The Risk Factor

A consistent diet of fresh fruits and green leaves does not necessarily guarantee good health. Hard work does not always lead to beneficial outcomes. Even good fortunes at hand can change adversely or fade away in a flash.

I was once hospitalized due to extreme stomach pain. The doctor detected amoebic infestation in my intestinal system. It was strange, since I just stayed home the whole week prior, ate only home-cooked food and drank only water from a certified supplier.

No matter how careful we are with everything, we can never be totally safe. If not health problems, there are all sorts of accidents that lurk everywhere. And think of the tragic natural disasters that whack us from time to time.

Risks are practically all around us: at home, in the office, on the road, anywhere. The risk factor of living, if seriously considered, can immobilize us or make us paranoid. Even the technological innovations that are supposed to make life better for us often carry certain hazards.

The government tries to protect the people from risks - some risks - by assigning various agencies to focus on particular risk areas. There's the Bureau of Food and Drugs, the Products Standards Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Councils, and many other offices whose functions center on public protection and safety.

In the past 30 years or so, there has developed a discipline called risk analysis. With the aid of computers and highly complex measurement techniques, numbers are assigned to probabilities. These numbers supposedly help experts in guiding people towards safer ways of living.

Yet, despite all human efforts on the matter, risks continue to be a fact of life. There's always the risk of being hit by lightning or a meteorite, or being caught in an intensity 7.2 earthquake or in a super typhoon and other natural disasters. Likewise, we constantly face the risk of being caught in violence.

Travel, no matter the distance, always espouses the probability of an accident - whether on the road, at sea, or on air. Every electrical appliance in our homes and offices emits electromagnetic fields that can cause radiation. Our personal relationships are pestered by threats of treachery or misunderstanding.

Many subtle risks suffuse our surroundings. The air that we breathe carries molecules of deadly toxins, like, for instance, dioxin, radon, benzene and formaldehyde. Going out on a nice sunny day can expose one to the risk of skin cancer. (Many people won't bother applying protective skin lotion, because they think sunlight is natural.) All plants have natural biochemical defenses against fungi, insects and herbivores, which poisons go up the food chain, all the way to our dining tables.

Most grocery products, especially processed food, contain additives that have been found to cause tumors and other adverse physical reactions in laboratory animals. Fruits and vegetables are commonly grown with chemicals - fertilizers and pesticides - that are hazardous to humans. Moreover, many farm produce are treated with chemical preservatives to make them stand longer on store shelves.         

These risks take a deadlier turn when matched with our own reckless ways. The health risk from smoking cigarettes is far greater than those of the industrial fumes that fill the atmosphere. Entire communities drown in floods caused mainly by human garbage clogging up the drainage systems. 

Strokes, heart attacks and other diseases take about 15 times more lives than accidents, commonly thought to be the number one risk. Environmental carcinogens seem to account for only a very small percentage of all cancers. Dietary and lifestyle factors rank the highest of cancer risks.

Fortunately, the human body is equipped with incredible features for self-protection, and the mind with immense capacity for self-correction. The indomitable human spirit relentlessly endeavors to acquire new knowledge and skills to contain every threat. Our level of health education and disaster preparedness is continually on the rise.

Most remarkable of all is how we often turn the worst disasters into showcases of our best human qualities.

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