknown health consequences† (Burgaard). An example of such health concerns come from a study performed in Scotland at the Rowett Institute in 1998. A plant biochemist named Arpad Pusztai conducted an experiment on rats who consumed a genetically engineered potato and his experiment concluded that the rats that were fed the modified potato â€Å"suffered growth and immune system-related changes† (Freedman). Ironically, the genetically modified potato used in this study â€Å"was not intended for human consumption — it was, in fact, designed to be toxic for research purposes,† (Freedman) discrediting the research altogether. Additionally, â€Å"American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the World Health Organization, and more than twenty-five Nobel Prize-winning scientists have concluded that there is no scientific evidence that GM food carries any risk to human health and that genetically engineered crops are safe,† (Burgaard) which ties into the overall nutrition and safety assessment that genetically engineered foods meet the same standards that imported and exported foods at held too. In the end, the US Food and Drug Administration stands by the current law governing the policy on labeling genetically modified foods. They maintain their standing on mandated labeling even under the microscope of doubters, but most importantly the â€Å"FDA’s process for evaluating bioengineered foods is one in which the public can have confidence that food biotechnology products must meet the law’s safety standards† (Maryanski). The FDA cares deeply of the health and wellbeing of the consumers in America and strive to meet the needs of the public in both food and nutrition education. Until the studies show significant risks or changes in the GM products warranting the need to readdress the process, the government and the US Food and Drug Administration believe their approach is relevant and remain firm to the present policies. Annotated Bibliography Whittaker, Michael A. â€Å"Reevaluating The Food And Drug Administration’s Stand On Labeling Genetically Engineered Foods. † San Diego Law Review 35. 4 (1998): 1215. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. This journal review argues that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must reconsider its position on the labeling of genetically engineered food as well as consumer perceptions of the threat posed by genetically engineered foods. Freedman, David H. â€Å"Are Engineered Foods Evil?. † Scientific American 309. 3 (2013): 80-85. Environment Complete. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. This article discusses the debate over the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops. It covers comments from agricultural and environmental economist at the University of California, Berkeley, David Zilberman, on the benefits of GM foods compared to their health risks, a ban on GM crops by the European Union (EU), and the difference between selective plant breeding and mutagenic techniques. Leggio, Kelly A. â€Å"Limitations On The Consumer’s Right To Know: Settling The Debate Over Labeling Of Genetically Modified Foods In The United States. † San Diego Law Review 38. 3 (2001): 893. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Jan. 2014. This journal review supports the decision of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reject mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods as a solution to accommodate consumer fears. There is a description of an approach designed to evaluate whether mandatory initiatives are appropriate to protect consumer’s right to know and the importance for states to follow guidelines established by the FDA. â€Å"Should The FDA Adopt A Stricter Policy On Genetically Engineered Foods? PRO/CON. † Congressional Digest 80. 3 (2001): Pages 76-95. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. This is a two part article that discusses genetically engineered foods and the potential need to adopt a more strict policy. The articles provided information from the perspective of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Joseph A. Levitt, the director of the Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and US Senator, Barbara Boxer who speaks on behalf of the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act and additional interviews that were conducted to give the audience an overall understanding of both sides of the debate. Burgaard, Sudhir. â€Å"The Labeling Of Genetically Modified Foods Debate. † Natural Resources & Environment 28. 1 (2013): 55-57. Environment Complete. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. This article focuses on the debate on labeling of genetically modified (GM) food which reflects food safety concerns in the U. S. It highlights various legal issues related to use of GM foods which includes increased risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria, increased use of pesticides, and environmental effects. It briefs the audience about the Center for Food Safety filing a legal petition with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration regarding labeling of genetically engineered food. Maryanski, . James H. , Ph D. â€Å"News & Events. † Genetically Engineered Foods. US Food and Drug Administration, 19 Oct. 1999. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. This testimony is from the perspective of the Biotechnology Coordinator with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that discusses the current regulations governing genetically engineered foods and the process that dictates what and how determines what a DNA derived food is labeled. It includes a variety of examples that justifies the current labeling regulations and why GM Foods may not require additional information for the consumers.