Vegeterianism

FAQs of Vegetarianism

Mechanism of Human Body
We should understand all the factors which either help or hinder man's quest for inner and external harmony, such as physical health, mental health and the environmental effects of the choice of his diet. Certain characteristics about man's physical body clearly indicate that it was designed for a diet of plants, grain and fruit. For example, the up and downwards and sideways mobility of man's jaws is an indication that he is supposed to properly masticate food in the mouth where the process of digestion starts.
Saliva contains the enzymes (salivary amylase) which begin to digest starch. Food is then further acted upon by enzymes in the stomach and intestines. Man's longer gut allows more time needed to digest grain and fibre. Although man is unable to digest the raw plant fibre— cellulose— like the ruminant herbivore, cooking releases nutrients from grain and vegetables.
The carnivore on the other hand, tears and swallows chunks of flesh, which is literally dissolved in the stomach by an acid twenty times stronger in concentration than in man, and ten times the amount. Flesh digestion is virtually completed in the stomach before it enters the small intestine where absorption occurs. The undigested portions such as bone, skin, feathers, etc. quickly pass through the short and non-convoluted gut to be expelled. Otherwise, this decaying flesh will putrefy further and poison the carnivore.
The longer and convoluted gut of man lengthens the time for decaying flesh to remain in the gut. This means the toxins from the waste will also be in contact with the inner walls of the gut for longer periods. This leads to a greater incidence of diseases of the small and large bowel in people who eat flesh.
Another unique characteristic of the natural carnivore is that its body secretes uricase, an enzyme which breaks down the large amounts of uric acid present in flesh. In its absence, the carnivore would end up with gout and other arthritic ailments. A similar feature is its ability to handle the large amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol present in flesh. Without this ability, it too would also suffer from atherosclerosis— the clogging of arteries by fatty plaques which cause heart disease in humans!
Finally, the most significant feature of the carnivore that is absent in the herbivore and man, is its natural killing instinct for its food. When it sees an animal on which it usually preys such as a deer, wildebeest, etc., it will regard it as food. It will then pounce on the animal, kill it and devour it raw. Man does not react in such a manner when a chicken, goat or pig walks by. Like the herbivore, man is docile by nature, generally with a peaceful temperament, provided he has been a vegetarian from childhood. As Hervey Diamond says in his book, 'Fit For Life', 'Place a small child in a crib with a rabbit and an apple. If the child eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a car'! As soon as flesh is introduced in his diet, his peaceful nature will lessen, becoming less prone to aggression and violence.
This observation is clearly reflected in the lives of those who eat meat compared to vegetarians. In the West bullying and violent behaviour is common in schools. Teenagers roaming the streets are more prone to violent behaviour such as kicking trashcans, smashing windows and damaging seats in public transport vehicles. Incidences of grievous bodily harm too, are high among the young in the West. Such behaviour is remarkably absent among vegetarian schoolchildren and young Hindus in India. The calming, peaceful temperament accruing from a vegetarian diet is also seen in animals. Herbivores are docile, whereas carnivores are innately aggressive and violent.

Physical characteristics of animal and man:—

CHRACTERISTIC.... CARNIVORE.............HERBIVORE..................MAN
Sharp Claws....To grip and tear flesh.......Absent.........................Absent.

Teeth................Canine to pierce.............Flat molars to grind.......Flat molars
............................and tear flesh..............and chew fibre.............for grinding food.

Jaw Movement..Up and downwards........Also sideways...............As for herbivore.
..............................only..........................to grind fibre.

Tongue..............Rough............................Smooth........................Smooth.
.........................for rasping off flesh.

Saliva................Acidic.............................Alkaline.........................Alkaline

Gut Length.......3 times, almost straight,....10 times, convolutes.....12 times,
............................pipe-like..............................to digest fibre.............convoluted
.........................................................................................................and puckered
..........................................................................................................with pouches.

Stool (faeces)...Hard, foul smelling..........Soft, less smelly............Soft, less smelly.

Stomach
(hydrochloric acid)..Produces10 times......_______.....................________
.............................the   amount and 20 times
.............................the concentration
.............................to dissolve flesh
.............................& cholesterol.

