HOW DO cable companies decide what channels to drop and what to retain? Do they ask their subscribers before they make any changes? Do they know which ones are popular with their clients?

At the end of August, programs were being interrupted, as I watched television. Channels suddenly disappeared.

I called up my cable service provider, Global Destiny, to ask what was going on and was informed they were doing a ?rechanneling,? meaning they were changing channel assignments.

I do not remember being notified of this development so I was taken completely by surprise. I found out later they had the announcement on the channel that listed the lineup. How many subscribers actually check that channel everyday? Did they think every subscriber viewed that channel regularly?

After I have memorized the number assignments of my favorite channels, I rarely looked at the lineup, not even to check movie schedules.

Since there was nothing else I could do, I decided to just get their assurance that no channel would be dropped.

At the time, I could not find anymore the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel. I was assured it would be back as soon as they were through with the rechanneling although it would have a different number assignment.

That was then. Until now TCM is not on my TV and there seems to be even more Chinese language channels than before while most of the English channels have been assigned higher numbers.

I remember also asking before, after AXN was dropped, if Global Destiny was going to bring it back. I was also assured then it would be back soon. How soon is soon I still do not know.

It must have been two years ago or more when AXN disappeared from my TV screen.

Does the cable company know its clientele?s profile to help it decide what channels to include in its lineup? Given the number of Chinese language channels, does this mean the company has more Chinese-speaking clients?

I would at least want to be asked, as a subscriber, how I feel about decisions on what I could or could not watch.

?Poison? still on sale

The EcoWaste Coalition said despite the ban on the sale of the silver jewelry cleaning substance that contained cyanide, a highly poisonous substance, the product could still be easily obtained.

The group said it was informed by the University of the Philippines-National Poison Management and Control Center that cases of accidental or deliberate intake of silver cleaners continued to increase despite the ban issued in July.

EcoWaste urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) to enforce strictly the ban on the sale of the chemical to protect people?s lives.

It pointed out that EMB director Julian Amador himself confirmed the highly toxic property of silver cleaners and the great risk they posed to people?s health.

Aside from cyanide, the environmental group said cleaners sold in the market as silver dip, silver polish and silver sparkle also contained thiourea, suspected to cause cancer, infertility, allergic skin reaction and liver damage. The products could be fatal if swallowed.

Other harmful chemicals in the cleaning products are ammonia, isopropanol, nitric acid and sulfuric acid.

Manny Calonzo, EcoWaste president, said their own random market investigation showed that the ban on the sale of cyanide and thiourea-containing silver cleaners was largely ignored and consumers could still easily get the products from several jewelry shops.

Several of the organization?s chemical safety volunteers visited 10 shopping malls in Caloocan, Manila and Quezon City and were able to buy from 19 shops silver jewelry cleaners, some of them without any labels identifying the ingredients.

Calonzo said: ?We hope that the DENR-EMB will exert every effort to rid the market of these toxic solutions in line with the goal of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management of improving measures to prevent and eliminate harmful effects of chemicals on public health and the environment.?

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