Now Its Time That You Should Know More About Lead, MSG and Other Substances in Your Foods!

Being a chemical engineer, I do not necessarily agree with all those who try to induce fear about materials and processes that we encounter in our day to day lives now.

Basically I believe that all materials and substances as available in this world as created by the divine creators are useful and has some purpose.

In essence, that assumes the notion that everything is good.

What is bad in this good is the way and manner in which we use and manage these good things around us. When we mismanage materials and substances, they can turn to become bad for us.

That is why the saints of the old has warned us this way: In excess, even amrit is poison! [In Hindu mythology, amrit is the potion drink of the gods that give them immortality!]

So, if you relish eating and drinking something, there need not be too much worry so long as you do it wisely. In fact, your worries could do more harm to you than what you eat and drink!

But the key here is your wisdom. While you use substances and materials for eating, drinking or for any other purpose, your actions have to be done wisely. You and your fellows will face problems when you do things stupidly or foolishly! You should not do stupid things like destroying or burning your home just for evicting a rat that had gone inside it!

Why I have written this much is because I find constant efforts by some people to induce fear and anxieties among people, in the guise of creating awareness. Making the common people fearful and anxious is a trick used by some people for gaining some advantage for themselves! 

If you go to a non professional doctor who doesnot give any importance to professional ethics, there is all likelihood that the doctor may give such medical descriptions about your health conditions that you become perpetually worried about it. Eventually you may become a perpetual visitor to the doctors and the hospitals divesting a good part of your incomes! 

The media men and women too might bombard you with lots of inconclusive information and opinions that could make you totally confused, scared and anxious. Not all people have the capacity to isolate and process facts from falsehoods or digest falsehoods and misinformation with a pinch of salt!

Having said that, I cannot not however, agree to the superiority of some humans who assert their right of domination over others whom they view as lesser mortals. Efforts of democratically elected governmental representatives to force their food habits and beliefs on others is one such thing which I consider as not commensurate with modern civilization. The savages of the past believed might is right. But modern human civilization does not endorse that. Hence, acts and thoughts similar to that of savages emerging in a civilized society, however negligible it might be, cannot be considered as palatable to any civilized mind.

I believe in the democratic right of all governments to make rules and regulations and administer them for the good of the people at large. But such rules and regulations when done whimsically and arbitrarily without the application of mind cannot be acceptable as coming from a civilized government. 

Democratic governments and the elected representatives of people have the responsibility to give convincing answers to the citizens about their acts. But when they show arbitrariness of dictatorship, civilized citizens need to worry about their society's future!

In my country, one state in the south, all of a sudden banned a section of the hotels from serving alcoholic bewerages. The arbitrariness of their decision was too obviously reflecting the vested interests behind such a governmental action. The elected representatives could not explain the logic of their acts. Now those vested interest representatives are facing the heat of public anger and investigations.

In a similar manner, some other public representatives are forcing their own beliefs on the vast majority of people with respect to food habits. Some do not like beef and meat, some do not like eggs and they want others to follow suit. Will their acts sustain?

Now it is this processed food made by a multinational food company called Nestle in the name of Maggi. The controversy started a couple of days ago and the political strategy of bans followed without proper explanations or clarifications from the governmental authorities. Interestingly, the actions of the governments are obviously reflecting their political interests. 

But what is this controversy all about? The media while bombarding the news about the bad luck of the Swiss company Nestle, is not honest enough to disclose the truths. They too do not follow any professional ethics in this country. And that should be a point of worry for the thinking people.

But information is not anybody's monopoly in this age of the internet. You can know much and make your own conclusions.

The controversy is about the concentration of two substances in the Maggi noodles which is essentially a dried and easily cookable thread like food material made of wheat flour. Together with the pouch of the cookable noodle, it has a mix of tastemaker in another pouch which contains salt, chilli and other substances for making the noodles tasty to eat.

Now about the controversial ingrediants. One is called the glutamate or more precisely, Mono Sodium Glutamate or MSG. It is an organic salt which is found in many natural food items like tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, etc. It is also manufactured by chemical processes. 