Enzyme Uricase...To breakdown................Absent.........................Absent.
.............................huge amounts   of
.............................uric acid in flesh.
.............................Unlimited ability
.............................to digest saturated fat
.............................&   cholesterol.

Temperature
Regulation........By panting with tongue.......By sweating................As for herbivore.
................................................................through pores.

Natural Instinct......Violent........................Docile.......................Docile,
.................................................................................................no instinct to   kill,
.................................................................................................rip apart and
.................................................................................................eat raw flesh.

Food Habit.........Hunts and bolts down.........Vegetation...............Tendency to periodically
..................................................................................................eat varied non-fleshy foods.
...................................................................................................Mouth salivates on sight of
.....................................................................................................juicy fruits.

Activity..............Primarily sedentary.............Active browsers........Active.

Fluid Intake......By lapping with tongue.......By sucking...................By sucking.

It is evident that the physical and mental constitution of man is better adapted to a plant-based diet than one of flesh. It is all the more compelling that he is just not able to handle flesh in any manner, as carnivores do, whether it is to procure it, tear, chew, digest or assimilate it into the system. Even expelling it causes problems (and pain) since it lacks fibre and has to pass through a far longer gut that of a carnivore. If man then goes against the 'Cosmic Truth' and does ingest flesh, then he invites the fruits of this action; disease and disharmony with nature.
For thousands of years, many cultures in the world have flourished on vegetarian diets which have endowed them robust health and longevity. The oldest among them is that Bharat— India. Around two millennia ago, the Greek chronicler Arrian (1st century BCE), who arrived in India after Megasthenes, was amazed about the health of the people. He noted, 'The Indians are not afflicted with headache or toothache or ophthalmia, nor have they mouth sores or ulcers in any part of their body. The age to which they live is 120. 130 and 150 years, though the very old live to 200 years'. This necessarily meant that such health and longevity was not prevalent among the Greeks then, probably because their diets were meat-based.
A glance at the average life-spans of some primarily non-vegetarian and vegetarian cultures provides interesting figures about life-expectancy. People living in the Arctic and Subarctic regions, such as Eskimos, Greenlanders, Laplanders and Russian Kurgis have short life-spans, of about 30 years. They consume the highest amount of meat in the world. Those who subsist on a primarily vegetarian diet with little or no flesh, have the longest life-spans. These include— Yucatan Indians, East Indian Todas, Russian Abkhasians and Pakistan's Hunzas who have life expectancies of 90 to 100 years. In 1980, the Los Angeles Times and Weekly World News cited a story of an active 142 year-old Chinese named Wu Yunqing riding a bicycle. His diet consisted of corn, rice, sweet potatoes, other vegetables and fruits.
Only recently have intellectuals in traditional vegetarian cultures begun to doubt its healthful nature. Hindu vegetarians who first encounter the word 'protein' at some point during their education suddenly become overly conscious about it, believing that it is the only important food group for health; as if fat and carbohydrate are insignificant. Not only Hindu vegetarians, but most people worldwide have fallen prey to this misnomer since the compound was discovered in 1839 by the Dutch chemist Gerhard Mulder. He named it from the Greek word 'proteios', which meant 'of prime importance'.
Later in 1914 after experiments on rats by Osborn and Mendal, food science came under the spell of another, albeit false concept regarding protein. This was 'first class' protein— of animal origin and 'second class' protein— of plant origin. The first, also known as Class A, was considered superior and absolutely necessary for humans. It did not strike them to wonder about where the animals (cattle, sheep, etc.) from which this protein came, got their own protein from! Sadly since then, the spell has continued its insidious influence. It has led the concerned industries to continually bombard it to the public through the news media and educational materials in primary schools.
At this point it is worth discussing the consensus by researchers that nutrition based on flesh, which includes meat, fish, fowl, eggs and seafood, is not wholesome and has potential hazards.Nutrition from animal foods:—
Contrary to the universal popular belief, it is more difficult to get good nutrition of a diet based solely on animal foods. Here we shall use the word 'flesh' to means meat of all animals, birds, eggs and seafood. The problems of flesh-based diets are:Flesh contains only large amounts of protein and saturated fats.Flesh has virtually no carbohydrates and so cannot provide fuel (energy) for the constant activity of the body and metabolism.Flesh lacks fibre.Flesh does not contain vitamin C and trace minerals which are necessary to absorb other nutrients, including iron.As far as nutrition is concerned, flesh digestion makes the blood more acidic. To balance the pH, the body removes calcium (an alkali) from the bone. this is known as negative calcium balance, and if this process occurs on a regular basis, then it gradually leads to osteoporosis— leaching of calcium from all bones.Today’s flesh from factory animals, contains a cocktail of unhealthy chemicals, such as: antibiotics, growth hormones, fear hormones (e.g. adrenaline, cortisol), nitrites to keep the dead, grey meat looking red, cement dust and deadly microbes such as: cancer viruses, salmonella, E.coli O107:H7, eggs, cysts of parasitic worms, trichinae (in pork) which causes trichinosis, prions— micro particles that cause Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, and its human new variant Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (nvCJD).Since flesh is a 'dead' food, it contains no vital energy. therefore it takes more energy to digest it, inducing lethargy, than a food full of vitality such as fresh vegetables, which boosts the body's vitality. This is the reason why a carnivore such as a lion sleeps about 20 hours a day.

