Before writing these words, we asked people around us: Which name sounds worse to you, ciprofloxacin or tricyclazole? And, in what may have been an accidental, but unanimous coincidence: everyone consulted said the first one was ciprofloxacin, although most clarified that it was neither name. Both of them are there to please. Yes, but given the choice, they chose ciprofloxacin. Maybe it’s because its syllable combination is more likely to trigger mental rejection, maybe the one ending with “cino” sounds perverse or poisonous, while the other “zol” seems to have a certain healing sweetness. Go find out.
Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic that has been widely used by doctors for many years to treat various types of bacterial infections: from respiratory or urinary tract conditions to otitis media, sinusitis, eye conditions, skin conditions, and more. Almost all of us have taken this drug at some point in any form and manifestation to stop the onset of an illness that caused us discomfort and worry, and we wanted to get rid of this situation as quickly as possible, so we went and followed his instructions. Although later we cannot remember what helped us overcome the evil, now its name sounds terrible to us. Nonetheless, once we know that it is good for our health, we embrace it and avoid the chemical product impression that it previously gave us, which caused us to reject it.
Tricyclazole is an effective fungicide against rice blast, a fungus that causes massive mortality in rice crops. Now the EU bans its use, but allows the entry of rice from other countries that use this material to fight the same pests, creating unfair competition that European producers (in our case the Valencians) find incomprehensible. Cruel cynicism. How do we limit ourselves and then buy the products we lack from those who do things we ourselves cannot do?
But off the field, no one would rip their clothes when faced with such a situation, but would feel indignant about the use of pesticides. By the time you clarify what tricyclazole is, people already have a worse view of it: it’s a poison, they say. It is not common to use pesticides to protect our food, just as chemical products are used in medicine and in the arsenal of our homes for hygiene and against household pests such as mosquitoes, ants, spoonbills… because no one Explain these contradictory details to consumer citizens so that they are not afraid to know that there is a pesticide that allows us to eat without problems, be healthy and cheap, just like ciprofloxacin and many drugs that can cure us and extend our lives.