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Stop using kids as profit tool

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-29 07:50

It is ridiculous to hold a milk-drinking contest among kindergarten children, says an article in Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

On Oct 24, a kindergarten in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, held a contest of drinking milk. In the contest, children competed against each other to see who could drink more milk and do so faster.

But it is neither healthy nor safe for children to drink milk fast and in a large quantity. The teachers of the kindergarten must have this common sense and had better teach children to drink and eat slowly and moderately in their daily teaching. But why did they hold this unusual contest for children?

According to the report, the kindergarten's reason for holding this contest is to "prompt milk producers to have more sense of responsibility and produce more safe milk." What a ridiculous reason.

A milk-drinking contest will not achieve the effect of inculcating more responsibility among milk producers. The recent tragedies indicate that the only effective way of ensuring safe milk is to improve laws and regulations and enforce them effectively.

Nowadays, children are often used by some people as a tool to achieve their purposes. We have every reason to doubt that behind this unusual milk-drinking contest are milk producers, who really control the milk game. The related government departments should step in and find out the real reason behind this milk contest. Meanwhile, the government should issue a directive, banning similar contests in kindergartens.

(China Daily 10/29/2008 page8)