首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Malawi’s Green Gold They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange
Malawi’s Green Gold They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange
admin
2013-02-03
77
问题
Malawi’s Green Gold
They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange and contributes one third of the country’s gross domestic product, giving Malawi the dubious honour of being the most tobacco-dependent economy in the world.
In turn, the country contributes five percent of global tobacco exports including a fifth of the world’s burley tobacco, a sought-after sun-dried variety used in strong-tasting cigarette brands like Marlborough.
As an indication of the country’s dependence on tobacco sales, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 70 percent of Malawi’s 11 million residents depend either directly or indirectly on tobacco for their livelihoods.
Tobacco became the backbone of Malawi’s economy under the dictatorship of Dr Hastings Banda who assumed control of the country at its independence from Britain in 1964 and remained in power until he was deposed by a referendum in 1993. During his almost three-decade reign, Dr Banda encouraged the tobacco industry and amassed a personal empire that saw him become the largest private tobacco grower in the world.
Today, only foreign aid provides more income for Malawi than tobacco. Therefore tobacco’s reputation as a leading cause of preventable death worldwide is a dilemma for the government. As one of the poorest countries in Africa, Malawi depends on tobacco exports to buy food as well as maintain struggling health, education and infrastructure initiatives. Yet without the support of foreign aid organizations, most of which oppose tobacco growing, Malawi’s fragile economy would crumble.
One does not have to look far to predict the consequences of an economic collapse in Malawi. This year, failure of the east African maize crop combined with economic mismanagement triggered the country’s worst famine on record. Thousands have already died of starvation and the British aid organization Oxfam estimates that 3 million people in Malawi face a similar fate unless something is done. The food crisis only adds to existing burdens in a country where adult HIV rates are estimated at one in five, malaria is endemic and childhood malnutrition widespread. Remove tobacco profits from this equation and many fear a human calamity.
Ethical Dilemmas
Compromising situations can create unusual political alliances and the tobacco industry in Malawi has some unlikely supporters. Dr J. M. Mfutso Bengo, for instance, is a senior lecturer at the Malawi College of Medicine in Blantyre, a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee and has a PhD in bioethics from a German university. When the World Health Organization was looking for a consultant in Malawi for their anti-tobacco lobby in 2001, Dr Mfutso Bengo was well qualified for the position. He chose not to apply because of ethical and moral objections to the WHO campaign in Malawi. "
"My position is not motivated from ideology, it is motivated from pragmatism," says Dr Mfutso Bengo, who himself is a non-smoker and receives no funding from the industry. "Tobacco employs more than half of Malawi’s labour force. If they take away tobacco, it would be economic suicide for Malawi. The social and health infrastructures would collapse and it would push Malawi further towards absolute dependence on foreign aid. The WHO could give me money to campaign against the industry but the poor people who are employed by the industry, where would they be?"
Dr Mfutso Bengo sees double standards at work in the international anti-tobacco lobby, whose concerns about smoking-related deaths in the developed world he says overlook the more immediate health and economic problems in Malawi. "In a country where 60 percent of people live below the poverty line, basic health needs are most pressing-things like the prevention of cholera, malnutrition, malaria. Dealing with tobacco-based cancer is a luxury," he says.
What is the motivation of Dr J. M. Mfutso Bengo’s opposition to the anti-tobacco movement?
选项
答案
pragmatism
解析
文章倒数第三段提到"My position is not motivated from ideology, it is motivated from pragmatism"。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/CUyK777K
本试题收录于:
A类竞赛(研究生)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
A类竞赛(研究生)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
Whatisitthatattractssomanypeopletodiving?Thereasonsareasdiverseastheavailableexperiences.Driftdiversro
Oneoftheinterestingthingsaboutlanguagesisthewaytheychangeovertime.InEnglish,everythingfromspellingtovocabula
TherearetworeasonswhyIwantedtocometosouthernGermanytostudy.IwantedtobeatthecentreofEurope,withineasyrea
Alaskaisdisappearingslowlybutsurely.Sincethe1950s,itisestimatedthatasmuchas15percentofAlaska’sareahasdisap
SummaryListentothepassage.Forquestions26—30,completethenotesusingnomorethanthreewordsforeachblank.Identityt
ThechartbelowshowsthenumbersofChinesetouristsvisitinginBritain.Writeareportoftheinformationshownbelowabout1
OnehundredandthirteenmillionAmericanshaveatleastonebank-issuedcreditcard.Creditcardsgivetheirownersautomaticc
TheMid-AutumnFestivalisanimportantfestivalinsomeAsiancountries.Becausethedateofthisfestivalissetaccordingto
WhatpercentageofstudentsisstayingawayfromschoolinZimbabwein2008?
Bandscomeandgo.Somebecomefamous.Othersdon’t.Someenjoygreatwealth.Othersmakenothing.Butwhy?Sometimestheyjust
随机试题
背景材料:某大桥施工过程中,其墩台基础位于地表水以下,桥位区地质条件为:水深3m,流速为2m/s,河床不透水,河边浅滩,地基土质为粘土。施工单位决定采用钢板桩围堰法施工。钢板桩用阴阳锁口连接。施工方法为:首先,使用围囹定位,在锁口内涂上
某分部工程双代号时标网络计划如下图所示,其中工作A的总时差和自由时差()天。
下列关于统计行政复议调解的说法,错误的是()。
家住在海沂市A区的甲(户籍在大明市B区,住所地在海沂市A区),因急需一笔资金进口服装,找到来海沂市C区做建材生意不到半年的同乡乙(户籍在大明市D区)向其借款人民币50万元。2012年10月1日,甲乙双方签订了借款合同,合同约定:甲向乙借款人民币50万元,从
某具有进出口经营权的外贸公司,2012年5月发生以下经营业务:(1)经有关部门批准从境外进口小轿车30辆,每辆小轿车货价15万元,运抵我国海关前发生的运输费用、保险费用无法确定,经海关查实其他运输公司相同业务的运输费用占货价的比例为2%,向海关
阅读下面的文章,回答问题。塔上的树易云武乘船而行,每
下列有关公共卫生的说法正确的是:
有权决定特别行政区的设立及其制度的机关是( )。
深入:浅尝辄止
A、Stricterdisciplineshouldbemaintainedinschoolsandfamilies.B、Moregoodexamplesshouldbesetforpeopletofollow.C、M
最新回复
(
0
)