Organic food ought to be more affordable

Readers complain about the exorbitant price of organic produce. Other topics: taxicam, retirement, pets

Readers say organic produce is too expensive to afford. Pawan Singh / The National

The only way to convince people of the health benefits of choosing organic foods is to make them more affordable (Organic food message needs to grow, February 6).

Another thing is to stop calling it a fad or hip. It’s not a fad to want to eat chemical-free food. It’s our God-given right. Had the media not made fun of the “organic movement”, “the hipsters” and “health nuts”, maybe obesity and cancer would not have reached pandemic proportions.

Organic living should be a mandatory class in all schools starting from kindergarten. We are what we eat.

Jean Francoise Ng Lewis, Dubai

Reduce the prices of organic food and regulate the availability of processed and junk foods that make people sick, just as it’s done with tobacco, especially in schools.

Momen Khaiti, Abu Dhabi

Maybe our thinking has to change. Everything that’s nonorganic should be labelled as “chemically produced”. It’s sad that organic foods are far more expensive than everything else.

Emma Schlegel, Abu Dhabi

We can also grow some of our own organic food at home here.

Sarah O'Connor, Abu Dhabi

I’d eat organic food only if it is affordable. It’s so expensive here.

Vicki Attoe, Dubai

In the US we would eat 80 per cent organic. Here we just look for produce whose countries of origin do not use pesticides and GMOs much. We’d love to support local farms, but for example organic local milk is about five times the cost of normal milk.

Michelle Stowers Ryker, Al Ain

Stop giving animals as gifts

Regarding the article Traps set to catch rabbits running amok on Palm Jumeirah (February 5), this is the result of people indiscriminately giving animals as "gifts". These people think that rabbits, kittens and puppies are all perfect cute little gifts, but once they grow and people see how much is actually involved in taking care of them they just throw them out. Disgraceful. That's how the infestation started. That's also how this country has all the stray cats and dogs – from people throwing out their unwanted pets. Please close down all the animal markets.

Name withheld by request

Will taxicams do any good?

I refer to the article Taxicams in Dubai spark privacy concern (February 4).

Given that a large section of the population relies on public transport to commute, it comes as no great surprise that digital surveillance has been proposed as a viable solution to ensure the quality of cab rides.

In the present day and age, however, technology oftentimes falls in the wrong hands and can hence be misused. In the article, concerns regarding possible misconduct were not covered in the same manner that the merits of cab surveillance were, which I found to be unfair.

I was surprised to find that this article only minimally discussed the concerns that have risen regarding these cameras.

I found the title to be misleading, since the article focuses on the benefits reaped from taxi cameras as opposed to discussing the “concerns” mentioned in the title.

Only one person was interviewed to comment about concerns regarding this matter, as opposed to the four other people who were quoted in favour of the cameras.

Jinan Aldameary, Abu Dhabi

Have a sound financial plan

I think the most critical part of preparing for retirement is having a sound financial plan with accurate projections (Expats and the reality of planning for a longer retirement, February 6). Historical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations help to predict, unequivocally, whether or not your retirement trajectory will be successful.

Whether you use a tool like OnTrajectory.com or some other website for this, you have to get everything out in front of you so you can make smarter decisions. Once you do that, then implementing your disciplined personal finance strategy becomes critical.

D Scott, Dubai