Activism Alerts - March 2004

• Petition for Truth - For Informed Birth
• Smoking Movies
• Break The Grip of Advertising on Children
• KID Launches Test It Now

Petition For Truth - For Informed Birth

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has released a statement which addresses the ethics of decision making regarding elective, or on demand, cesarean surgery. ACOG notes in the statement that although a number of factors influence such decision making, ultimately the decision will come down to the patients concerns and the physician's understanding of the procedure's risks and benefits. However, ACOG also states that it is unclear whether or not a patient has the right to have a surgical procedure when there is no evidence to support the procedure, and makes no statement regarding a physician's responsibility to specifically inform the patient of the benefits of not having the procedure. Meanwhile, the cesarean rate has risen to 26.1%, the VBAC rate has dropped 23%, and maternal and newborn mortality rates are on the rise, due to the frequent complications associated with cesarean surgery. Women are not being given the whole story when it comes to the safety and benefits of a vaginal birth for them and their baby.

For most people it is reassuring that physicians are required to provide information regarding the risks of a surgical procedure. However, physicians are not required to discuss alternatives to the procedure, or benefits of NOT performing the procedure. In order to give informed consent to a surgical procedure, a patient needs to have a dynamic understanding of the process of disease, or abnormality that a procedure would correct or prevent.

The process of vaginal childbirth is not a disease, nor an abnormality. All too often a woman believes, or has been taught that she and her baby are at an inherent risk from this natural process. Due to her lack of correct information, she may feel it is in her best interest to choose an "elective cesarean", an invasive and potentially dangerous surgery, in an attempt to avoid potential complications that can be addressed with knowledge about the birthing process and her own physical structure.

Patient education is key in providing care and in obtaining truly informed consent. Alarmingly, it is all too common that a physician who practices out of fear rather than evidence-based protocols will inadvertently plant the seed of doubt in a womans mind about the safety of vaginal birth, foster her fear, or outright misinform her of her choices, and her ability to birth her baby. This physician will sometimes counteract any evidence based information that the woman has collected with the latest scare tactic, or "what if' dialogue. At worse, a don't ask, don't tell dynamic is supported and vehemently enforced. It is the responsibility of her physician, midwife, nurse, etc. to educate the women about the natural, normal, healthy process of vaginal birth and what it means for her body and the benefits to her baby. The technology to perform cesarean surgery is undoubtedly lifesaving when used appropriately. However, when the technology is used in lieu of a process that is presenting no abnormality, or disease, it creates an imbalance. This imbalance caused a rise in maternal death, infant mortality, and at the least, many other complications that have long term effects for the mother and her baby. The World Health Organization has issued a statement that a 10-15% cesarean rate reflects that the procedure is being executed in appropriate situations. America is almost double that rate. Double!!

What can you do?
Read the ACOG statement Read the recent CDC statistics

Take a stand for a woman's right to obtain truthful information about vaginal and cesarean birth so that she can make truly informed decisions, and her right to receive evidence based care.

Petition For Truth is a grassroots movement for this cause formed by Kelly Sishc-Haack. Join Kelly and other concerned individuals in petitioning the ACOG. The petition reads:

We are Mothers, Fathers, Children, Grandparents, and Birth Professionals. We are petitioning the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to embrace the truth surrounding the benefits of vaginal birth vs. elective cesarean surgery to the mother and baby, and ask that the truth take precedence regarding physician Ethics of Decision Making. We feel that the risks of cesarean surgery, elective or not, are well substantiated and ask that ACOG promote the well-known benefits of vaginal delivery, while encouraging physicians to do the same in all cases where there is no medically proven barrier to vaginal delivery. We feel that physicians are ethically obligated to inform their patients that the benefits of vaginal birth for the mother and baby always outweigh the risks of elective cesarean surgery.

Click here to sign the petition.

Send feedback, questions, and comments to: petitionfortruth@yahoo.com

Smoking Movies

According to a landmark 2003 study by New Hampshire's Dartmouth Medical School published in The Lancet, watching popular movies is the number one factor leading nonsmoking teens to light up. They found film character smoking more persuasive than traditional advertising, peer pressure, or parents. A related editorial in the Lancet gives the statistics, "Smoking in movies is responsible for addicting 1,080 U.S. adolescents to tobacco every day, 340 of whom will die prematurely as a result.

Physician Michael Beach, who worked on the Dartmouth study, said, "There's a link between movie smoking and what kids do, and there's a lot of smoking in movies. It's extremely prevalent." Perhaps most surprising was the finding that the persuasive effect was strongest in children of nonsmoking parents.

Five years ago, Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco and a director of its Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, began his own campaign, "Smoke Free Movies". Glantz says, "Many women have told me they started smoking because of Olivia Newton John in 'Grease'." Along with analyst Karen Kacirk, Glantz is working to get Hollywood to rate "smoking" movies "R".

