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instructions on the labels.
And in many nations. the
quality of water to be mixed
with baby formulas is
uncertain at best.
Even the cost of formulas
may be prohibitive.
In the Caribbean
seventy-five percent of
nonbreast-feeding,
low-income mothers in
Barbados were stretching a
can containing enough
formula for tour days to last
as long as three weeks.
stated a study cited in the
UNICEF report.
And cow's milk may
Asia's
Newfound
Surplus
W
ho would have thought
five years ago that
surplus food would be a
worry in Asia today?
Formerly famine-stricken
nations are now rivals on
international grain markets.
India, Thailand, Indonesia
and China have significan!
grain surpluses and storage
problems.
In 1984 China's grain
harvest of 407 million tons
was the all-time record for
any country. The runner-up
that year, the United States.
had a 312 million ton grain
harvest. one of its biggest
ever. The Soviet Union
produced only aboul hall as
much.
China's wheat produclion
alone more !han doubled
between 1979 and 1984,
cause serious digestive
problems in sorne young
sensitive babies.
In the Philippines, Baguio
General Hospital banned
bottle-feeding in favor of
breast-feeding for two years
to test the benefits of
mother's milk on infant
health. lnfant mortality
dropped an astounding 95
percent, and infant health
improved noticeably from
the beginning of the test.
Another benefit of special
importance to the Third
World is that breast-feeding
can delay a mother's return
from 41 million lo 87 mill ion
tons. The Chinese. who
have 285 million acres
planted in grain. now grow
more than twice as much
grain as the Soviets do on
300 million acres.
At the turn of this decade
the Chinese broke up their
communes as economic
systems and inlroduced
price and production
incentives. A real agricultura!
explosion began.
Under the "responsibility
system" begun by Chinese
leaders in 1981, many
farmers have been allowed
to work family-sized farms
for rent. Alter they sell a
quota of produce to the
state at a fixed price. they
can produce and sell
anything else they want in
free markets for whatever
they can gel. Freed lo
prosper by their own hard
work and initiative, China's
farmers, using specially bred
hybrid seeds, have
to fertility alter childbirth. "In
ancient times it was
common knowledge thal a
woman who was nursing a
baby was unlikely lo
conceive in that period, "
wrole R.V. Short in
Scientific
American.
The trend away from
breast-feeding "has had
Criminal
Character
Development
R
esearchers at the
University of
Pennsylvania have given
new meaning lo the old
saying, "Spare lhe rod and
spoil the child." Studying the
criminal histories of
everyone born in
Philadelphia. Pa .. in 1958,
and who lived lhere from
age 10 lo adulthood,
researchers found that
nearly hall the juveniles who
had committed tour serious
crimes had never even been
placed on probation, much
less incarcerated.
Other studies have
indicated that 80 percent of
habitual juvenile olfenders
grow up to be habitual adult
increased food production 8
percent annually over the
past seven years, about two
and a hall times the rate
from 1949 to 1981.
Severa! years of relatively
good weather have allowed
dramatic increases in food
production over much of
Asia. Still , millions in Asia
have yet to reap benefits
from the agricultura!
revolution. And food officials
warn that these production
gains are fragile. Adverse
weather, soil erosion or
severe national economic
difficulties could quickly undo
the agricultura! boon. •
Drying corn (maize),
Huhsien County, Shang
Xi Province, China.
serious consequences for
rates of population
increase ... in many
developing counlries."
For example, Kenya's
sharply rising birthrate is
directly attributable to a
decline in the length of
lactation following
childbirth. •
offenders. This prompted
one of the researchers, Paul
E. Tracy, now an assistant
professor of criminal justice
al Northwestern University,
to say: " The point is: lf you
let a kid do what he does
with impunity, then he's
going lo continue lo do
it. . .. We know who he llhe
chronic offenderj is by the
time he is 13 or 14. My idea
is, Let's do something about
him early and not wait until
he's an adult."
The results of the US$1 .5
million study have prompted
calls for stiffer penalties and
enforcement for juvenile
crime. But swift, sure
punishment as a deterrent lo
crime was focused on long
ago in the bíblica! book of
Ecclesiastes: "Because
sentence against an evil
work is not executed
speedily. therefore the heart
of the sons of men is fully
set in them lo do evil" (Eccl.
8: 11 ). •
Ths
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