2008 Woodie Awards
Dog mandate eerily familiar
Erika Prins, Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/21/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
"Authorities prompted an outcry in July and August when they launched several mass slaughters of dogs. In one county in the southwestern province of Yunnan, where three people had died of rabies, authorities killed 50,000 dogs, many of them beaten to death in front of their owners," said a Nov. 9 article in China Daily Newspaper.
In a June 11, 1998, CNN Report, a former Chinese population control administrator testified to the House International Relations Human Rights subcommittee about her experience working for the Chinese government.
"Women who violated China's policy on pregnancy could be seized during a nighttime raid, or have their homes destroyed, as the government forced the offenders to submit to abortions," said the report.
Although the harsher policies are accompanied with positive incentives for compliance, the Chinese government continues to favor coercion even when more humane methods could yield the same outcome. For example, a government-sponsored vaccination campaign could take the place of a dog-execution campaign as suggested by Pacelle.
In the case of the one-child policy, the 1970s voluntary "long, late, few" policy was far more effective than the one-child policy in reducing China's total fertility rate.
Researchers Therese Hasketh, Li Lu and Zhu Wei Xing published a report titled "The Effects of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years" in the September 2005 New England Journal of Medicine.
Hasketh, Lu and Xing argue that the one-child policy is "only partially responsible for the reduction in the total fertility rate."
They said that the greatest decrease in the total fertility rate occurred from 1970-1979, before the one-child policy was introduced.
"Between 1970 and 1979, the largely voluntary "late, long, few" policy, which called for later childbearing, greater spacing between children, and fewer children, had already resulted in a halving of the total fertility rate, from 5.9 to 2.9," said the report.
The decrease in total fertility rate slowed after the one-child policy was imposed.
Though beating dogs in front of their owners pales in comparison to forcing abortions, the one-dog policy shows that China's government continues to use coercive strategies to solve social problems. The one-child policy shows how dangerous such a habit can be.
In a June 11, 1998, CNN Report, a former Chinese population control administrator testified to the House International Relations Human Rights subcommittee about her experience working for the Chinese government.
"Women who violated China's policy on pregnancy could be seized during a nighttime raid, or have their homes destroyed, as the government forced the offenders to submit to abortions," said the report.
Although the harsher policies are accompanied with positive incentives for compliance, the Chinese government continues to favor coercion even when more humane methods could yield the same outcome. For example, a government-sponsored vaccination campaign could take the place of a dog-execution campaign as suggested by Pacelle.
In the case of the one-child policy, the 1970s voluntary "long, late, few" policy was far more effective than the one-child policy in reducing China's total fertility rate.
Researchers Therese Hasketh, Li Lu and Zhu Wei Xing published a report titled "The Effects of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years" in the September 2005 New England Journal of Medicine.
Hasketh, Lu and Xing argue that the one-child policy is "only partially responsible for the reduction in the total fertility rate."
They said that the greatest decrease in the total fertility rate occurred from 1970-1979, before the one-child policy was introduced.
"Between 1970 and 1979, the largely voluntary "late, long, few" policy, which called for later childbearing, greater spacing between children, and fewer children, had already resulted in a halving of the total fertility rate, from 5.9 to 2.9," said the report.
The decrease in total fertility rate slowed after the one-child policy was imposed.
Though beating dogs in front of their owners pales in comparison to forcing abortions, the one-dog policy shows that China's government continues to use coercive strategies to solve social problems. The one-child policy shows how dangerous such a habit can be.
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