The Harmful Effects of Noise Pollution

I struggle to believe what I am hearing. We had to move from where we were mostly due to intolerable noise. Now in the new apartment, a few weeks after moving in the school at the end of the road began blasting what they call music over loud speakers so that it was way too loud even many buildings away. People get angry if I say anything. Am I really the one to get angry at?

Do you know that there are serious side effects affecting ones health from exposure to noise pollution. I took a brief look at MedPub and wrote down the first 3 articles that I found. I'd love to do a literature review of all the effects. Here are just two side effects of quite a few on the list.

The first identified in the first two articles of which I have quoted just a sentence or two is Hearing Loss.  Know anyone who is deaf? Do you know what it is like to be deaf? If not, read this article for a few thoughts shared by a pensioner who used to be a teacher and is almost deaf as an consequence of her work.

Article 1 with reference after in brackets:

"Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is an important occupational disease worldwide resulting from interactions between genetic and environmental factors..." (Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 Jun 3;13(6). pii: E561. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13060561. Genetic Variation in POU4F3 and GRHL2 Associated with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Chinese Population: A Case-Control Study.

Xu X¹, Yang Q², Jiao J³, He L⁴, Yu S⁵, Wang J⁶, Gu G⁷, Chen G⁸, Zhou W⁹, Wu H¹⁰, Li Y¹¹, Zhang H¹².)

 

Article 2 with reference after in brackets:

"Noise induced hearing loss is a slowly developing hearing impairment, caused by occupational exposure to excessive noise levels, constitutes a lesion of the auditory analyzer and clinically manifested as chronic bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Currently, there is not a treatment that provide a cure of sensorineural hearing loss" (Med Tr Prom Ekol. 2016;(3):37-48. 

[FEDERAL CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS IN DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF HEARING LOSS DUE TO NOISE].

[Article in Russian]

Adeninskaya EE, Bukhtiarov IV, Bushmanov AIu, Dayhes NA, Denisov EI, Izmerov NF, Mazitova NN, Pankova VB, Preobrazhenskaya EA, Prokopenko LV, Simonova NI, Tavartkiladze GA, Fedina IN.)

 

The next article is sad to hear of too. Article 3 with reference afterwards in brackets:

"Exposure to road traffic noise has been associated with adiposity and diabetes in adults. The suggested pathways have been through sleep disturbance and stress. Children may be particularly susceptible to noise induced sleep disturbance and stress and the effects hereof.... The conclusion of this study demonstrates: 'We found suggestions of a positive association between road traffic noise and risk of overweight in 7-years old children.' The problem affects both pregnancy and children." (Environ Int. 2016 May 31;94:170-176. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.016. [Epub ahead of print] Pregnancy and childhood exposure to residential traffic noise and overweight at 7years of age.

Christensen JS¹, Hjortebjerg D², Raaschou-Nielsen O³, Ketzel M⁴, Sørensen TI⁵, Sørensen M².

 

This is only 3 articles, there are many more to come and many more horrible side effects

 

What are we doing to our children? Is noise blasted over loudspeakers so that it is heard from the other end of the street really a good education? Do we want to create deaf people? Do we want to create obese children or those with diabetes and other horrible conditions? The noise teaches the kids to be angry, disrespectful, unhappy, inconsiderate, unpleasant people who can not think straight to comprehend the consequences of their actions. Is this what we want for ourselves or our children? How about teaching our children to be calm, relaxed, considerate, polite, kind, deep thinking, who care about this world, the environment, nature, animals and each other? How about teaching our children to love. How can there be love when loud noise is blasted at deafening levels? Where is space for love in such conditions? Love and peace require soft gentle music, soft voices, even surprise, surprise silence. When there is silence there is space to hear the still small voice within us and to be guided by our intuition. When there is silence there is the potential to contemplate, to open up to the fact that the world was created by a loving, omnipotent Creator. There is the potential to feel love and express love and peace to others. But unity and love don't happen where there is such complete lack of respect by blasting the neighbourhood with inhuman levels of noise.

 

What will it take for adults to learn that noise pollution is not healthy and the consequences sometimes are not treatable.  What will it take for us to care about our children and the message that we give them through our actions? When will we learn that what G-d wants is peace not war, love not hatred, calm not unbearable noise. 

