California Coffee to Carry Cancer Warning

In the US of A, a California judge on Wednesday has ruled that coffee requires a health warning. 

The culprit is a chemical produced in the bean roasting process that is a known carcinogen and has been at the heart of an eight-year legal struggle between a tiny non-profit group and Big Coffee. 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said that the coffee industry hadn't presented the proper grounds at trial to prevail – and so, they should have to post a cancer cautionary. 

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics wanted the coffee industry to remove acrylamide from its processing – like potato chip makers did when it sued them years ago – or disclose the danger in ominous warning signs/labels. 

The industry, led by Starbucks Corp, said the level of the chemical in coffee isn't harmful and any risk(s) are outweighed by benefits. 

The suit was brought against Starbucks and 90 other companies under a controversial law passed by California voters in 1986 that has been credited with culling cancer-causing chemicals from myriad products and also criticized for leading to quick settlement shakedowns. 

The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, better known as Proposition 65, requires warning labels for about 900 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects. It allows private citizens, advocacy groups and attorneys to sue on behalf of the state and collect a portion of civil penalties for failure to provide warnings. 

The defendants have a couple weeks to challenge the ruling before it is final and could seek relief from an appellate court. 

If the ruling stands, it could come with a stiff financial penalty and could rattle consumers beyond state lines. 

The judge can set another phase of trial to consider potential civil penalties up to $2,500 per person exposed each day over eight years. That could be an astronomical sum in a state with close to 40 million residents, though such a massive fine is unlikely. 

California's outsized market could make it difficult to tailor packaging with warning stickers specifically to stores in the state. That means out-of-state coffee drinkers could also take their coffee with a cancer warning. Cream and sugar would still be optional. 

On Thursday, I was in Putrajaya for a Toastmasters meeting. In fact, I received the invitation that morning itself from Zarina Abu Bakar, who is that club’s mentor. 

She was kind to arrange for me to give a 10-minute presentation on D51 Annual Conference 2018 and on top of that, I was also given the task to evaluate an Ice Breaker speech. Btw, I was voted Best Speech Evaluator.

Only an eight-month-old club, the PTD Toastmasters Club of Putrajaya – which held its meeting at the Ministry of Higher Education – showed its commitment and more importantly, energy and enthusiasm that were all so self-evident. I enjoyed the meeting very much! 

PPTD is Persatuan Perkhidmatan Tadbir dan Diplomatik Malaysia.

Redelineation Report Tabled, Passed and Gazetted

The Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday passed the redelineation of electoral boundaries with a bloc-vote of 129 against 80. 

A day later, the King gave his consent and it was thus, gazetted. This, in effect, means that the new electoral boundaries took effect yesterday. 

Ninety-eight parliamentary seats were affected. State seats too.

The Malaysian government claimed it did not interfere with the Election Commission’s work and accepted its report without reservation. 

And the EC have been taken to court over the recommendations – and the courts sided with the EC. 

Of course, the Opposition have always held the conviction – and rightly so – that the tabling of EC’s redelineation report was bulldozed through Parliament by the federal government. All it took was one day to table and pass the said report. Super-fast! 

In any case, the redrawn boundaries are expected to benefit BN. We all know that because the redelineation makes it so plainly obvious.

Malaysiakini was quick to concur. On Wednesday, the news portal came out with the grim prediction that in GE14, the federal Opposition would lose seven seats in Selangor to BN. 

The losers will be PKR as well as PAS. The former is expected to lose the three state seats of Ijok, Pelabuhan Klang and Sementa, while the latter will stand to lose the four state seats of Morib, Selat Klang, Sijangkang and Dusun Tua. 

So what's the issue? PH will still govern Selangor wad. 

Malaysians already know we will not have a level playing field. 

Complain if you must. Oppose if you must. Resist if you must. But more importantly, let's show BN that we can still win, no matter what.

Anyway, the delineation exercise merely reflected UMNO's insecurities.

On Wednesday, I was at the premise of Unipac Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd in Jalan Jurubina U1/18, Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park in Shah Alam, Selangor for their Toastmasters club meeting. 