Nutrition from plant foods:—
Nutrition from plant-based foods provide all the nutrients for a well-balanced diet, health and longevity and without the disadvantages of causing disease or damage to the environment.Just consider two groups of animals in nature: where do the four-legged herbivores that provide flesh get their nutrients from, especially protein, calcium and iron? In their wild habitat, they do not have even legumes, pulses, grain or fruits.Where does the gorilla, which has the same anatomy as man, get its nutrients to develop such a heavily muscled body with males weighing 300kg. and females 250kg.?
The answer to both is plants. In fact the staple of both groups is only grass, leaves and shoots. Moreover, the gorilla hardly has any access to the extra plant protein foods such as nuts, legumes, pulses, grain, except seasonal fruits, which humans always have access to. Yet they still develop powerful bones and muscles. The herbivore and the gorilla, as well as heavy weights and beasts of burden such as: the rhinoceros, elephant, camel, ox, buffalo, horse, donkey and mule, live active lives and possess immense stamina despite the seemingly meager diet based primarily on green vegetation. Some of the heaviest dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus (30 tons) were also herbivores.
These animals and their meager diets of only green vegetation should be an eye-opener for people and health faddists who are almost neurotically obsessed about flesh being absolutely necessary for strength, stamina and health. In theory, the above diets of the herbivores flout every food group norm conventionally touted as a daily must, in multiple portions, by experts in the West even for humans. Yet these animals have robust health and bodies.

Common myths:—
Animal protein is better than plant protein:
Proteins are made up of amino acids. There are a total of 20 amino acids. Of these 12 are made by the human body from recycled wastes. Only 8 are needed from the food we eat. Therefore these are known as Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) or Indispensable Amino Acids (IAAs). Whether they originate from animals or plants, these 8 EAAs are the same. If this was not so, from where would the herbivores (cows, pigs, etc.) whose meat is consumed, originally get their EAAs? All animals obtain all their protein ultimately from plants (the carnivore obtains them from eating herbivores down the food chain).
Proteins of all kinds have to be combined in every meal to maintain health!!!!
This concept, known as 'protein complementation' prevailed in the 70s, but was later disproved by researchers. Protein foods with all 8 EAAs are not necessary in every meal, nor every day. A varied diet of plant foods such as whole grain, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and fruits (not all in one meal) which meets the calorie (energy) needs of an average individual can adequately provide all the body's nutritional requirements. For a moderately active adult, 0.8g of protein per kilo body weight per day is considered adequate. According to the American Dietetic Association, 'Plant sources of protein alone can provide adequate amounts of the essential and non-essential amino acids. Conscious combining of these foods within a given meal as the complementary protein dictum suggests, is unnecessary.
Only animal foods such as meat and eggs can build muscles and provide stamina (vociferously recommended by gymkhana coaches, physicians, actors and T.V. commercials in India, to the extent that eggs are touted as 'vegetarian'!).
First, recall the herbivorous heavy weights and the gorilla discussed earlier. Secondly, so-called experts know little about nutrition and even less about exercise physiology. Agreed that protein is needed to build muscles, either during a child's growth, adolescence or by bodybuilders. However, so long as calorie intake is adequate, plant foods can provide the required proteins more than amply. As for stamina, it is the carbohydrates which are needed for sustained physical endurance, nor protein.
In 1968, Danish researchers used a stationary bicycle to measure endurance on a group of men who were given diets as follows:
Diet...............................veg., fruit & grain........meat & veg.......only meat
Average time of cycling
before muscle fatigue............167 mins.......................114 mins..........57 mins.

