Entrepreneurial Farmer

Living In Style Maybe Ugly

by Ambrosio R. Villorente

One Sunday morning last week, I was standing in front of a grocery store in Poblacion, Kalibo. I was waiting for a ride. It did not take long but suddenly, a new black car stopped in my front.

A woman, of middle age came out of the car. She stands about five feet, two inches high. She is plump and of very white complexion. She was wearing a white blouse with colar, matched with a very short pair of maong pant which covers about four (4) inches from her pelvis. Almost all her legs toward her feet are exposed.

There is no question of her beauty. She is pretty. However, her legs are almost filled-up with varicose vein which, at a distance, her legs are covered with blue and white that appears unpleasant to the eyes.

It could have been preferable if she wore long pant to cover her legs and upper limbs. Living in style is admirable but one becomes ugly if the style does not fit a person.

Criminals Are Active

There is a series of hold-ups committed in Kalibo, Aklan. Last week, a night class teacher was held-up on her way home from the school. The three motorcycle riding hold-uppers forcibly took her bag containing money, school records and other valuables.

There is a need for the members of the Philippine National Police to intensify their efforts in protecting peace and prevent criminality in Aklan.

Drug Pusher Arrested

Andy Oroceo, a 37 year old native of barangay Libas, Roxas City was arrested in Boracay, Malay, Aklan for alleged pushing of illegal drugs. He fell into the dragnet the Aklan Provincial Anti-illegal drugs Special Operations Task Group and the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center put up in Sitio Ambulong, Barangay Manoc-manoc. A poseur buyer bought two sachets of suspected shabu for P1,000 from Oroceo. Confiscated from Oroceo were six sachets of suspected shabu, drug paraphernalia, and cell phone. He is now facing charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Breast Feeding Babies

For the lactating mothers, breastfeed your babies. According to a research finding, babies who are breastfed have lower arsenic exposure. The powder and water used to formulate baby formula maybe the source of arsenic which occurs naturally in the environment. In large doses, it is linked to serious health problems, the researchers wrote in the Environmental Health Perspective journal.

Kathryn Cottingbam, one of the researchers, advised parents who need to use formula to feed their infants to pay attention to the water they use to make baby formula. Cottingbam, who works at the Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at Dartmouth College. Hanover, New Hampshire advises parents to test their water. She noted that arsenic occurs naturally in bedrock and is a common contaminant of well water.

Breast milk does not contain high level of arsenic even if mothers have been exposed to high levels of the element.

The study was done in January 2009. The researchers analyzed urine samples from 6-week-old babies in New Hampshire of pregnant women recruited for the study. Of the 72 babies in the study, 70 percent received only breast milk, 13 percent received only formula, and 17 percent received a combination of the two.

Finding shows that infants fed only with formula had the highest concentrations of arsenic in their urine, followed by those who received formula and breast milk. Those who were fed exclusively with breast milk has the lowest levels of arsenic in their urine.

These above findings if headed and recommendation followed, will help reduce our imports of milk and milk products as the Philippines is importing 95 percent of our milk consumption annually. It is very healthful and economical to feed babies with mothers’ milk. /MP