Interestingly it is entirely produced from vegetable raw materials such as starch. (I suggest the readers to find more about the production and uses of MSG as given in the website of the International Starch Institute of Denmark (the least corrupt country in the world!)  

Mono Sodium Glutamate has been in use in the world for at least a century now. It is a food additive approved by many nations and is classified in the European classification of food additives (the E-number) . Though there are some isolated research studies which describes some not so serious adverse effects of MSG when consumed exceeding some limits, such reports remain as incoclusive. It is an approved taste enhancer for various kinds of foods in most countries. 

Any food which is added with tomatoes or cheese or mushroom can test positively for MSG. As a precautionary directive, MSG levels as acceptable for common use in foods have been notified by some countries. Essentially, there is no need for any one to get panic about this taste enhancer as it is safer that common salt for normal use. User descretion is always needed when people consume food and bewerages. Any food material in excess may be injurious to health. For that matter, even common salt is injurious when it is added beyond certain limits in food.

The next controversy is about lead (Chemically, Plumbum or Pb). There is no way that Nestle would add any lead salt or substance knowingly to their noodles. Because, lead does not have any role in the manufacturing process for making noodles. But then from where this lead coming from in Maggi noodles? The authorities who have licenced Maggi and Nestle need to explain this.

In reality, lead comes into our water and food from every where. Our air, water and cereals all in India contains lead in small quantities. Nestle or any other manufacturer is not adding any lead for making their products. Because our authorities and public fail to manage air, water and land pollution in a pragmatic manner, water and food as obtained in India has a higher level of lead content as compared to international standards. For example, drinking water and bottled mineral water in India has  lead content in it. Just because the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) publish a detailed wish list of quality standards for foods and drinks that are to be made and sold in India, the quality of food and drinks as available in India is not going to become superior! 

Water in many cities come to home and industry through metallic or plastic pipes. All these pipes and fittings contain some lead and from it the water can have some small quantity in parts per million levels. 

The atmosphere gets lead oxides from the burning of coal in power plants and by humans. 

Substantial quantities of lead comes from many of our paints that we use in our homes.

From all these, lead is absorbed by the plants including wheat. So wheat flour (atta or maida) can have some lead naturally in it.

And there is no chemical process by which this lead from wheat flour or water could be removed. 

In reality, the lead that Maggi contains is naturally occuring from the raw materials that they procure from Indian sources!

When this is the reality, is the knee jerk action of the Indian authorities justifiable? I doubt.

It is time that the authorities explain things properly.

Otherwise, this too should be guaged as a consequence of vested interests playing.

And that is not a good thing for a civilized society! 

When the corruption perception index of India remains at a shameful level, the actions done by the Indian authorities are not likely to be viewed as something logical, reasonable or justifiable unless the authorities show the wisdom to make things more transparent and clear.

If it is not, India is not going to be a favorable destination for business and industry even when the top authorities publicly keep desiring otherwise.

Would it be Possible for India to Improve its Corruption Perception Index!

To brush up your concepts of corruption, corruption perception index (CPI) and the score of India with regard to CPI, I would suggest that you read my earlier blog article titled: the root cause of corruption in India.

An Indian Newspaper Report about Corruption in  Aadhaar

In the above article I had concluded that the root cause of corruption is fear. Weaklings in mind and body are prone to problems arising out of their fear. These people are afraid of many things, though they might not agree to it so easily. They may even try to project themselves as courageous by trying to do many acts to prove their courage, though often in a foolish manner.

Fear about the uncertainties of the future causes people to become greedy. Their minds become engulfed in the thought of self survival even at the cost of others. They want to grab everything for them and do not wish to consider the necessities of others. 

This is greed arising out of fear psychosis. And this happens with all cowards. Brave men and women are not affected by fear and greed. For brave men and women, the lives of others around them are as important or perhaps more important as theirs!

But what happens when the people are genetically fearful? It is not easy for such people to remove their intrinsic fears about the unknown. 

Fear can make permanent imprints in animals and birds for generations. So is the case with people who have predominant animal like traits or those who are more concerned about their day to day living rather than thinking and analysing a situation with their god-given wisdom.

