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14 I The Blue Banner I 3.14 J1012 HERSHEY continued from page 13 on cocoa farms without receiving ei ther pay or education and that 35,000 of those children are trafficked across West Africa. Yet the Hershey Company believes there have been improvements due to modem technology. While the region as a whole is growing, Hershey believes there is greater awareness and understanding to acknowledge and fix child labor. As another way to fix this chocolate mess, Hershey has teamed up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in an effort called Malaria No More, which helps Ghana’s people become more aware of mosquito netting for the families, not related to child labor at all. Hershey believes that positive forces are coming together, and now is the right time to step up. Cocoa production accounts for the largest export out of West Africa, and while Hershey is the largest chocolate company in the industry to export from this region, the company believes that the International Cocoa Initiative should be the leader to stop forced child labor and trafficking. “That problem,” Beckman said, “gets solved by the local and regional government working with interna tional organizations.” Beckman also stated that companies have increased investments in this region by 25 to 30 percent in the last five years. Hershey believes that by raising farmers in primarily cocoa villages to be aware and understanding of better farming habits and social conditions, it will allow income to then raise, letting farmers produce more cocoa. Hershey claims that within the last ten years, the crop has tripled from 300,000 tons per year to one million tons this year and there has been an Want to know if your chocolate is “Fair Trade?” Fairtradeusa.org increase of 25 percent of school in volvement showing definite gains for farmers and children involved. In the last minutes of the interview, Beckman mentioned he and the rest of the Hershey company hope readers will find available information from nongovernmental organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Founda tion and see all the good work that has been done. Also, the company is hoping to see pretty startling results in the less than 2-3 years where farmers can double their outcome fixing a long term prob lem. “We think that there are a lot of new innovative solutions for farming. This time next year we will continue to see progress,” Beckman said. While Hershey’s effort and actions are respected and much needed, the investment plan only came after media outlets and reports released in detail the startling facts and accounts of chil dren working in harsh conditions. Hershey is a 100-year-old com pany. As one of the leading and oldest companies in the chocolate industry, Hershey definitely has a responsibility to not only assist in cleaning up this mess, but making sure that child slave labor is abolished. But making sure Hershey does their job isn’t just the companies or its investor’s job only. The job of watchdog is also up to the consumers themselves. Purchase chocolate labeled “Fair Trade.” Urge Hershey via Facebook, Twitter and Hershey website to regulate all its chocolate products such as the ever popular Reeses. Consumers of the chocolate industry need to step up and watch over big corporations. In the next two to five years, keep an eye out on Hershey. Hopefully, we all find something sweeter. LIMBAUGH continued from page 13 history. Birth control pills are medication that women can take to prevent preg nancy, according to Planned Parent hood. Birth control pills are made of hor mones that control how different parts of our bodies work. Some pills contain two hormones, estrogen and progestin. The hormones in the pill work by keeping a woman’s ovaries from releasing eggs so they can’t join the sperm. The pill can also help with iron de ficiency, anemia and endometrial and ovarian cancers. In 2007, there was an increase in birth control prices, according to the Population Studies Center at the Uni versity of Michigan Institute for Social Research. Because of the hike, many college women cut back on sex. But we all know college comes with stress. Within the research, it was found that those women who were financial ly stressed and having sex responded to the higher cost by buying cheaper, riskier methods of contraceptives or just having unprotected sex. Although Limbaugh’s comments are always quite controversial, his sponsors have pulled their ads from his radio program. Sponsors such as Vote’Vets, a coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who believe in the respect between men and women veterans; AOL; Legal Zoom; Sleep Number mattresses and Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington have pulled their ads. As a culture, we need to make sure Limbaugh’s newest female name-call ing does not become a cultural norm. Limbaugh obviously needs to brush up on his Beyonce, “Who Run the World (Girls),” lyrics. Campus Voice FILMMAKER continued from page 13 violence due to cultural and structural inequalities towards women from Paki stani men. The Acid Survivors Foundation of Pakistan, featured in the film, docu mented more than 100 acid attacks a year in Pakistan, but estimates far more due to lack of reporting. Some critiques question the amount of positive attention Obaid-Chinoy is getting, almost dismissing the fact that although her documentary sheds a nega tive light for Pakistani society, it raises awareness in the best way possible - through entertainment. The film features two women attacked by acid and their struggle for justice and healing. The mere fact that women who live in a country where they are less than second class citizens are speaking up is a step toward rebuilding the future of Pakistan. Saving Face may he hard to sit through and watch, but according to Obaid-Chi noy, “It is a positive story about Pakistan on two accounts: firstly, it portrays how a Pakistani-British doctor comes to treat them (the victims) and it also discusses, in great depth, the Parliament’s decision to pass the bill on acid violence. She also said that the film assisted in the trial and conviction of one of the perpetrators of acid violence on a female victim. Pakistan ranks No. 3 in the list of five countries that are named to be the worst countries to be a woman, according to The Guardian. A Pakistani woman winning an Academy Award, one of the highest acknowledgments for filmmak ers, goes a long way. Seeing Pakistan in complete ruins from a natural disaster in July, deadly strikes on civilians by NATO forces, a false relationship with the U.S., the attack in Abbottabad and from the capture of Osama Bin Laden has deemed nothing but violent attacks in the country. The level of appreciation for Obaid- Chinoy goes beyond borders. The amount of courage she posed to tell the ruthless truth of Pakistani men and women should be honored. The most effective way to bring attention to these issues is through the choice of visual displays. The women being tortured in the name of culture by narrow-minded men needs to be flaunted, no matter how hard it is to watch. This form of domestic violence is the most brutal form of pain and suffering that no woman should endure. Unfortu nately, Pakistan has been a part of this domestic violence for countless years and continues to be a part of this. The only way out is a way in, and that is what Obaid-Chinoy did.
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