Skin deep

One of my favorite columnists Conrado de Quiros had a very interesting column today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

While I may disagree with him at times, I agree with him often as well.

The topic is titled Black and White.

"Jojo Binay came out last week painting it black. That was after the local Food and Drug Administration banned a shipment of skin whiteners from China containing high levels of mercury and steroids. Binay applauded the move but demanded to know why we needed skin whitening products at all, whether they contained safe amounts of chemicals or not. 'We are brown and should be proud of it'."

And I agree!

The other week I had a mother at my clinic asking me if it was alright for her 12 year old daughter to start on these skin whitening preparations. I retorted that there is no scientific evidence to this claim. As a matter of fact, glutathione is approved in Europe as an adjunct to the treatment of Parkinson's disease. It's side effect - it whitens the skin!

This mother went on rambling that her daughter was a fish out of water. She loved to swim! But she is dark colored. Then chastised her daughter by saying in front of me that the color did not look good on her. I felt like slapping her, because the girl was almost ashamed of her mom berating her in front of me. Dang this mother! Of course, I gave her a piece of my mind, which probably did not sound too well with her.

I told her that the natural color of our body is the color of our butt. That's the only one that's really not exposed to sun. And so what was so wrong with being brown? I've always wanted that darker hue, but my genetic make-up will not permit. I only burn when I attempt to get a tan. Boohoo!!!

But the commercialization of endorsers has actually made every Tomas, Ricardo and Haribon want to become 'white'! Even a gay boy has come out in an ad splattered all over the billboards, on the glutathione effect. My maids buy papaya whitening soap and insist that only Belo touches their skin. Never mind if they don't have money for food, as long as their skin is as white as Juday's! Dang!

What sells is that these endorsers seem to be making a killing at the financial gains, but the consumer is the ultimate dud who buys these stuff, even if there are no approved therapeutic claims.

And you can say the same about almost every product in the market - children who are fat (and at times obscenely obese) advertising hotdogs, multivitamins that will make you taller (even if your parents are Mura and Mahal), a Fit and Right drink that contains 70 calories per bottle but supposedly should make you get abs, or herbal preparations that will make you piss all those toxic waste or suddenly you can walk again, or even soft drinks that can make you happy just by opening the can!

de Quiros goes on saying that "No wonder we are the laughing stock of Asia. It's not just that we cannot keep up with our neighbors' prosperity, it's that we cannot crawl out of our caves. Hollywood of course has much to do with it. But even as Hollywood is slowly getting out of it, as indeed the US itself which voted its first black president a couple of years ago, we are not. While Hollywood is toasting the stars of "Slumdog Millionaire" and the Chinese actors and actresses of Ang Lee and Zhang Ziyou, we still think that being born to a mixed marriage, specifically with one of the parents being white, is a natural entitlement to becoming a star of the Philippine movies."

Those Fil-Ams or children from mixed caucasian marriages seem to be at an advantage when it comes to on screen appearance, but that's being superficial. Many of them get opportunities at local TV breaks, but stars like Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda are making a name for themselves in more competitive territories, while these lackies are trying their luck at the local channels.

We keep complaining about being discriminated against in other countries on the basis of color and height, openly or subtly depending on the country, and yet that's what we do right at home. We don't need other people to make us feel inferior, we do a perfectly good job of it ourselves. We laugh at the dark-skinned, the short, the kinky-haired, the flat-nosed, the beady-eyed, which are the characteristics of our race, and which did not prevent Jose Rizal from becoming one of the greatest men who ever lived. Why shouldn't other people treat us as inferiors when we deem ourselves to be so?

There is, after all, nothing wrong in trying our best to look beautiful exteriorly. At the end of it all, however, what matters most is how beautiful we are - skin deep.

The endorsers - part II

If there is one thing that I can not stand, it's people in media, who brag around a "holier than thou" attitude, yet practice the most deceitful form of advertising.

What am I talking about?

The other day, on channel 26 (Philippine Cable), I happened to chance upon DZMM radio, live on TV. DZMM happens to be the AM channel of channel 2 (ABS-CBN). What struck me was that they have this show called "Magandang Gabi Dok" (Good evening doctor), and they have a doctor whom they are interviewing over the telephone, for phone in questions by "patients".

