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... to the governments of Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark to enlist the assistance of
these governments in eliminating child pornography. In the same year, an NBC
documentary, The Silent Shame, exposed international trade in pornography and was
instrumental in pressuring governments to become stricter in their enforcement. U.S.
officials specifically credit this documentary with causing an immediate drop in foreign
shipments during 1984.
Since the mid-80's, according to law enforcement officials in the U.S. and Canada, there
has been a noticeable decline in the number of new children depicted in commercially
distributed pornography. Much of the currently circulating material contains images
reproduced from publications published in the 70's and early 80's. UK law enforcement
officials point out, however, that the mid-80's also marked the advent of the camcorder and
a proportionate increase in the production of non-commercial amateur pornographic home
videos involving new children. However, commercial material recently seized in the United
States contained images of new prepubescent children from Mexico and Brazil. Some new
commercial pornography material also involves underage teens. A U.S. television
programme, Hard Copy, televised a report in February 1996 on underage girls from the
U.S. and Europe who are being photographed in Holland by a company that produces the
erotic Seventeen magazine. The girls, according to a pediatric specialist applying the
Tanner scale, The Tanner scale is a scale for identifying the stages of development in
pubescent children. ranged in age from 13 to 18.

Commercial production, while diminished, does however continue to exist and, as stated
previously, is on the rise in Japan. Furthermore, the production of amateur child
pornographic home videos is becoming increasingly popular--even in the commercial
market. A review of child pornography legislation promulgated by different countries around
the globe reveals something of a trend towards an increasing commitment to the protection
of children from pornographic exploitation.