Expert agrees with parents
I read a lot of letters by parents complaining of the agony of their small children getting up very early in the morning for a long travel time to school and then returning late in the afternoon very tired for their age (‘Letters to the editor: Long day for a small child’, Gulf News, November 21). As a senior paediatrician, I fully agree with them. My advice to the authorities is for schools to open at 9am and have classes up to 12pm. Then, a one-hour lunch break with classes afterwards to 4pm with compulsory sport classes in the last period. This way children will come back home by 5pm. In my view, it will help children both in studies and sports.
From Dr Narayana Murthy Tadimety
Dubai
Prevention better than cure
Genetically modified (GM) foods are obviously unnatural and so there is no way we should even try it (‘What’s for dinner? GM salmon’, Gulf News, November 21). What if the harmful effects of it are yet to be discovered? I believe that GM foods should be used only in a state of emergency, when a country becomes unable to feed its people. In GM foods, basically the organism’s lifespan is decreased or made faster. What if the same thing happens to us upon its consumption?
As they say, prevention is always better than the cure. It is better to prevent mishaps that may occur that we weep over later.
It is also important to remember that new studies and researches come up quite frequently, thrashing away the previous ones. Who knows when this will also get modified and retold?
From Ms Parvathi Sreeraj
UAE
Facebook comment
Not eating GM!
This is becoming a trend, but this is nothing but bad news! I will never eat any GM foods - not even salmon!
From Ms Daisy N. Sales
UAE
Facebook comment
What’s the problem?
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with GM salmon. We are crossbreeding animals and plants even before DNA was discovered. Crossbreeding is genetic manipulation. Agree?
From Mr B. Dolor
Dubai
Facebook comment
Too many questions
This is a huge problem because there isn’t any long term research into genetically modified food. We don’t know if this is going to cause us severe defects or cancer in 50 years or not. Maybe it has the same nutritional content, but wouldn’t it be pragmatic to be concerned about our children and grandchildren? And unfortunately, if GM food was always as simple as crossbreeding, this wouldn’t be such an issue to people. Even though the ‘Mendel’s Peas’ style crossbreeding is a form of genetic manipulation, this is not what the greater population is worried about.
From Mr Thomas Arthur
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
Make the public aware
The public must be made aware of the process of reducing, reusing and recycling in order to reduce waste (‘Waste management in UAE demands urgent steps’, Gulf News, November 21). This has to be initiated from house to house. Awareness pamphlets should be delivered at door steps and publications through leading newspapers.
You reduce the generation of waste by recycling, composting or reusing whenever possible. Here the respect to waste management generally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for the disposal of the material. Based on this, law abiding residents need to do their part by paying for the waste they generate.
Accordingly, we need to introduce charges first and limit the generation of waste. This needs to be introduced as soon as possible to make a difference.
From Mr M. K. Gunaseelan
Abu Dhabi
Keeping the city pristine
We have very strict advertisement norms and regulations in the UAE, but violations of these regulations can be seen. I’m talking about two types of advertisements that spoil the neatness and beauty of Dubai. The first one is advertisements for accommodations available and wanted. We could see such posters on all lamp posts, walls, electricity equipment and in many public places. It is spoiling the neatness of the city.
There are two options: Use classified columns of newspapers or allocate some exclusive spaces for such advertisements.
The second type of advertisement campaign is by keeping business cards of massage centres on windows of parked cars. All these cards are with pictures of semi-nude women. It will gives a wrong picture about the city and it must be stopped.
I appeal to the concerned authorities to take necessary action to maintain the neatness and beauty of the city.
From Mr K. V. Shamsudheen
Sharjah
Terrorists aren’t human
I would like to express my concern over the emerging terrorist groups in this world. Terrorism is not of, for or from any religion. Religion is a way of peace while terrorism is the path of scavengers in the disguise of humans. There is neither sanity nor humanity inside them. While my heart goes out to the families of the ones who have died in the Paris attacks, I think it is wrong that one ignores the plight of Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Media has also ignored the plight of these places.
Once we diminish terrorism by following the way of peace, justice will be fulfilled. It is acutely erroneous that one incriminates Islam for terrorism.
For the dream of peace to be achieved, it is crucial that we break all barriers of religion, region and language and unite as one and fight against terrorism. Only then will the world be truly sustainable.
From Ms Akshitha Unnithan
UAE
The ultimate sufferers
The Mali hotel attack was sad and painful to read about. After the recent Paris, France attacks, this brutal attack in the hotel is highly condemned. Whatever be the group that claimed this attack, it is uncivilised and barbaric one. Despite so many recent attacks, the international community has not woken up. The ultimate sufferers are innocent civilians.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
No end to the tragedies
The hotel shoot out in Mali shows nothing but the increasing threat of extremist activities. Whichever groups claim responsibility for such attacks, the loss of innocent lives cannot be tolerated anymore. The fear is that extremism is becoming beyond reach, as a number of recent incidents have the influence of educated youth of the new generation.
The Mali incident sends a clear message that the grip of security measures have been trailing as the influence of anti-social elements in the society is gaining more and becoming dominant and beyond compromise.
Even though so many resources like manpower and equipment have been invested to tackle the root of terrorism-related activities, it finds no end to the tragedies reported from all around the world in recent times.
From Mr Ramachandran Nair
Oman
Declining priority to health among teenagers
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but the irony today is an Apple iPhone every day keeps the eye doctor on the way. This throws light on the rising health issues caused primarily because we teenagers today prefer to spend most of our time on gadgets and thus have no time for physical activity. We tend to opt for fast food that is affordable, palatable and often available 24 hours a day. But, do we realise that fast food does not feed our body in the form of essential nutrients, but only fulfils our immediate cravings? School canteens must encourage the sale of healthy grab-and-go breakfast packs since breakfast is that meal of the day that we often tend to place low on our list of priorities. By following a healthier lifestyle, we can thus effectively avoid lifestyle diseases.
From Ms Nikita
UAE
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