Dedicated to Food Safety Education, the Lin Jieliang Physicians' Health Care Association Will Be Established Next Month
The philosopher is long gone, yet his example lives on in memory. Lin Jie-liang, a physician in the toxicology department of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, passed away from an infection, and many people in Taiwan remember how, during his lifetime, he never feared offending business owners or worrying about government officials as he safeguarded everyone's food safety and worked to "detoxify" it. Many also lament that there may never be another Lin Jie-liang. His wife, Tan Tun-tzu, said in an exclusive interview with Newsmarket two days ago that next month, on the day marking the hundredth day since Lin Jie-liang's passing, she will establish the "Dr. Lin Jie-liang Health Care Association" to carry on her husband's last wish and devote herself to food safety education.
Continuing Dr. Lin's style, no advertising endorsements accepted
Tan Tun-tzu stressed in particular that they have never held fundraisers and do not accept donations, and she hopes the public will not be deceived. She said that establishing the Health Care Association is the first step, and also the work that can best carry on Lin Jie-liang's character of indifference to fame and fortune and his concern for society and the public.
She said the association will begin with food safety education. In addition to producing the health education leaflets Lin Jie-liang wrote during his lifetime, it will also give free lectures and promotional talks at various government agencies, schools, and corporate employee welfare committees, but it will absolutely not accept any advertising endorsements, will not engage in commerce, and will not cooperate with any enterprise.
"I am Dr. Lin's wife, and I have my own style." Tan Tun-tzu stressed that the association's members will include accountants and lawyers, and that all operations and funding will be completely open and transparent. She especially hopes to promote food safety at elementary schools nationwide, because education is the most important thing, and children who learn correct and healthy eating concepts from elementary school will have their health affected for a lifetime.
She gave an example: her second child, currently in the second year of junior high school, was taught by his father from a young age not to eat fast food or candies with artificial colors. Many friends say this is because the child's father is Lin Jie-liang and the child takes after his father. But when she saw a neighbor's child eating candy, she reminded the child that the candy in his hand contained artificial colors and other toxins harmful to health, and the child never ate it again; he even told the grandfather who had given him the candy that Mother Lin said this candy is unhealthy and should not be eaten, showing that education works.
Establishing the care association, teaching schoolchildren about dietary education
Tan Tun-tzu pointed out that most elementary schools still have a week between the end of final exams and the start of winter or summer vacation. As long as the school invites them, the "Dr. Lin Jie-liang Health Care Association" will definitely send staff to schools to give free lectures and teach schoolchildren how to eat healthily and nutritiously and what things they should not eat. "Rather than expecting manufacturers to have integrity, it is better to make good use of your own consumer rights."
Tan Tun-tzu repeatedly urged: "Do not neglect your consumer rights." Even if you are only spending ten yuan on something, do not seek convenience or insist on color, aroma, and taste all being complete. She said that in the future, besides promoting correct dietary concepts, the association will also train volunteers and cultivate mothers' groups, with the goal of making everyone's diet healthy and "managing your own mouth well."
During the interview, Tan Tun-tzu only ordered a fried egg for her son, who had finished school in the evening, and specifically asked the clerk to use as little oil as possible. She herself did not even order a cup of coffee, and she did not drink the glass of boiled water the clerk brought over either. She said her son says he is hungry every day after school, and usually she prepares boiled eggs for him at home; that day she had not had time to prepare one, so she ordered a fried egg to take away.
"During his lifetime, Dr. Lin always cared greatly about health education for elementary schoolchildren," Tan Tun-tzu said, because more and more young people in the country are using ketamine, and many children who use K after entering junior high school end up with very poor bladder function, needing to urinate on average in less than ten minutes. "How will they enter society and work in the future?" Therefore, because the country has still not listed ketamine as a controlled drug, Lin Jie-liang believed even more strongly that children should be taught correct health concepts during the elementary school years.
Speaking of the recent wave of food safety incidents in Taiwanese society, Tan Tun-tzu said she saw an article titled "Consumers Must Have Backbone," and she very much agrees with this idea. She said that when a bakery that had deceived consumers into eating bread with artificial flavoring reopened, it offered buy-one-get-one-free deals and refunds with discount coupons, and the bread sold out in no time. "Everyone really needs to have the backbone of a consumer and not neglect your consumer rights."
