Written by Himangshu Saikia on 16 January 2016
PART I - A GRIM REALITY
Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry about the government of India’s so-called ban culture. Most see it for what it is - majority appeasement. But a fact of good humor is that, for human beings, it is always easier to support the idealogies they themselves stand for. It is widely recognized by intellectuals all around the world that change is the only constant. And an idea that cannot change with time, cannot survive. But still, humans are so aversive to change when someone raises a question mark on their own choices, habits, traditions and cultures.
One particular instance of this ban culture - the several bans on various forms of exploitation of the cow - is one that I would like to talk about. The cow is revered to be a sacred animal for Hindus - hence to a majority of Indians. Many animals fall into the sacred category, but the cow is believed to be the most sacred of all. It is believed that Lord Krishna was himself a cow-herder and one of his favorite foods was butter. The cow is also quite a useful animal if thought of as a commodity. India is the largest producer (and one of the largest consumers) of milk and milk products, with 16% of global produce coming alone from India[1]. India also is the world’s largest beef exporter with $4.8 billion in revenues from beef and veal (the meat obtained from baby calves)[2]. India is also one of the largest leather producers[3] where there is an ever rising demand for products made out of cow-hide and hides of other animals, throughout the country and the rest of the world. So it is evident that we have successfully commodified and made thriving industries out of cow exploitation - indeed the cow has become a source of wealth and prosperity to our nation - she is indeed sacred as Krishna would testify - and justifiably called ‘mother’ - a symbol of life and nourishment.
But amidst all of these facts where the line between being a sacred animal and being a useful piece of commodity becomes hazy, we all forget the most important thing - what does the cow feel about it? Let us for a moment assume, that human beings are superior to other non-humans (a very doubtful conjecture) and that our heightened intelligence is a measure of that superiority. It is a well known fact that all sentient beings - birds, animals and fish - have all the capabilities of humans - intelligence, fear, anger, happiness, sadness, empathy, love. In many instances, animals have proven to have showcased even better quality of intelligence than humans of the same age[4]. It also is very true that we need animals and birds in our life and our world to sustain our planet. Every animal serves its purpose. The ants, the bees, the wolves or the elephants - every single animal serves a particular purpose to maintain the eco-system of the planet. If all the ants were to vanish, our eco-system would immediately collapse. If all the bees were to go, a third of our food crops won’t be pollinated. The same cannot be said of human beings though - the one species which has systematically destroyed most of the eco-system of the planet, and making it move towards a global environmental apocalypse sooner than predicted. Humans are also the only species which has recorded evidence of large scale torture, exploitation and murder of members of their own species. Terms like racism, ableism, sexism, communalism, casteism, classism and homophobia and the discrimination that follows from them - the root causes of all wars and destruction - are found in the human species alone. How then can we self-proclaim ourselves to be superior to other sentient beings? Should we not have put our intelligence to better use, if at all we were intelligent?
So the assumption, or even the thought, that human beings are superior to non-humans is very wrong and self-righteous. The term for this thought is Speciescism[5] - now believed to be the mother of all the other -isms mentioned before. All non-humans, as humans, have equal right to life and the planet, regardless of their intelligence, or usefulness to humans, and the sooner this fact is realised and acknowledged the better it is for the planet. Coming back to what the cow thinks of the hugely successful industries surrounding it, can only be imagined as a horrifying biography. The milk industry and its produce - cow’s milk - could be anything but pure in reality. Female cattle in India are converted into milk producing machines mostly through artificial insemination - a forceful injection of semen (an action tantamount to rape) - and once they give birth, their babies are immediately taken away from them to slaughterhouses where they are used in the veal and calf-leather industries[6]. The milk produced is also laden with pus from infections to the cow from being constrained in poor conditions. Recent research has also shed light on a big myth surrounding cow’s milk in India - that it is healthy for the body and is a great source of calcium, a vital component for the development of bones. Milk is also considered to be sacred, and is thus widely used in religious ceremonies. The reality is nowhere near to this belief. The fact that Indians also have the highest rate of osteoporosis and other diseases owing to lack of calcium in the bones should be testament to this. Like all animal protein, milk acidifies the body’s pH levels which in turn triggers a biological correction. A very excellent acid neutralizer - ironically the same calcium found in our bones - is then utilized by the body to correct the ill effects of milk. The calcium found in cow’s milk is hardly absorbed by the body, hence a systematic depletion of calcium occurs the more we drink milk leading to severe bone related diseases in adulthood and old age. Milk is also the most adulterated product in India as the demand for milk is far greater than the produce. So it is far from being pure. Ayurveda actually lists milk as one of the five white poisons[20]. If all this sounds hogwash to you, think about it, isn’t it surprising that every pharmacy in India almost always has a reserve of calcium supplements? How come a country with the highest milk consumption rates - supposedly the best source of calcium - is also the country with the highest calcium deficiencies?