When the group was given meat, their cycling times decreased. Compared to only meat, the vegetarian diet nearly tripled their performance.
Belgian researchers compared the number of times meat-eaters and vegetarians averaged 69. Moreover, the latter recovered more rapidly from fatigue. the above studies do not support the popular notion that meat provides stamina and strength. In athletics, the event that demands the greatest  stamina is the triathlon, more than even the marathon. Consider the amazing performance of Dave Scott and Sixto Linares, two former world champion triathletes. Both are vegetarians.
Finally, worth noting is the staple diet of farmers and labourers in many regions of India. They have two or three rotla (large, thick chapattis) of millet/jowar/wheat/rice, twice a day with some buttermilk (chhaas). Many only occasionally have vegetables or seasonal fruits. Yet they are wiry, lean, possess immense stamina; perform heavy manual work over ten hours daily, suffer no deficiency diseases and continue vigorous work well into their 70s or 80s! It is the ancestors of such people that dumbfounded Arrian in the 1st century.

Eggs:—
With 51 million eggs produced in 2006, India ranks third in the world. However, the ignoble credit for its consumption goes to the National Egg Co-ordination Committee's willfully false marketing propaganda, aimed at the uneducated and ignorant public: 'The egg is vegetarian', 'it is complete nutrition' and 'research now shows that those who eat less fat can eat one or two eggs without increasing their blood cholesterol', but no studies are cited there.
But the fact is that the egg is produced in a hen's reproductive system and is still 'animal flesh'. Therefore it is not vegetarian. Even an unfertilized egg is still composed of genetic material capable of producing life. It is a living cell (ovum), since it respires. Oxygen, carbon-dioxide and water vapour are exchanged through its shell as a byproduct of the metabolism occurring inside the egg.
Everyone can see below the weight for weight any pulse or legume provides more calories and nutrients except fat than eggs:------[in grams, per 100 gms.]
.................Protein...Fat...Carbohydrate...Iron...Fibre...Calories
Bean...........24.6.......0.7............55.7...........3.8.......1.4...........327
Peas...........22.9.......1.4............63.5............5.0.......4.5.........358
Mung..........24.0.......1.3............56.6............8.4.......4.1.........334
Chick peas..22.5.......5.2............58.9............8.9......3.9.........372
Peanuts......31.5......39.8...........19.3...........1.6........3.1.........549
Eggs.............13.3.......13.3............0...............2.1........0...........137
QQ
An egg contains only fat, protein, cholesterol and a large amount of sulphur— which puts a heavy strain on the liver and kidneys. It lacks carbohydrate and fibre and the important B and C vitamins. Cooking an egg coagulates its amino acids, hence totally losing its protein value. therefore the 'macho' trend of eating omelettes on Sunday in India has no nutritional value. Besides, all eggs are supposed to be stored below 45 degrees F. This can only be achieved in a fridge. In India, which omelette shop or roadside stall keeps eggs in fridges?If vegetarianism promotes health, why do vegetarians also suffer from illness and disease?
Besides the two plausible factors of genetics and external stressors, it is possible to go overboard with refined vegetarian junk foods to invite disease. Such foods are heavily laden with fat, salt, sugar and lack fibre. Migrant Hindu vegetarians and their offspring are increasingly suffering from diseases of the host country, having discarded their traditional, ethnic dishes for Western refined foods. For Example, Non-Resident Indian (NRI) vegetarian kids and teenagers eat white bread, sandwiches, cheese, cake, biscuits, pizza, chocolate, thick shakes, soda, artificially flavoured drinks, crisps, jellies, jams, spreads and french fries. No green vegetables. Hardly any whole grain foods. A diet guaranteed to invite disorders. This is the 'dietary' Law of Karma in action; eat now, pay later.
Not surprisingly, in the past decade, physicians have increasingly witnessed NRI adults suffering from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, gout and teenagers with low haemoglobin, hemorrhoids, IBS, ulcerative colitis, chronic sinusitis, migraine, asthma, psoriasis, eczema, food allergies and affluent in large cities in India and may consequently also affect people with the above disorders.

