Is living on this planet safe?<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Asking my visiting aunt to eat in a restaurant
\nis just like asking Mother Teresa to go to a rock concert. She
\nwon't budge.<\/p>\n
\"Oh, no! That restaurant serves English beef that could carry
\nSpongiform Encephalopathy,\" she reasoned when we asked her to eat
\nat a prestigious steak house. \"It causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob
\ndisease,\" she continued like a scientist.<\/p>\n
Failing to find the terms in dictionaries, Tanty, her friend,
\nassumed that my aunt was talking about some kind of virus, and
\nthen offered a Chinese restaurant as an alternative.<\/p>\n
\"Haven't you heard of Chinese-restaurant syndrome?\" my aunt
\nanswered in her scientific style. \"The food you wolf in that kind
\nof restaurant is full of monosodium glutamate.\"<\/p>\n
I know what monosodium glutamate is. It is used to enrich the
\ntaste of cooked food, and experts warn that taking too much of it
\ncan cause indigestion. But I never think of quitting Chinese
\nfood. As far as I am concerned, crabs with oyster sauce, served
\nwith shark-fin soup and rice, is the most delicious dish. To be
\npolite, however, I pretended to agree with Aunt Rosa.<\/p>\n
\"That's right,\" I said. \"Traditionally cooked food is always
\nsafe. Let's go to a Padang food restaurant.\"<\/p>\n
Instead of raising from the chair, Aunt Rosa looked at me,
\nsquare in the eyes. \"Where the hell have you been?\" she retorted.
\n\"That kind of food is no longer the favorite dish. Eating rendang
\nis just like drinking coconut milk mixed with grease.\"<\/p>\n
I'll bet my Aunt takes too much information from newspapers.
\nBut in a way what she said made sense. The way food is cooked
\ncurrently exposes human beings to risks. How can you guarantee
\nthat cooking oil in a famous fried chicken restaurants is not
\nused repeatedly? According to an article on health science,
\ncooking oil is not supposed to be used to fry more than twice.
\nExcessive exposure to heat will cause changes in its molecular
\ncomposition and the oil can cause cancer. However, you cannot
\ninspect the kitchen of a restaurant just to find out if the cooks
\ndo dispose of cooking oil after the second frying as recommended
\nby scientists.<\/p>\n
Forget fried chicken and switch to baked fish. It's low in fat
\nand rich in Omega 3, the kind of substance that helps lower the
\ncholesterol content in your blood. But how can one know the fish
\nare not taken from Jakarta Bay where the water is contaminated by
\nmercury? Fish do not have an identification badge, do they?<\/p>\n
Thinking about those facts and risks, you would think that
\nliving on this planet is no longer safe. You can't go anywhere
\nwithout breathing carbon monoxide, eat fish without thinking
\nabout the Minamata case nor drink water free from germs.<\/p>\n
But you've got to live anyway. The risks and dangers are
\nthere, but you've got to survive. All you need to do is select
\nthe least dangerous way of life, eat less risky food, and breath
\nair with less carbon monoxide content.<\/p>\n
That requires a lot of efforts and sacrifice. The government,
\nfor a start, could reduce the emission of carbon monoxide by
\neliminating the number of vehicles on the road, especially aging
\nvehicles which emit a high level of the poisonous gas. At the
\nsame time, the condition of public transportation must be
\nimproved to discourage the use of privately owned vehicles.<\/p>\n
Controlling the operation of restaurants could be difficult,
\nbut enforcing regulations issued by the Ministry of Health for
\nthe safety of the people, especially the younger generation,
\nwould help.<\/p>\n
\"Talking about safety,\" my Aunt said, gulping a glass full of
\nwater. \"It is safer to drink water from your own well.\"<\/p>\n
So, she has missed something in the papers! Only I didn't have
\na heart to tell her that recent research shows that 70 percent of
\nwell water in Jakarta is contaminated by human feces.<\/p>\n
-- Carl Chairul<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/is-living-on-this-planet-safe-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }