Why is the arsenic issue dragging on? It will not go away on its own steam!!

The Lakbima newspaper on Sunday carried another article about the Malaysian accredited laboratory that carried out tests on unnamed pesticides sent to it by the Ven Athureliya Rathena, which had confirmed the existence not only of Arsenic, but also of Mercury and Cyanide.

Whilst not disputing the accuracy of the results of the said laboratory, one must always qualify this by being able to make a relative study of the acceptable norms. After all we all consume arsenic, mercury and cyanide everyday, but in proportions that are generally too small to make any effect on our bodies and is present in many of the foods we eat irrespective of whether they are grown organically or with the use of pesticides. So in order for comparison we must know if the amounts represented in the article are too high or normal. I cannot comment on this as my knowledge does not extend to the levels of arsenic that is found in naturally occurring substances which we ingest nor do I know the acceptable levels before the body can treat it as either poisonous or liable to be toxic.

It is surprising that all the pesticide companies have kept "MUMM" about this fact so far fearing to tread on this murky subject hoping it will die a natural death. I am not happy with this stance as it smacks to ignorant me as being one done out of self interest as any word uttered in defense will exact revenge from the anti pesticide lobby and hence the course of action to say nothing is the best form of defense.

We must put this topic out of our system as it has caused so much anxiety amongst people and nothing has been done to allay their fears as the government seems inept at explaining to our public who lack an element of common sense due to the poor education that does not teach them to think. This goes back to the lack of the ability of the general public to sift through information in order to make a judgment for themselves without being prompted by interested parties with their own agenda. When will we ever get out of the brainwashed tag attached to us, and have instead the thinker tag attached instead?

It is just this sort of behavior that enables interested parties on both sides of the debate to make hay while the poor consumer, and farmer is left in the lurch and be accused of a numerous litany of wrongs, few of which he is able to understand!

It is time that the Government takes upon itself the responsibility of explaining what is and is not acceptable and what they or others should do about it with regard to this issue as we all want to improve the quality of the food we eat with reduced amounts of harmful substances that affect our health. We cannot make this judgment until we know enough about the issue in order to make the choices in favor of our health and those near and dear to us.

Until such time this is done we are groping in the dark not knowing whether what we use and what we eat is good or bad and what are naturally occurring that we can do something about and what are man induced that are harmful and not and come out with a compromise acceptable to all of us.