This is going to be a key question when we face our choices of food everyday.
The incidences of the melamine contamination in milk powder, eggs, chicken feed, and wheat gluten remind us once again the kind of risk that general consumers like you and I are exposed to.
As the way goes, contamination seems an inevitable part of our modern day living. We kind of accept that vegetables would come with pesticides, the piece of meal on the table might contain some residues of hormones harmful to the body, and virtually all the processed food would have artificial things there including additives, and preservatives.
However, we never can imagine that things could be so sinister and disastrous when it comes to greed by even a few. Vegetables end up so much contaminated with heavy metal just because someone takes the easy way out using industrial waste/sewage for irrigation. What about fish farmers using contraceptive pills in their feed, or DDT used on vats of pickles to keep the bugs away, or opiates added in the soup to create an addiction by customers.
How relevant is the motto “buyer beware” these days!
Even health supplements are no exception. The incidence of cross contamination leading to the collapse of the public company, Pan Pharmaceuticals, in Australia in 2003 is still fresh in our minds.
When we come to choosing products like fish oil (Omega 3) as an example, it warrants to check out what really is free of heavy metal and organic contaminants. Most of the products on the shelves would not meet this criteria because they are only food standard GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).
The world is like a toxic cradle. By becoming aware of the likely risks, and also staying away from these likely dangers would be the best policy.
Live Life, Junius.
p.s. by the time of this writing, it has been reported that the milk powder contamination has caused at least 4 deaths and over 13,000 children being hospitalized in China.
Video: Virgin Galactic First Space Tourists — Let the Journey Begin.
America has made history by having their first ever African American president. Not too long ago, China has their first astronauts walking in space. And, towards the end of the decade, we might be witnessing the first commercially run space flight for a journey of 2 and a half hours to the edge of space.
On the gloomy side of things, the world is overshadowed by the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression in 1929. A lot is still in the unknown.
This is the era we live, a time of creation, greatness, volatility, and uncertainties.
Nobody doubts the world is changing. However, as much as we acknowledge that change is a constant, we still find ourselves at times caught off guarded by the speed that changes happened, and the magnitude that happened. Not too long ago, we have seen the big jump in petrol prices and the chained effects on the daily food and commodities. If you are traveling using A$, what would you feel finding that the dollar shed 20% so suddenly out of nowhere?
As much as we acknowledge the presence of a bigger “uncertainty” factor, we never seem to have aptly prepared ourselves for the natural disaster or man-made crises (or are they synonymous?) like the SARS epidemic in 2003, Sichuan Earthquake in China, and the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar earlier this year.
In a sea of change, if we are not changing, we will be left behind.
I think the best policy is to embrace change, be part of the change, and even get ahead of it. Nevertheless, I think we should engage in better knowledge and awareness. Through learning, we can enhance our alertness to the changing environment and be more at ease with circumstances.
Live Life, Junius.
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