Disease from diet of animal foods:—
Within the limited scope it is not possible to discuss the detailed mechanism of how the diseases like cancers— breast, pancreatic, stomach, prostate, cervical, colon, ovarian, endometrial, kidney stones, diabetes, peptic ulcers, hiatus hernia, gallstones, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, obesity, kidney disease, osteoporosis, hypoglycemia, constipation, hemorrhoids, ulcerative colitis, botulism, diverticulosis, tapeworm infestation, tuberculosis, listeria, salmonellosis, campylobacter poisoning and many more are caused by foods of animal origin. Various research data's evidences are available hereof.

Heart Disease:—
The link between a meat-based diet and heart disease mortality became apparent during World War II, when German-occupied Norway was forced to stop meat availability for its citizens. The death rate from heart disease during these years dropped dramatically. After the war, when the Norwegians resumed eating meat, the death rate increased correspondingly.
The same researchers also discovered significant health improvements in Britain and Switzerland, when meat consumption was reduced or cut totally during the war.
Another important finding that clearly established the effects of diet on heart-disease occurred after the Korean War in 1953.
When the hearts of 300 dead American soldiers aged about 22 were examined, 77.3% had clogged arteries. Their Korean counterparts had healthier arteries! The cause of atherosclerosis in the Americans was their high intake of meat and dairy products from childhood! The diet of the Koreans was chiefly rice and vegetables. Such 'accidental' findings have subsequently been corroborated by stringent scientific research involving thousands of people in many countries.

Cancer:—
Many studies worldwide have established that a diet of flesh increases the risk of certain types of cancer while plant foods seem to have a protective effect.
In 1981, a world survey of 41 countries, including the Us and UK, showed a positive correlation of meat with breast cancer and colon cancer and a negative correlation with plant foods. The report boldly concluded that total fat and animal protein 'strongly correlate internationally with heart disease, colon cancer and breast cancer'.
Cancer Statistics:—
The statistics below are from a Seventh-day Adventist Mortality Study compared with non-vegetarians in the general population in the US.
Colon Cancer:— Risk in non-vegetarians compared to vegetarians: 88%.
Prostate Cancer:— Risk in non-vegetarians compared to vegetarians: 54%.
Ovarian Cancer:— Risk in non-vegetarians who eat meat 4 or more times a week compared with vegetarians: 66%.
Breast Cancer:— Risk in non-vegetarians consuming meat daily: four times than those who do not.
Mortality (highest incidence ranked first): (1) Meat-eating women, (2) Lacto-ovo vegetarians, (3) Vegans (pure vegetarians).