For example, many species of birds are scared of the scarecrow. Crows get agitated and scared if they happen to see some black cloth similar the feathers of a dead crow.

Some years ago, when I visited the Andaman Islands, I noticed a very peculiar thing. The buses that plied on the road across the island were having two gun shaped woods projecting on either side. Those were for scaring the aboriginals. The aboriginals of the island witnessed the deadly power of the guns of the civilized men some generations ago. Now their new generations are scared of any objects in the shape of the guns! When they see such objects, they would not dare to come near to attack. That was the logic behind the gun shaped scarecrows intented for the aboriginal humans of the island that I saw on the buses of this island. 

Cowards avoid fighting face to face. They avoid direct confrontation with the mighty ones, but adopt guerrilla warfare to destroy their enemies. Clever tactics to make selfish gains are usually adopted by cowards. When all people are courageous in mind and body, even wars among people would cease to happen!

Cowards are inherently suspicious about all others around them. They find it difficult to trust any one. The game of politics to grab power attains complex and unworthy levels when the people involved are intrinsically cowards. Those who are involved in this game say something, but act differently! The fears that are deep rooted in their minds do not allow them to be honest!

Fearful people cannot even have full trust in God. It is difficult for them to believe that God's providence is unconditional. As a result, they might even try to device their own gods and might even try to bribe such gods for doing them favors! It is difficult for them to differentiate between the characteristics of people and god. They assume their gods too with similar weaknesses as humans! For many humans, it is just difficult to comprehend God and the Universe and the power of God that is non-human like. But they fear God, just as they fear any power yielding human hero who takes pleasure in punishing all those commit errors or sins and rewards those who do good.

Fear arise out of cowardice which in turn prevents people to be honest, truthful, compassionate and generous. Cowardice arise out of many factors, some genetic, some demographic and some racial. To remove cowardice from mind, the first requisite is to have a sound body and mind. The second requisite is to train the body and mind to be strong. Unbiased education, knowledge and training do help people to become strong and generous in mind capacities. On the other hand, biased and improper education can make a sound mind to become apprehensive and fearsome.

A society or group of people cannot attain all round development, so long as there exist cowards who are weak in body and mind and who are not trained to remove their unjustified fears. 

Corruption of various kinds take roots in a society with weaklings in majority.

It is not possible for any current generation to eradicate corruption in their society if it exist in it. But, it can keep reducing it by willful determination in its future generations. The key is its future generation.

Children can be trained to develop to less fearsome adults as compared to their parents, provided they are not exposed to fear inducements by either parents or their teachers. A child who is exposed to imaginary ghost fear by parents can never fully eliminate that fear even during its adulthood under normal circumstances! So is the case with several such fears and prejudices that got developed during childhood! A boy or girl upon reaching adulthood might succeed in removing such fears, pride and prejudices only if his or her mind capacity is much superior with an inbuilt self desire for eliminating such negative qualities.

Now comes the moot question. Would it be possible for India to improve its corruption perception index? Could we possibly eliminate corruption in India?

It could be debated for generations. But fear is the key!

India or for that matter any nation or society where corruption is a serious problem for development, can possibly improve their corruption perception indices (CPI)  when the majority individuals learn to remove their hidden fears and prejudices deep rooted in their minds.

For it to happen, the individuals should have healthy bodies and sound minds capable of accepting and retaining good education and training.

Would it be happening in this generation or in the next?

Think about it!   

What is the Root Cause of Corruption in India?

Corruption is a global phenomena now in our world. But the degree of corruption as perceived varies from nation to nation. The following gives the graphic depiction of what the global corruption watchdog agency-Transparency International (TI)- has found out about the current status of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the various nations.

[You may place the cursor on the country map to read the CPI data as published by TI for 2014. You can move the map by pressing down the cursor and moving it!]

The lower the score, the better the country with regard to corruption. The yellow regions in the map show the nations with the least corruption.