Are we ready for Shavuot? I know I'm not, the huge noise has left me with a tight stomach, raising pulse, difficulty thinking and a huge headache. Classic symptoms of stress. 

What are you going to do to prepare for Shavuot? Will your preparation be conducive to receiving the Torah or the opposite?

Remember, prevention is better than cure!

Shabbat Shalom

Shoshanah Shear

 

 

Preventing Child Abduction from Israel by a Parent

Usually we like to post happy articles and positive information. The following post was prepared for us by Tzvi Szajnbrum, Attorney at Law. Knowledge is power and there are times this information needs to be known too. We hope and pray you, our readers wont have a need for such information.

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For a couple with children under the age of 18, a nightmare scenario can occur when one of the parents decides to take the law into their own hands and to kidnap their children overseas. This is called Abduction.

The Hague Convention:

The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 is a multilateral treaty intended to trace and secure the prompt return of children under the age of 16 who have either been ‘wrongfully’ removed from one Contracting State to another or ‘wrongfully’ retained in another Contracting State, and organize or secure the effective exercise of access (visitation) rights. ‘Abduction’ means ‘wrongfully removing’ to another country or ‘wrongfully retaining’ a child in a country where he has not been ‘habitually resident’, i.e. living.

Under the Hague Convention Law (Return of Abducted Children) 1991, Israel joined the Hague Convention from 1st December 1991 and is bound by its provisions. Providing that the other country is also a party to the Hague Convention, most of the legal proceedings for the child's return under the Hague Convention will be made in the appropriate court of the country where the child has been abducted to.

First Rule:

Whatever legal steps are taken there is no guarantee that abduction can be prevented in practice. Be aware of that and keep in mind that you may find yourself in a long, costly and painful legal battle.

Suspicion and how you can try to prevent abduction:

If you suspect that the other parent may try and abduct your mutual child, there is not much you can do concerning the children’s passport (especially if the child has dual nationality and therefore two passports).

Different countries have different policies regarding the use of a passport. In Israel, a citizen must enter and leave the country only when using the Israeli passport. Please remember! There is no full guarantee that this is an unbreakable law. Even though a citizen is “supposed” to leave Israel on the Israeli passport, it is possible to do so using a foreign passport.

Keep a photocopy of the child's passport (or the other parent's passport where the child appears). Keep in your possession updated photos of the children, and personal details such as: height, weight, marks or any other distinctive features. It is advisable to keep a copy of the children's foreign passport or at least the details of such a passport.

The Israeli Ministry of Interior recognizes that parental guardianship under Israeli law includes the power of one parent to veto the issue of a passport to a child under 18; therefore, one parent can “stop” the other in advance and avoid the child’s abduction if he is sure the other parent is planning to do so.

Children of divorced parents may receive passports only if both parents attend in person to sign their consent or at least the absent parent signs the necessary consent in front of a Ministry clerk. There is a special procedure so both parents do not have to go together at the same time to renew their child’s passport.

Children's passports are given for five years (and not 10) and the minors themselves are required to appear in person at the Ministry when issuing or renewing an existing passport.

The above concerns a passport issued in Israel and not at a consulate abroad

It is possible under certain circumstances to get an Israeli passport for minors at short notice, claiming all manners of explanations, and of course without the knowledge or consent of the other parent.

How can you try to stop the other parent?

You can bring a legal request to the Family Court asking to legally issue a ‘stop order’ or a ‘stay of exit’ order, preventing the minor’s exit across any of the country’s borders. (In Hebrew it is a “Tzav Ikuv Itsia Min Haaretz”)

After hearing the response of the objecting parent and the Ministry of the Interior, the court will decide whether this is a justified request. These cases are not “short cases” and they are not decided in a rush.

Once an Israeli Family Court grants such an emergency or a “temporary” “stop order” (this can be done at off hours or even only by one side without the knowledge of the other parent) – it is immediately notified to the border police at airports and all crossing points.

Try to avoid the courtroom and to reach an agreement outside the court if possible. For this purpose we strongly advice using any tactics you can to bring the other side to some kind of agreement or mediation. This will cost you less, will be less painful and much faster.