Obesity:—
Obesity can lead to heart disease, colon cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, gall bladder stones, kidney failure, blindness, infertility and stroke.
In the late 1970s 5% of children in the US were overweight. By 2000 the rate was 15%. Of these, 11% are obese. Super obese children, aged six to ten, are now dying from heart attacks caused by being overweight. According to James O. Hill, a nutritionist at the University of Colorado, 'We've got the fattest, least fit generation of kids ever'. In adults, the rate of obesity doubled from 1980. Today 15.6 million adults in the US have a BMI of over 30. In searching for the cause of such a sudden increase scientists discount genetics. According to Stephen O'Rahilly, professor of clinical biochemistry and medicine at Cambridge University, 'Nothing genetic explains the rise in obesity. We can't change our genes over 30 years'. A possible root cause is offered by Dr. Marion Nestle, professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. She states that agribusiness now produces 3,800 calories of food a day per capita, 500 calories more than 30 years ago, but at much lower-per-calorie costs. This has increased consumption of calorie-dense foods, as evidenced by the growth of the fast-food industry, which has widely made available high-fat inexpensive meals.
Therefore people eat more meals outside the home, meals which have more calories, and the chains have also increased the portion sizes to attract customers, without losing profits! This explanation gains greater credence when one examines the effects in other nations as the American fast food chains opened shop outside the US. As Eric Schlosser observes in his 'Fast Food Nation', 'it seems wherever America's fast food chains go, waistlines start expanding'. He cites the events in UK. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of fast food restaurants roughly doubled. With this, the obesity rate among adults also doubled. The British now eat the most fast food in Europe and therefore also have the highest obesity rate in Europe. When the Japanese discarded their traditional vegetable-rice-based diets to eat American fast foods, the rate of obesity in children also doubled. 'Disease of affluence' as Schlosser calls them, long prevalent in the US but absent in countries which now gorge fast foods, are now becoming common worldwide. These countries include: Canada, Mexico, American Samoa, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Colombia, China, Austria and most countries in Europe.
In India, the US fast food phenomenon has only gripped the affluent in the major cities where the chains have opened. There are two reasons for this. One is that unlike elsewhere, the fast foods in India are relatively more expensive, affordable only by the rich. The second reason is that the locally available, cheaper, traditional vegetarian snacks on the four-wheeled stalls in the streets attract the lower income groups. However these do succumb to disease by eating omelettes.

Poisoning:—
All cattle, pig, fowl and fish, in today's gigantic 'factory-farms', are routinely fed antibiotics to stimulate growth and minimize death from the filthy disease-ridden and overcrowded conditions. Eventually these antibiotics produce resistance in the bacteria that cause disease. Unhygienic conditions of slaughter, processing and packing increase the chances of cross-contamination with faeces and resistant bacteria remaining in the meat. In modern high speed processing factory which can produce a million pounds of hamburger meat a day, the chances of just one infected carcass infecting huge quantities of meat are equally high. According to Schlosser and Wilson in 'Chew On This', 'a single animal infected with Ecoli 0157:H7 can contaminate 32,000 pounds of ground beef. In a poultry plant, the birds at the end of the line are no cleaner than if dipped in a toilet.

Seafood Poisons:—
Fish have a great tendency to accumulate hormones, pesticides and heavy metals in their fat. Consumers Report showed high levels of PCBs in fish, which are harmful to foetuses and infants. Shell fish is the riskiest seafood with toxic levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic and other heavy metals. A typical can of tuna may contain 15 micrograms of mercury.
Moreover, some fish also harbour natural toxins such as ciquatera and scrombold which, like PCBs, DDT, dioxin and mercury cannot be destroyed by cooking. Globally about 30 million people are also annually infected with parasites from seafoods.

BSE mad cow disease and nvCJD:—
After dabbling with hormones to rapidly fatten livestock and profits, man, ever the entrepreneur, hit upon a macabre idea. Why discard the wastes of meat factories? It was still good protein. Therefore he dried and ground up this waste and mixed it with livestock feed. In the history of life on earth, this was the first instance of the cow and sheep, with man's help, becoming carnivores. The cow in fact became a cannibal since it was eating ground up cows.
Since the Law of Karma is universal, bad karmas inevitably invite bad fruits. Nature struck back with a blow far more insidious than man could imagine, from which he is still reeling! It created a deadly agent, later termed prion, which infects cows and destroys their brains. Between 1985 and 1995, 165000 dairy cattle in the UK perished from mad cow disease. Over 2.5 million infected dairy cattle in the UK were killed and incinerated. The disease then spread to France, Spain and Germany. Countless livestock were slaughtered. The culprit was infected livestock feed. By 2001, UK's largest feed producer had exported such feed to 70 countries! Now the world can only await.
It crossed the species barrier to infect human, killing over 94 in the UK since 1995. In humans it is known as the new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (nvCJD).