If our own health is put aside for a moment, the dairy industry should be recognised for what it is - an industry supporting large scale torture and violence. The booming beef, veal and leather industries are only by-products of the humongous dairy industry. Hundreds of millions of cows are bred in India for milk, most males are sent immediately to slaughter. The females are sent after they have outlived their usefulness. It is not so easy to see that such a large meat industry cannot be sustained if cattle were bred for meat alone. India is also home to the largest cow slaughterhouse in Hyderabad, the inner workings of which, can only be described as hell on earth for the poor animals[7]. The limbs are broken, eyes gouged out, and scalding hot water poured on them for making the skin soft, all while the animal is alive. Then they are hung upside down and their throats slit, slowly letting the blood drip out, while air is pumped into the body through a hole in the stomach, to easily extract the skin, as it is important for animal to be alive for the skin to be of high quality. Then the cow is cut into four parts, and processing machines package the meat into cans ready for export and human consumption. If this description makes you nauseous, think about how it will be to witness this spectacle of human cruelty with your own eyes, and worse, for the animals to go through it every day, day after day, after undergoing a life full of pain and torture to end in such a horrible death. What have they done to deserve this?
The cow may be the most exploited animal in India. But we have not left the other animals in peace either. Due to the growing economic stature of the Indian middle class, a society which was largely vegetarian in the past, a condition was forced upon us from the Western invaders, a condition signifying affluence, has taken over - the consumption of meat. And to feed the growing hunger for meat of a country of one billion, extensive measures have to be taken to produce meat in large quantities and in quick time. Hence poultry farms in India (as around the world) have to cram even more chickens into cages and feed them enormous amounts of soy and grain - food which could very well have been used to feed the 200 million Indians who go hungry every day. Seven-eight of these birds are kept locked up in one cage for sometimes over two years, resulting in quite obviously - stress and disease[8]. Moreover, when a bird is slaughtered, death and the very idea of it, often results in stress induced hormones like cortisol - which are then passed on to humans consuming the meat[9]. There are machines to de-beak chickens so that they cannot harm each other while suffering from nervous anxiety in a crammed space. De-feathering techniques exists as well, which involve throwing live chickens in scalding hot water. Pig slaughterhouses are no different. And so are fish and marine farming. According to a professor of marine science getting hooked on a line is “like dentistry without Novocain, drilling into exposed nerves”, all at the same time pulled out of water slowly suffocating to death[18]. Almost all animals meant for food suffer terrible conditions in life and end in a horrifying death. All in the name of some acquired taste which cannot seem to be satiated for anything less. The worst part being, knowing all of what goes on, we still prefer to live in denial rather than give up the taste of something which causes infinite suffering to sentient beings such as us, every day, for each day of our existence.
Many people attribute consuming meat to be good for health and consider animal protein to be the only source of protein. A lot of ignorance has to be shed on such thinking. Dr Michael Greger in his famous talk ‘Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death’[10] explains in detail using scientific publications on the ill effects of consuming meat and the benefits of a plant-based diet, and how 15 of the 16 leading causes of death in the US are caused only by consuming meat, fish eggs and dairy. Accidents being the 16th one not caused by diet. Indeed it is well known that diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic diseases of the heart and even alzheimers can be attributed to the consumption of animal protein. Fish and other sea-food are shown to have high density of heavy metal deposits like mercury and consuming them directly affects our bodies with poisonous heavy metals as well[[18]. Eating meat literally kills us and it is not a secret to be kept from the public by the huge industries profiteering off meat. The World Health Organization(WHO) eventually also came up with a report that says consuming meat indeed causes cancer[11]. If the law of karma were to be true, the ill effects of consuming something which has such a violent history cannot in any way be beneficial to the consumer. And this is now proven, beyond doubt, to be a harsh reality.