These gullible doctors (I hate putting my colleagues on the spot) are really dumb! Not that they don't know what they're saying, but are actually conned into answering queries about patient's conditions on the air. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against theoretical professorial antics by these doctor specialists who perhaps do not know what they are getting into. Perhaps, they want a little fame. But there is no greater fool than the fool that was fooled by a con artist.

The con artists? They are two radio announcers or DJs if you'd like to call them, who after interviewing the "gastroenterologist" on live AM radio, blast out advertisements and "endorsements" on how good Liveraide is for patient with hepatitis B infection or those who have liver problems. They go on adding on where it is available and the claim that it is absolutely safe! The other day, they had a "rheumatologist" live in the station booth and she didn't even budge when they blatantly advertised Arthrocin on the air. Right beside the clueless doctor. Clueless is a kind word to describe the dumb dumb. She even greeted her friends on the air! Ano ba iyan?

The temerity of these people! If you think the endorsements of the popular personalities are bad, this has got to be the height of ethical dilemma and malpractice.

These doctors should shut up and not put up with these con artists who get paid for the announcements and pronouncements that these supplements actually are drugs that cure. In fact, the government should just translate to the local language what the words "No approved therapeutic claim" is on the label of these supplements! The public should be guided by the local translation "Walang bisa itong gamot na ito"!

At the rate that the advertisements are going, it is no wonder that these supplements are selling like hotcakes at the detriment of the health of the Filipino people.

Someone, please shoot the radio announcer!

Survival

The other day, I had gone to a pharmacy (Mercury Drug) to buy my medicines.

Beside me was this mother who was buying medicines for hypertension. She asked for 5 tablets and asked how much the total was. The clerk said P375 (USD$8.82) and she commented at "how expensive." "It had gone up by P2.50 (USD$0.06) only", retorted the clerk. Then her 10-year old daughter went up to her with a handful of JUNK FOOD! Exactly one mini bag of Pringles, 3 small bars of Oreo cookies and 4 mini boxes of Mentos. She put the junk on the counter and returned 2 tablets of the anti-hypertensive drug.

I was thinking - OMG (Oh My God)!

The Filipino has a penchant for not being thrifty when it comes to junk - in whatever form. Junk food flood the airwaves and are the items on the shopping cart. A chocolate bar, instant noodles, powdered iced tea or those that purport to be "healthy iced tea in bottles", soda...name the junk and you've got it. It's not surprising that it's the staple food they have as well. Look at the queue at McDonalds and Jollibee and KFC. You'd wonder why they complain so much at the rising prices of medicines and gas, when they have the money to spare for JUNK!

No where in the food pyramid is it taught that these JUNK food are part of the healthy diet. But media and advertising shows its power by barraging the public with false information. Ironically, media is at arms when it comes to the rising cost of medicines, rice, electricity, gasoline, water and other essential and necessary items.

What has happened to Filipino people? They complain so much about the unnecessary things in life which they spend to no end but will scrimp when it comes to health and public utility goods.

When my patients ask me to prescribe a medicine to stimulate the appetite of their kid, I tell them to just go and buy FOOD! But no. They will howl at how bad the appetite of their kids are. The kids will cry, the parents will make a big issue with me when I tell them that their 2 year old child should not be bottle feeding anymore, there was even a young child who cursed me when I said that he should avoid eating so much junk because he was already obese and then turned to his mother and cursed her too. Where is the sense in that?

That, ladies and gentlemen are the future leaders of tomorrow. These are the kids we raise, we teach, we educate and ironically we will depend on for the next generation of Filipinos.

I look around and see so many children hungry without having to eat three square meals a day and yet the small sari-sari store beside their shanty sells soda in unsanitary plastic bags, korniks full of MSG, iced candy packed in filthy plastic sheets, and yet the parents can afford to buy these JUNK.

There has got to be some sense in all these, but I cannot seem to find one.

Survival of the fittest. That seems to be the goal of each country during these trying times. Food shortage, diseases that are uncontrolled, rising cost of gasoline and electricity. They do not fit the vocabulary of the Filipino who refuses to part with his mobile phone and would rather have a P20 "load" rather than buy 5 pieces of bread.

No wonder our children have empty brains and are becoming less competitive in this dog eat dog world.

They say, you are what you eat. Junk. That's what they eat. Is that what we are?