Obama will be vindicated
The speech that US President Barack Obama delivered at Cairo University was touching. It offered solutions to many major issues, such as democracy, religious freedom, women’s rights, economic development and children and maternal health.
Most importantly, he shared his vision on the problem of violent extremism and peace between Israel, Palestinians and the Arab World. He addressed each issue clearly and powerfully.
Finally, he quoted from the Holy Bible (Matthew 5:9), which brought home a convincing conclusion: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Love makes the world go around, and even though President Obama has used force to deal with violent extremism, which led to a lot of debate on his Cairo address, I still believe that he deserves the Noble Peace Prize. We know there are reasons behind the war in Afghanistan, and I firmly believe that creating peace is one of them.
Is it possible to find a win-win solution and stop violent attacks in the Middle East? In his Cairo speech, Obama emphasized his responsibility for the security of Americans. Further, from this speech we can understand that it is important to build a bridge between Muslims and the US. The earnestness of his words were enough to touch the hearts of Muslims.
I believe that Obama will do his best to prove that he deserved the peace prize, and that all of the effort he will employ in the years to come will serve the best interests of the globe.
MELODY WU
Taipei
CJD not so destructible
I saw a news report on Taiwanese television in which a reporter, quoting an unnamed government official, stated that the public could solve any doubts about contracting mad cow disease by cooking their beef thoroughly and thus killing the bacteria.
This is serious misinformation that needs to be rebutted. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) — the correct name for “mad cow disease” — and its human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), cannot be prevented by normal cooking. Both belong to a class of rare illnesses called “prion diseases.” Most infectious diseases are caused by bacteria or viruses, which can indeed be killed by cooking. But a prion is a “mis-folded protein,” a type of mutation. You cannot kill proteins by cooking, because proteins aren’t alive. Cooking a prion will not turn it into a normal protein either. You can destroy a prion by burning it, but if you burn beef, all you will have to eat is a tiny pile of ashes.
The chance of contracting CJD is very small. Only about one person in a million contracts this illness. There was a serious outbreak of CJD in the 1990s in the UK as the result of an experiment gone wrong in which cows (which are normally herbivores) were fed meat and bonemeal from other slaughtered cows. It was thought that this would lead to healthier cattle, but instead it rapidly spread BSE. The experiments took place in the 1980s, but CJD (which has an incubation period of about 10 years) only started to show up in humans in the 1990s.
Although rare, there is no treatment for CJD and it is invariably fatal. Anyone who is really worried about the issue should simply not eat beef. Eating other meats such as pork, lamb and chicken will not cause CJD. It’s that simple.
ROBERT STOREY
Taitung
Strength in engagement
There is a longstanding debate over whether students from China should be allowed to study in Taiwan and receive credits, and whether this serves the best interest of this nation in the longer term.
According to a Taipei Times report (“Colleges mull group to lobby for PRC students,” Oct. 30, page 2), the Association of Private Universities and Colleges held a conference discussing strategies for recruiting students from China.
Shih Hsin University president Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) said that legislative proposals for recruiting Chinese students had come to a standstill because of opposition from local organizations. However, Lai and all other participating university heads argued that private universities in Taiwan were in a “fight to the death.”
In Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, a considerable number of Chinese students are allowed to take part in advanced studies. Taiwan has more advantages than these countries since we speak the same language and share a common culture with Chinese students.
The Ministry of Education has recently revised regulations to grant longer visas to Chinese students. As a result, enrollment of Chinese students in Taiwan for longer than six months has increased tenfold. This new trend suggests that we should not irrationally oppose the admission of Chinese students in colleges and universities.
For college students in Taiwan, learning to compete with Chinese students is a positive thing, as it will empower them and create incentives for enhancing academic learning and research capabilities.
However, concerns over the erosion of the rights of Taiwanese students must be carefully addressed. For this reason, appropriate policies should be meticulously designed to meet these new challenges to higher education in Taiwan.
CLAIRE WU
Taipei
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