Crazy world

I often marvel at that strange world in which we live, and which we have polluted so much it now poses a danger to our lives. I say this on the occasion of current debates about chicken flu, which has prompted numerous countries to exterminate hundreds of thousands of chicken and other fowl to avoid the spread of the disease.

Before then what was known as mad cow disease terrorised thousands of people, and now it has reappeared. This is not to mention the pollution of our waters, which resulted in certain kinds of fish not being eaten in certain countries. At the same time the chemicals used in agriculture have infected vegetables and fruits, so that wherever we go, we are surrounded by poison.

In the past it was the government that drew people's attention to health hazards to which they were subject, spreading the means to prevention. At present, however, it is the people who complain of the health hazards surrounding them while the government denies the existence of any such hazards.

It's an upside-down situation that should be altered altogether. For the government is responsible not only for minimising danger through strictly monitoring food imports and the use of chemicals but spreading as much accurate information about it as possible.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.