Cursing means he has run out of arguments

GUTTER LANGUAGE: A columnist I used to work with (not with PhilSTAR) habitually cursed in his opinion pieces. He must have been trying to appear macho or to add color to the plain prose he had learned in his police reporting days.

The opinion editor had to rake out the offensive gutter language. Deleting cuss words was easy, but it could be irritating to overworked editors beating the deadline.

I advised the writer to stop cursing in his draft columns. Cursing does not add to your arguments, I said. When a writer starts to curse, that is a sign that he has run out of arguments.

Now, what about politicos with presidential aspirations flinging curses in rally speeches? That might endear them to the canto boys, but I doubt if that would appeal to the more decent elements of society.

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DEAD PHONE: Friends who call me might be wondering why they have been getting an “Unattended or out of coverage area” response.

Sorry, but my cellphone conked out days ago and is now languishing in the intensive care unit of Nokia.

In the meantime, callers are advised to just email me at [email protected].

I have been told also that texting can be done on a computer using Chikka, but I don’t know how that is done. And I heard each Chikka text message costs P2.50 instead of P1. That’s a lot of French fries.

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OIL-SOAKED: “French fries” brings me to a more serious topic, which is food and monosodium glutamate (MSG) which is more popularly called vetsin in the Philippines.

While most people might think that fries are a French invention, these deep-fried potato strips are generally thought of in France itself as Belgian in origin. In many places, such as Europe, they are called chips.

In the Philippines, a native version uses camote strips that are prepared in a similar way — deep fried — and served with a sprinkling of salt and, sometimes, cheese and some creams or minced bacon.

In burger houses, I am turned off when pushy counter people ask me to add French fries with my coffee. My main objection to fries, which I consider a serious threat to health, is their being soaked in boiling oil or fat that has been reused countless times. Press the fries on a paper napkin and see for yourself.

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VETSIN RISKS: With that, let me segue to vetsin or monosodium glutamate (MSG), which I consider as another threat to health.

I am alarmed by what looks like a well-financed trimedia campaign to promote the use of MSG while washing away the widely held view that it poses a threat to health.

I am one of those who believe that MSG’s use in eateries should be regulated, or even banned. We can live without it anyway. In fact, many name restaurants have dropped MSG and are still able to maintain their reputation as serving tasty and flavorful fare.

With MSG makers going on a high-profile campaign to show that vetsin is a good and safe flavor enhancer, a public discussion should be encouraged with a wide-awake Food and Drugs Administration moderating.

But the FDA should not be a neutral referee. It should conduct its own objective research to address safety and health concerns over MSG use. This it should do on its own without having to plagiarize reports of the American FDA.

The reports of the US agency that I have read, btw, mostly say that MSG is safe within tolerable levels. It just requires that food labels indicate the presence of MSG in food to warn the consuming public.

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MSG SYNDROME: Many of us who eat out have experienced how, after partaking of dishes liberally sprinkled with MSG, develop what is called MSG symptom complex.

It is not fair to them, but this observation is reportedly true in the case of most Chinese restaurants.

Some of the symptoms are: burning sensation in the nape, forearms and chest; numbness radiating to the arms and back; tingling, warmth and weakness in the face, temples, upper back, neck and arms; facial pressure or tightness; chest pain; headache; nausea; rapid heartbeat; difficult in breathing; and drowsiness.

There is also an urge to drink a lot of water. I don’t know if drinking dissipates or spreads the effects of MSG.

The symptoms may be experienced within one hour after eating at least three grams of MSG on an empty stomach. A reaction is more likely if the MSG is eaten in a large quantity or in a liquid, such as soup.

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INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: There have been cases of dogs being poisoned with MSG. Robbers casing a house throw into the yard a slice of meat soaked in vetsin. The guard dog devours the bait, develops MSG symptoms and dies — making it easier for the intending robbers.

But the US FDA reports that there is not enough evidence that dietary MSG or glutamate contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s chorea, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, AIDS dementia complex, or any other long-term or chronic diseases.

No body of evidence exists, it says, to suggest that dietary MSG causes brain lesions or damages nerve cells in humans.

It says that it has not found enough evidence that the levels of glutamate in hydrolyzed proteins causes adverse effects or that other manufactured glutamate has effects different from glutamate normally found in foods.

Still, it would serve public interest — in the face of an aggressive campaign to make people use vetsin or MSG — for the FDA to research, speak up and tell the public what the score is.

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