Letters: April 22, 2012

Be careful

A year back, I came across a story about a woman who was suffering from skin cancer due to the use of brightening products to have radiant and healthy glowing skin. She used many products to brighten her skin — many of them containing harmful ingredients like mercury and hydroquinone. I think it’s very important for people to be aware of the damage caused by brightening products. Nowadays, many people are motivated to brighten their skin, but no one actually takes the time to look at the effects or the ingredients that could cause skin issues. I think people should be happy with the skin they have rather than taking the risk of using these harmful products. It would be better if people took care of their skin naturally with home-made remedies.
From Ms Valencia Dsouza
UAE

The real fight
Simple acts like installing energy-efficient lights, planting trees, conserving water, maintaining tyre pressure are all worth doing, but simple acts like these will not win the global fight against climate change, no matter how many of us adopt these practices. To win this fight, we have to put a price on carbon — a carbon fee, a cap and trade or some combination of the two. This is absolutely essential if only to pay for what burning fossil fuel is doing to our health, the environment and the climate. This cost is not factored into the price we pay for these fuels, and that is an injustice that the “free” market and governments around the world continue to ignore. So here’s my suggestion — be an advocate for fair carbon pricing. Tell your friends and government representatives. Tell them that you want a price for carbon that takes all the costs into account. If enough of us made this our simple act, then we’ll see some movement in the fight against climate change.
From Mr Peter Adamski
Edmonton, Canada

A gesture to save a life
Of all the road safety measures, the hardest message to apply is the “stop talking while driving”. How many times has some car drifted into your lane or come too close to your car and you drive up to them to find that they are on the phone? No amount of fines or safety campaigns seem to make people more aware of the danger — they continue to drive with one hand pressed close to their ear. So, I would like to suggest a hand signal to make the drivers care about others on the road. We use hand gestures to wave ‘thank you’ and say ‘you can go first ‘, so why not have a gesture to remind people to not use their phone? A simple gesture of holding your fist with the thumb and little finger out, resembling a phone, and then inverting it downwards like you are putting the phone down would work. It could catch on quickly as a road gesture and make people conscious of the danger that they are putting themselves in.
From Ms Vineetha Nair
Dubai

Every Friday
Why have they chosen only April 20 (‘Philippine consulate will remain open this Friday’, Gulf News, April 16)? The Philippines consulate in Dubai and the Philippines Embassy in Abu Dhabi should be open every Friday! Simply because Friday is the day off for many of overseas Filipino workers in the UAE. Employees in the Philippines Embassy could have a day off every Saturday and Sunday.
From Mr Tony
Abu Dhabi

Different outlook
I think the Ministry of Education should be concerned about the number of annual school days and not the individual school schedules (‘Unified academic calendar for the UAE’, Gulf News, April 16). It is good to have different schedules for different curricula so that the parents will not be forced to take leave at the same time, causing organisations to suffer. Moreover, you would have less congestion on roads and also less burden in terms of ticket fares and bookings. It is unlikely that different children will have a different curriculum from the same family.
From Mr Hafis
Dubai

Too hot
This is a good move by the Ministry of Education. However, the summer vacation should start earlier rather than July 7 due to the hot and humid weather. Or they could have made the classes for young students close early.
From Mr Aftab
Sharjah

The reason behind everything
The rich are stepping down from the royal life to an average life with their families (‘British cry: I’m rich, get me out of here!’, Gulf News, April 17). However, some of the poor are going to replace the place held by the rich. Countries are trying to overcome the crisis that has hit them badly but no one has taken the time to think about the ethical reasons behind how these crises hit the world. We always think materialistically while morals and spiritual values are underestimated. Now it is time to find out solutions from the past and not from the future.
From Mr Shanavas
Dubai