I LIVE in two worlds. I spend part of the year in Jeddah and a larger part in Paris. I find myself compelled to make a comparison between the quality of life in these two cities. The first thing that I notice is the difference in the environment. The word environment covers limitless things, most important of which is cleanliness — of the streets, utilities, restaurants and shops, particularly food stores. And then what is of great importance is the foods themselves, whether fruit and vegetables or cooked foods. All of these are clean and are not exposed to pollution. For example, loaves of bread are kept on clean shelves. A buyer is not allowed to touch the bread except after purchasing it. This is in Paris. In Jeddah, the situation is entirely different. If I compare in detail the environments in Jeddah and Paris I am afraid the reader might get bored. What has compelled me to write this article are the stories I read in the newspapers from time to time about sewage truck drivers selling waste water to farms, especially farms of leafy vegetables, and farmers then irrigating vegetables with this septic water. This action could have dire consequences for human health. I wanted to write on this subject several times, but refrained because I did not want to arouse the readers' concern about what they eat, especially since the story might not be true or could be exaggerated. What encouraged me to write on this subject this time is the demand by Ismat Abu Zinadah, chief vegetable broker in Jeddah, that the authorities concerned should set up a laboratory for testing vegetables to ensure that the vegetables are free from pollutants. This is especially so because many customers, as he said, have stopped purchasing vegetables, especially leafy vegetables. It seems that stories being circulated about contamination of vegetables due to irrigating them with wastewater are true. What is needed now is to set up the required laboratory.