Around 50 bilion land animals are slaughtered all over the world for food every year. Very large concentrated farms are required to house billions of animals. The single largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the world is not the smoke from cars or planes or ships, but the untreated waste of animals in factory farms. Factory farming is responsible for 37% of all methane emissions[12]. Aside from polluting the air, to hold billions of animals, farms require huge amounts of land which results in deforestation and water pollution. Besides, harming the planet, eating meat is harmful for human sustainability as it is the most unsustainable resource. All kinds of animal products have a huge water footprint[13]. One kilogram of beef for example, takes 5000 gallons of water to produce. That is equivalent to the water needed to shower for 1 year! Also the rate of conversion of fossil fuel energy needed to produce an equivalent amount of nutrient energy (calories) from animal sources as opposed to plant sources is very very low, in the case of eggs for example it is 39 to 1[14] which means for 39 units of energy required to produce an egg, it offers only 1 unit of energy as nutrition. This makes meat, eggs and dairy completely unsustainable for a country as large as India, and the world as a whole, and their production is clearly the most wasteful in terms of energy and the environment.
Food is just one side of the story of animal abuse. Elephants are also regarded as sacred in India, as for Hindus, the elephant headed God - Ganesha, is widely regarded as the remover of all obstacles. Yet, India could be further from the best place for elephants. Elephants being chained and beaten regularly to perform in circuses is a common fact. But temple elephants decorated and used in processions during religious festivals also suffer a great deal. During these festivals the animals have to endure elevated levels of noise from bursting of crackers and thronging crowds. They are chained and paraded for 8–10 hours a day all in the name of lord Ganesha. Yet, no-one even spares a thought to what the animal actually thinks and feels. Exploiting snakes on Nag-panchami, mass sacrificing goats on Eid, or buffaloes on Durga puja, religious festivities and rituals have become synonymous with animal abuse and murder. What kind of God would wish for such evil brought down on His creations, of such magnitude, in His name?
Animal experimenting is also on the large in India, with monkeys, rabbits and other animals being extensively used to test new drugs and/or cosmetics. In any phase of life, it is not difficult to find some kind of animal abuse and torture happening for the sake of our needs and pleasure. It is so all-pervading that it may seem difficult to come out of it. But only a very small conscious step in the right direction can provide a large door for mankind to step into the future where such practices of violence and oppresion on non-humans will one-day, become obsolete.
PART II - A GROWING REVOLUTION
Gandhi once said “Violence begins with the fork”. Although the situation all around seems grim and people are tucked away in their comfort zones, or fighting for causes which seem ‘more important’ for our own species, there is a slow but steady revolution around the world which is growing every day. A revolution which says no to inhumanity, which allows us to accept all sentient beings as part of our planet, which allows for a free expression of love and compassion without any form of hypocrisy or conceit. A plant-based vegan diet, and an overall vegan lifestyle - indicating no use of animal derived products, either for food, or for leisure - while being the most effective form of protest against a grotesque culture surrounding animal abuse, is also slowly proving itself to be the best diet suitable for humans.
Humans are instinctively friendly to other animals as Gary Yourofsky explains in his famous talk [19] using the example of a child being given a live chick and an apple. Gary claimed that if the child tried to play with the apple and put the chick in its mouth, he would give up on veganism! Of course such a scenario will never take place as children are not predisposed to violence as adults are and eating meat is a result of continued conditioning while entirely keeping in wraps what goes behind the scenes. It is quite scary to think how we program our own children into believing that such inhuman violence and abuse to animals is the right thing to do, while their instincts always teach them to be otherwise. Humans are natural herbivores and there is enough evidence for this fact[15] in scientific literature already. Hence it is more than obvious that a plant-based whole food diet is the best with regards to human metabolism, nutrition and longevity. Dr. Greger’s talk proves beyond doubt that this is true, and a large number of athletes, body-builders and other health enthusiasts are reaffirming this fact.
Many non-vegans complain that vegan food tastes like cardboard. Although taste is the most selfish reason to hold onto meat, it is also easier to convince someone to eat something else if it were as tastier. Vegan food companies like Just Inc. (formerly Hampton Creek Foods), and Beyond Meat have invested great efforts in coming up with plant based alternatives to meat, which are sustainable, healthy and better for the environment. Hampton Creek CEO, Josh Tetrick, a vegan for 25 years himself, argues that his company’s products aim to be 10 times better in almost all aspects (health, environment and cost) than products (obtained using animals) of his contemporaries. Contests involving best tasting food, such as burgers or cupcakes have already seen vegan winners[16][17] putting all arguments of meat tasting better at rest.
We have all the knowledge. We have all the will. All that is needed is the first step. To stop contributing to any more suffering where enough exists already. Every single conscious choice on what to eat, wear or support makes a huge difference - to our health, to the planet, and most importantly to the animals. We need to be the change that we wish to see in the world. And to make a huge change to the world, we might just have to start at our dinner plates.
Originally published at http://milspeak.wordpress.com.