Poison for the Filipino
Document Title: Poison for the Filipino
Document Ref No: R9703111
First Published: Reflections - TBA
Publication Date: 11th March 1997
Author's Name: Father Shay Cullen, SSC
What we eat could be killing us. Pesticide laced vegetables are pouring into the markets of Central Luzon from Nueva Vizcaya. Cattle from Australia and even Europe, possibly with foot and mouth or mad cow disease are being imported with little control through Subic free port. Shipments of contaminated and expired Maling, Pork Luncheon Meat from Nan Jing in China are freely sold at Subic. Who is dishing out this deadly poison for the Filipino?
Last week I witnessed truck loads of live cattle imported through Subic Free Port being trucked to Central Luzon. With lax quarantine controls, they could, for all we know, be infected with mad cow disease and in turn infect the consumers. Customs official were reluctant to give details other that to say one shipment was from Australia. The European Union has a world wide ban of British and some Irish Beef after consumers died. Hundreds of thousands of cattle have to be destroyed - or sold at bargain prices to unscrupulous Philippine importers perhaps. An outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Australia has brought the price of cattle there to a new low.
As I write this a tin of Maling pork Luncheon meat from China purchased at the Subic Free Port sits beside my computer. It has a sticker indicating it came from Malacca but it originated in China. It's shelf life, stamped on the bottom has long since expired - by six months. Some customers have reported finding worms inside other cans they bought. This meat has already been banned as contaminated and over a year ago shipments were sized and destroyed by Philippine authorities.
When government officials raise the alarm it must be serious. That's the case with vegetables from Northern Luzon. Nueva Vizcaya provincial board member Jose Tubayan has warned farmers that their over-use of pesticides could soon kill their vegetable growing industry. That is, if they don't kill the customers first. The Northern provinces of Luzon supply most of the vegetables to Metro Manila and other population centers of Central Luzon with western varieties of vegetables. Press report quotes Tubayan as saying that vegetables are harvested and shipped to market soon after the vegetables have been sprayed with pesticides.
That means while they still have high levels of toxic residues. "While this may may give a (high) return to the farmer, says Tubayan, it will also mean higher health risks on the part of the consumers" Governor Rodolfo Agbayani has promised to investigate the reports and says that it is major cause of alarm if it is proved to be so.
Vegetables and fruits are the most important source of essential nutrients that help the body to resist disease, especially cancer. There is no substitute for vegetables and fruit. Even if our vegetables have traces of toxins from pesticides they are still much much safer and better than animal based foods. Eating lots of plant food is the key to a long and healthy life. So when they are over-sprayed with pesticides something must be done to protect the public.
The reports about pesticide laced vegetables bother me most. I mostly eat vegetables, fruit and fish. I avoid commercially grown vegetables because of the chemical fertilizers and the pesticides. Native home grown vegetables, preferably with insect bites are best. Consumers who buy the commercial produced vegetables could be at some risk.
Eating beef, pork and poultry, processed or fresh, is much more dangerous because animals absorb and accumulate in their flesh every bit of toxin that they get in the food they eat. Germany has banned certain kinds of commercially produced chicken because of chemical concentrations in the meat. Consequently those who eat animal meat get a high dosage of toxins and these toxins too are concentrated in our bodies. Over a period they build up to critical mass and attack our immune system or damage our cells and cancer or other diseases are the result.
The concentration of fatty deposits in animal food can also clog up our arteries and lead to a blocked artery and a stroke or heart attack. If you want to stay strong and healthy avoid every kind of animal meat especially those from suspect sources. But how can you know what is safe, that is where we need strict quality control. The role of government is to protect the people, or have they forgotten? END
