Newspapers / Grimsley High School Student … / April 5, 2012, edition 1 / Page 4
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4 Opinion April 5, 2012 Point Counterpoint Should the drinking age be lowered to 18? Madison Campbell Reporter When individuals turn 18, they consider that special day as a mile stone in life. The right to vote, to own a car, and to move out on one's own are aU new experiences and opportunities available, but when is there too much power? The drinking age should most certainly remain at age 21. Acquiring too much freedom at one time may result in cata strophic consequences. Statistics show that yoimg adults are more Ukely to smoke and drink within the first few months of moving out on their own. Poor financial management and other negative habits usually develop during that time and often con tinue throughout life. According to www.aa.org.au/ new-to-aa/message-for-young- people.php, "Alcoholism is an ill ness. It can hit anyone; young, old; rich, poor; black, white. Alcohol ics aren't just those old guys sit ting on park benches. Young, suc cessful people can ruin their lives with alcohol, too." One's brain is not fully devel oped until a person reaches the age of 25; before this time, the frontal lobe, along with other major brain structures, is still experiencing some of the most important peri ods of development. The frontal lobe is the control center for major decision-making and other ratio nalizations that people take for granted everyday. When a per son experiences damage to his fron tal lobe, he or she has a much higher likelihood to take risks. Alcohol is, in fact, a drug, which causes chemical changes and in hibits motor skills, decision- mak ing, and other important aspects of functionality. Blood alcohol lev els are irrelevant when judging if a person is impaired. Although a blood alcohol level of .08% is the national legal limit to operate a motor vehicle, any amount of al cohol causes at least some level of physical and mental impairment. Effects of alcohol actually remain present several days after an indi vidual partakes in its consump tion. Thus, chemical changes fre quently result in headaches, dehy drations, slow/ groggy movement, and sore muscles with cramping. As published at http:// www.bloodalcohol.info/how- alcohol-affects-the-brain.php, "When alcohol reaches the brain, it interferes with communication between nerve cells by interacting with the re ceptors on some cells. The alco hol suppresses excitatory nerve pathway activity and increa ses inhibitory nerve pathway activity. Among other actions, alcohol enhances the ef fects of the inhibitory neu rotransmitter GABA. Enhanc ing an inhibitor has the effect of making a person sluggish. Also, alcohol weakens the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamine, which enhances the sluggish ness even farther." Jacob Sechter Opinion Editor Debated in heated arguments for years, the legal drinking age remains at age 21 with no signs of it being reduced to 18. Though many assume teenagers just want this law changed merely so they can buy and drink alcohol, there is a much more valid argument. First of all, the United States is only one of five countries where the drink ing age is 21. In the majority / of nations, the legal drinking age is 18; some countries declare 16 as a viable age, and a handful of coimtries hold no age restrictions at all. The latter situ ation is quite extreme. One major contention for changing the drinking age in the United States is that the legal age for voting age and serving in the military are both 18. If a citizen is considered mature enough to serve his or her coun try and to vote in important elections, why can't such an individual be trusted to consume alcohol? Yes, young people have a reputation for over-consumption and driving while intoxicated, but these re alities affect drinkers of all ages. Inappropriate behavior de pends upon the maturity of the individual; some can handle the responsibility to drink respon sibly, and others cannot. In all honesty, the legal drink ing age will not impede students from acquiring and drinking al cohol. They frequently ask older friends to buy the products for them or steal it from their par ents; clearly, they have little dif ficulty accessing liquor. If adults focused more on educating youth about the dangers of ex cessive drinking and informed them about the concept of mod eration, there would be fewer petty crimes and DUI charges. Many young people do not un derstand how little alcohol thgy need to be intoxicated and end up binge drinking, which leads to sickness an4 in the worst cases, death. Young people often find them selves enticed by the "danger ele ment of drinking. They know they are underage and should not be partaking in such a bad habit, but teensoften as sodate drinking with being "cool." If the drinking age were reduced to 18, maybe youth culture would not over-glamorize alcohol because it would be easily accessible and not such a dare or thrill. One could make the analogy to young children purposely behav ing badly because they know their parents do not approve, yet when the adults later accept the behav ior, the children lose interest Is Organic really the better choice? Caroline Grandis Reporter Many people have been debating whether or not organic foods are healthier than non-organic products. Organic foods have barely any nutritional difference from non-organic , and recent discoveries verify that high levels of arsenic are present in some organic products, such as cereal bars, toddler formulas, and even energy shots that contain rice products. Arsenic is a very toxic chemical that can cause fatalities if too much of the substance enters the body. The main source of this arsenic is in a main ingredient called brown rice syrup. Studying this issue with brown rice syrup, research scientists at Dartmouth College have discovered that the arsenic levels in some of the products contain six times more arsenic than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows in normal drinking water. Certain groups of people are at higher risk than others, ac cording to discoverynews.com. The first group includes infants and toddlers because they are much smaller and cannot handle large amounts of poi son. Another high-risk group involves people with gluten intolerance and those who eat rice-heavy diets. In addition to this disturb ing finding, organic products are often very pricey. Accord ing to organicfacts.net, organic foods cost anywhere from 20% to 100% more than non-organic products, which may be a strain on consumers' pockets. UK's Soil Association revealed that consumers in the United Kingdom spent a record $3.7 billion on organic products in 2006, which is more than 20 percent growth on 2005 spend ing on organic goods including food, drinks and health and beauty products. Even though organic foods call for higher prices, they still remain in high demand. Regardless of the high demand and the costs to produce the products, they are still entirely too expensive, especially con sidering their high levels of ar senic. Few nutritional differ ences exist between organic and non-organic products. One difference is that farm ers who grow organic foods apply natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost, to feed soil and plants, unlike farmers of nonorganic produce, who sometimes use chemical fertil izers to stimulate growth of their goods. Organic farmers also give their livestock organic feed, allow them access to the outdoors, and use preventive measures like rotational graz ing, a balanced diet, and clean housing to minimize disease of the animals. Non-organic farmers give their livestock antibiotics, growth hormones, and medications to prevent disease, as clarified on mayoclinic.com. Based upon these character istics, shoppers must think long and hard about what chances they are willing to take in their grocery shopping. Money is not the only consid eration, for consumers' health is also at risk. Suggestion Box istiof Is there a question you have been longing to ask? How about an article idea you can't wait to read about? A comic or drawing you want to see? Submit ideas, suggestions, artwork, or writing to highlifepaper@gmaiLcom and you’may find your ideas in the next issue!
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April 5, 2012, edition 1
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