I was the General Evaluator. And I was impressed. 

Overall, a good meeting because members were not afraid to challenge themselves. A meeting where chirpy confidence met up with cheery congeniality. 

That’s why learning in a fun environment makes a Toastmasters meeting that extra special.

Varsity Students Protest for UUCA Abolishment

Image credit: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/03/27/students-march-to-parliament-to-demand-abolishment-of-uuca/ 

Malaysia Outlook, March 27, 2018

It may be a small turnout – but I salute the 20-plus university students who on Tuesday marched in the pouring rain to Parliament to demand the abolishment of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971. 

They had wanted to enter the Parliament compound but were barred by the police. 

The group then gathered on the road outside while holding up placards calling for UUCA to be abolished and chanting “Hidup, hidup mahasiswa. Hancur hancur kezaliman” (Long live university students. Crush tyranny). 

Representatives from the protesters, led by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia student Asheeq Ali later met Opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. They also met an aide to Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh to set an appointment to see him. 

“We sent our memorandum many times to the authorities but nothing happened. This time, we have spoken to both the government and the opposition, and we want them to commit to abolishing UUCA”, Asheeq told reporters. 

The student activist said Malaysian undergraduates would go to every state to speak to the people, particularly students on how UUCA had muted their freedom of speech. 

I wish there were more students – it is time they wake up and realize that their future is in their own hands. It is time to step out and step up. It is time to join in the fight for a better Malaysia.  

Otherwise, wither are we heading as a nation? 

Yesterday, I was at Menara ExxonMobil in KL's Jalan Kia Peng where I attended the Tiger Toastmasters meeting. There I was so privileged to be the speech evaluator for Mala Ganasan. 

Just to listen to her speak – her words dripping like honey – was enough to put me under her spell.

Gosh, I just can't get over it!

Canadian Professor Recreates 4th Century Beer

(L2R): Barn Hammer Brewing Company head brewer Brian Westcott, University of Winnipeg associate professor Matt Gibbs, and Barn Hammer owner Tyler Birch pose on March 13, 2018 for a photo after they teamed up to recreate an ancient beer the old-fashioned way. Photo credit: David Lipnowski/Canadian Press 

Beer made an old-fashioned way. Photo credit: David Lipnowski/Canadian Press 

An academic who is a University of Winnipeg classics professor and expert on Hellenistic and Roman history has teamed up with a brewing company to recreate a fourth-century beer to learn how it was made in ancient times.

The original recipe was written by an Egyptin alchemist in the 4th century AD, which Matt Gibbs translated from ancient Greek. 

After which he then got to work with brewers Tyler Birch and Brian Westcott, co-owners of Barn Hammer Brewing Co. in Winnipeg, Canada. 

They started by making sourdough bread from water and barley flour milled by hand. It took 18 hours to bake the loaves at a heat low enough that the enzymes essential for beer-making stayed alive. The loaves were then submerged in a fermenter at Barn Hammer. 

The only major differences from the original recipe was that a stainless steel fermenter was used and the barley wasn't malted on a roof in the sun. 

Weeks went by and the experiment slowly turned from a murky mix to a pristine pint. 

"After tasting the bread they made, I thought we were going to have something really disgusting, but it turned out really well", Birch said. 

"I'm actually blown away by how good it is. It's actually very drinkable". 

He said the beverage was not what most people would consider a beer and tasted more like a sour cider with hints of raisin or apple. 

Furthermore, the drink was flat because there was no carbonation more than 1,000 years ago. 

The brewers figured the alcohol content was about three per cent, similar to modern light beer. 

Gibbs said he was "surprised" that the core beer-making process appeared not to have fundamentally changed over the centuries, when compared to modern craft brewing. 

The old ways were, however, much more labor intensive and probably required job specialization, he had indicated. 

The experiment also bolstered archeological evidence of a link between baking and brewing in ancient times. He opined that leftover or old bread was used to make beer. 

There are no current plans to let curious beer lovers sample the brew.