Every individual could have their own interpretation and views regarding corruption. For some, it is not any grave issue. For some it is the gravest problem. And yet for many others, it is just an unavoidable part of human culture and civilization and perhaps there are no solutions.

After all what is corruption? When someone, delegated with some authority or responsibility to do a public service, does something associated with that public service for gaining any undue benefit for self or for someone of his or her preferred choice, then perhaps that act amounts to corruption.

Let us consider a few examples:

You go to a police station to register a first information report (FIR) on a police complaint. The officer on duty make excuses and demands some personal favor (money or something else) for doing the work he was supposed to do as a public servant. Here he or she is using the delegated power for making some personal benefit. It is an act of corruption.

You go to a railway ticket booking counter and find there are several people in the line. Obviously, you may have to wait for your turn and there is the possibility that you may not get your seat or berth booked at all. You try to influence the booking clerk through some one by offering some extra money and the clerk does that for you preferentially to oblige your extra payment. It is corruption.

The school teacher keeps on harassing your child in the school for some reason or the other always compelling you to personally meet her and make a friendship. She requests some help which you are in a position to do and obliges. Your child's problem in the school ends. Another form of corruption!

A public contract is notified. Your company sees the potential business opportunity and wants to participate and get the contract. A few among the decision makers hints about you shelling out some big commission money in an indirect manner if your company wins the contract. If you don't, you may perhaps be shunted out. If you oblige, you would be facilitated to get the award. Another kind of corruption.

You apply for some government permit or sanction under some law to operate your company. No decisions taken and you are asked for various kinds of clarifications from time to time. But when you shell out some money and some other personal gratification things to the benefit of the the concerned authorities, your work is done. 

The list is endless. In a highly corrupt country, almost all public services have some corruption link. All levels of decision making are perceptibly corrupt!

Now what happens when a country is highly corrupt this way? The cost of running any business goes up due to the unaccounted money that get in the system leading the black economy.

The cost of goods and services go higher. Public services like roads, schools, hospitals, railways etc become inadequate or poorly managed. The competency of people to undertake any work keeps deteriorating. A good majority of people become jobless or poorly paid.

Employment generation takes a beating due to the difficulty of setting up businesses and also due to the inadequate returns on investments. Risk involved in doing honest business increases. 

The normal life become very difficult unless you have some connections with the powerful people. Justice to individuals never truly happens! 

Trust among people deteriorates as more and more people try dishonest methods on the false assumption that it is essential for survival. People becomes divided and democracy causes incompetent and dishonest persons to rise up in leadership positions to worsen the situation year after year.

Now what is the root cause of all this?

Is it over population as some people say?

Is it the greed of the people?

Is it the lack of proper education?

Perhaps all these may be true.

I would say it is the fear of the people. The fear of the unknown.

Corruption perpetuates when people becomes fearsome.

So fear causes the minds of individual to become corrupt. Fear of the fellow being causes a man or woman to become selfish and selfishness results in the adoption of corrupt acts. Selfish people do want to live even at the cost of others generating greed. They seldom realize that they too perish after some time!

And lack of that realization is ignorance and ignorance causes corruption.

Whatever be the fear, t is essential to find the causes of that fear.

How to remove it?

Fear is the characteristic feature of cowards. Brave men and women are not fearful and courage comes from true knowledge.

When the society has more cowards, it tends to become corrupt. A society with courageous people cannot be perpetually corrupt!

Courage develops through true education both formal and informal. True education can only be possible when individuals, families and the society understand its true meaning and purpose!

And to understand it well, the individuals need to have sound bodies and sound minds. Partially developed individuals with imperfect bodies and minds cannot understand the true meaning of education and its true purpose!

A fully developed mind is capable of discerning the divine guidance that differentiate between good and bad.

So the root cause of corruption is due to imperfect bodies and minds of individuals making them fearful cowards.

Eradicate poverty, able bodied men and women would emerge.

Educate the able bodied men and women, their minds would become strong and fear would disappear.

Once the fear goes, they no longer be selfish, suspicious or greedy.

They no longer need to be corrupt!

Every one in the society needs to introspect, if they feel corruption is really a menace of their society.

You know what is to be done now!