"If an actor says the 'F-word' twice in a film, or once in a sexual context (versus a single profanity exclamation), that film receives an "R" rating, explained Glantz. "I want tobacco treated as seriously as they treat the F-word."

What Can You Do?
Join Professor Glantz in his efforts.

Step 1. Sign up for Smoke Free Movie alerts!

Step 2. Encourage the Attorneys General to press the MPAA to fix the rating system.
The Motion Picture Association of America sets voluntary ratings for most movies you see. Rating smoking R would quickly eliminate tobacco promotion from kid-rated films - without government intervention. Twenty-seven state Attorneys General have written the MPAA urging it to help solve the problem of smoking in youth-rated films. Write them thanking them for their engagement and tell them your support an R rating for movies that promote smoking. And write MPAA chief Jack Valenti and tell him to stop stonewalling on this issue and rate smoking movies R.

Step 3. Address the major studio heads by name.
The closed world of studio moguls means writing actual letters, not emails. Here's the point: To avoid costly legal, business, and political fallout, they should simply let it be known they won't greenlight smoking in flicks kids can see. Crucial: Make sure they know you've also sent a copy of your letters to the media conglomerate that owns the studio. That's where the real "creative"; decisions get made.

Step 4. Break the theater chains.
Movie theaters depend on community goodwill to thrive and expand. Smoking movies are so destructive, only anti-tobacco trailers can blunt their impact. (The Centers for Disease Control has lots of great anti-tobacco spots.) To tip the balance, start with conversations with local managers, then go all the way to the top of the biggest theater chains in your region. Studios that hear complaints from exhibitors will know this is a problem they've got to solve.

Step 5. Get video retailers involved.
Parents need to know, in advance, if a kid-rated video promotes smoking. And smoking videos must carry anti-tobacco spots to inoculate viewers. Studios make half their money from the video market. Educate local video franchises and press for chain-wide policies to clearly label video tapes and DVDs that include smoking or other tobacco promotions.

Step 6. Tell your favorite actors how you feel.
Stars who can make or break a movie have clout in Hollywood, but hungry actors are hesitant to rock the lifeboat. Every actor should be free to refuse a direction to smoke and those who light up by choice need to know the real-world consequences.

Step 7. Write a letter to people who are starting new movie "projects."
The best way to have a smoke free movie end up on the screen is to make it that way. Write the people making movies just as they are getting the project started, before a single frame is shot urging them not to promote Big Tobacco.

Step 8. Get your city council to pass a resolution endorsing Smoke Free Movies.
Click here to downlaod a document of step-by-step instructions, the facts you'll need, and a sample resolution.

Step 9. Mobilize your networks.
Whatever groups you belong to, if they care about kids, they should care about this issue. The harm Hollywood does by pushing tobacco worldwide far outweighs its contributions to all other social and political causes combined. The SmokeFreeMovies web site and the action handbook based on it by New York State's Reality Check can pump up the volume for youth groups, parent-teacher associations, professional organizations, stockholders, and more. Want organizing tips? Contact Reality Checkto learn how to do it!

Step 10. Tell SmokeFreeMovies what you're doing.
Email them your experiences and they'll connect you to others. Who knows, you might show up in a Smoke Free Movies email alert! Remember, Big Tobacco is huge. It spends as much on advertising and promotion alone as Hollywood grosses at the box office annually. When will Hollywood insiders make their own calculated decision to abandon Big Tobacco? When we make it harder, riskier, and costlier not to. That takes strategy, working together. Protecting our kids. Saving 100,000 lives a year is worth it. Sources:
www.smokefreemovies.com
Movie smoking hooks teens, experts say
Anti-smoking David takes on movie Goliath

Break The Grip of Advertising on Children

Advertising finds its way into every nook and cranny of our lives possible. Turn off the television and it steps into your school. Home educate and you'll find it in the shopping malls. Shop online, you find it flashing on almost every screen. Few parents have been successful in filtering it out of their family's lives entirely.

Of course some advertising is beneficial and desirable. But what about that that which contributes more to society's problems and particularly that which influences our children in a harmful way? According to Jean Kilbourne, The average American is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements a day and watches three years' worth of television ads over the course of a lifetime. In her book "Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel" Kilborne shows the relationship of media images to actual problems in the society, such as violence, the sexual abuse of children, rape and sexual harassment, pornography and censorship, teenage pregnancy, and eating disorders. She writes:

"The United States is one of the few industrialized nations in the world that thinks that children are legitimate targets for advertisers. Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Canadian province of Quebec ban all advertising to children on television and radio, and Sweden and Greece are pushing for an end to all advertising aimed at children throughout the European Union. An effort to pass similar legislation in the United States in the 1970s was squelched by a coalition of food and toy companies, broadcasters, and ad agencies. Children in America appear to have value primarily as new consumers. As an ad for juvenile and infant bedding and home accessories says, "Having children is so rewarding. You get to buy childish stuff and pretend it's for them." Our public policy -- or lack thereof -- on every children's issue, from education to drugs to teen suicide to child abuse, leaves many to conclude that we are a nation that hates its children."

Being aware of advertising's manipulative focus on children is a step every parent should take in defending them against the harmful ads that hide in the clothing of fashion, fun and friendliness.

What You Can Do

Read:
The Parent Action Kit from the Lion and Lamb Project provides parents with information to help them better understand the effects of "entertainment" violence on children's behavior, and gives specific suggestions for changes they can make.

Get a glimpse of the presence and focus of advertising today by reading this excerpt of Kilbourne's book: Chapter 1: "Buy This 24-Year-Old and Get All His Friends Absolutely Free"

Organize:
With Lion and Lamb as sponsor you can organize a Violent Toy Trade-In in your community. Children bring in violent toys and transform them into a Peace Sculpture as a statement of their desire for a less violent and more peaceful world. Lion and Lamb offers a simple how-to manual, Toys for Peace, to help groups organize such events, which you can access here.

A Jean Kilbourne's presentation where she explores the relationship of media images to actual problems in society. Programs and topics include:
The Naked Truth: Advertising's Image of Women
Under the Influence: The Pushing of Alcohol via Advertising
You've Come the Wrong Way, Baby: Women and Smoking
Deadly Persuasion: Advertising and Addiction
Pack of Lies: The Advertising of Tobacco
Marketing Misery: Selling Addictions to Women
Eating Our Hearts Out: The Obsession with Thinness
How Free is Our Press? The Truth about Censorship

To schedule a lecture, please contact Jean Kilbourne jkilbourne@aol.com. To schedule a lecture in the college market, please contact Lordly & Dame lordly@lordly.com or call 617-482-3593.

KID Launches Test It Now!

In September 2002, KID launched Test It Now! A Grassroots Awareness Campaign for Children's Product Safety. The goal is simple: to set strict safety standards and to require independent certification for durable children's products before these products hit the shelves. Test It Now focuses on creating a safer world for children in three ways:

• * Bring the minefield of dangerous children's products to the public's attention.
• * Encourage policymakers to correct the lopsided children's product system.
• * Challenge the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to stop dangerous products from reaching consumers.

Currently, there are no mandatory safety standards or testing requirements for most children's products. And the voluntary standards set by children's product manufacturers are inadequate. This is why KID wants manufacturers to Test It Now! As always, KID is dedicated to the urgent task of protecting children from dangerous and recalled children's products. However, KID believes recalled products are a symptom of a greater problem: an ineffective juvenile product system.

What is a durable children's product?
A durable children's product is an item used for an extended time period, over and over again. Such as:

• cribs
• highchairs
• strollers
• car seats
• swings
• play yards
• bath seats
• walkers

What Can You Do?

Be Aware
Did you know many children's products are not tested for safety? Each year, dangerous children's products claim the lives of at least 65 children under the age of 5 and send almost 70,000 to hospital emergency rooms.

Learn More
Readabout common hazards of children's products, items such as cribs, strollers, high chairs and toys, and to find out how to keep yourself up-to-date on product recalls. Read It's No Accident which explains what can be done to protect our children from dangerous products, from improving the recall system to implementing mandatory testing and safety standards in the hope of preventing products from being recalled in the first place.

Spread the word
Tell everyone! KID believes parents, caregivers, and relatives all need to know the dangers of unsafe children's products and the importance of pre-market safety testing. We need your help! Download flyers and newsletters to distribute to those around you.

Let Policymakers Know
Test It Now! seeks to generate support for mandatory pre-market testing of all durable children's products to help to keep dangerous products off retail shelves. Write or email your senator or state representative and ask him or her to support Test It Now!

Don't know who your representative is? Find your state elected officials email addresses by following links from your state's homepage. Each state can be found at www.state.--.us, with your state's two-letter abbreviation in the blank field.

For example - to find the state elected official emails for Illinois, type www.state.il.us in the address line of your browser.

A sample letter:

[ Insert Name and Address of Senator/Representative ]
I would like to add my voice to those calling for improved children's product safety. I urge you to support the Children's Product Safety Act in (Your State). This language, adopted in seven states, protects children by prohibiting the sale or lease of dangerous children's products and eliminates dangerous products in our licensed childcare facilities.

For more information on this Act and how you can support it in our state, contact Kids In Danger at 312/595-0649 or www.KidsInDanger.org .

Thank you.
[ Insert Your Name and Contact Information ]