Prion Facts:—
It kills but is itself indestructible. It remains infectious after exposure for an hour to 680 degrees— which melts lead. Unaffected by: antibiotics, boiling water, bleach, solvents, formaldehyde, detergents and enzymes capable of destroying most known bacteria and viruses. Incubation period of nvCJD before symptoms appear: 10 to 30 years.

Avioan Flu (Bird Flu):—
The H%N1 avian flu virus is highly pathogenic. Its first outbreak occurred in 1997 in poultry in Hong Kong. Since then it has killed millions of poultry in 48 countries including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Romania and Russia. It also infected poultry in India from 2006 to 2008. Up until November 2007, according to WHO data, it also infected and killed 206 humans, either by an 'intermediate host' or by direct transmission. Its deadly characteristics is that it continues to mutate becoming  both more widespread and more deadly. 'The world is teetering on the edge of a pandemic that could kill a large fraction of the human population', observed Robert Webster, a leading expert on avian flu, in American scientists. What is the wisdom in breeding millions of poultry birds— potential hosts of the virus— which can then infect humans to cause pandemics, when one can easily avoid them to have plant-based foods? Are these not potential biological threats?

The Hormone Nightmare:—
In Today's agribusiness every effort is made to maximize profit in the shortest possible time. Along with antibiotics, the livestock industry also uses powerful growth promoters. Although there may be nothing wrong with this initially, nature has its way of letting man know that he should not tamper with the Cosmic Truth. There are horrendous side effects when the consumer ends up eating hormone laced flesh.
In 1978 a doctor in Milan, Italy began to be visited by shy parents, with their young children aged six to ten. The doctor saw over 1,100 boys and girls who had developed breasts! The root cause was discovered to be an artificial hormone known as diethylstilboestrol (DES), which a local greedy meat producer had given his veal calves. The affected children had been given this veal by mothers who wished to give them a meat that had a bland taste.
A year later, in 1979, Dr. C.A. Saenz de Rodriguez, a paediatric endocrinologist in Puerto Rico, began to witness similar disorders and ovarian cysts in girls aged from six months to eight years! Dr, Saenz hired a private detective, who easily procured DES in the black market. DES was supposedly banned and unavailable. Local producers were using it to fatten their chicken. This was also used in the US, which sold over $100 million of beef to Europe annually. DES also causes cancer and mutations in children of women who may have inadvertently taken this during pregnancy.
Pharmaceuticals continue to churn out many such magic bullets for the livestock industry, for: efficient breeding, to synchronize oestrous cycle in heifers in huge feedlots and to terminate unwanted pregnancies in heifers.
The sordid story of hormones does not end there. In Modern Meat, Orville Schell cites one scientist, 'after any chemical compound enters an animal, it doesn't just vanish. It is transformed or broken down into a new array of compounds or metabolites which in their own way may be toxic or carcinogenic to humans'. Knowing this, would the expert eat such meat?
Considering the increasingly toxic nature of animal foods, the alternative is worth weighing up. In Dr. Spock's 'Baby and Child Care', the renowned paediatrician, Dr Benjamin Spock advocates nutrition from plant sources since they have much less contamination of animals with pesticides and chemicals than meat and milk from animals.

Ecological Hazards:—
Nature, in many ways, warns man not to abuse, pollute or destroy our surroundings, in a word, not to disturb Nature. In declaring war with our environment, we are simply destroying ourselves. True peace will dawn only when man lives in peace with himself, Nature and God. But man's culinary choice is directly involved in destroying the Earth's natural resources and threatening all life forms. this global destruction and damage occurs on six levels: (i)Land Resources, (ii)Food Resources, (iii)Water Resources, (iv)Air resources, (v)Species and (vi)Genetic.

Land Resources:—
More and more land is needed to meet increasing production of meat worldwide. Acre of Acre meat requires more land than plant foods for humans. When the meat industry in the US and Europe runs out of land to produce meat, pristine tropical rainforests are cleared to raise livestock, which is then exported to these countries.
Percentage of tropical rainforest slashed specifically to raise livestock is more than 50%. Amount of forest lost for every hamburger produced from livestock raised on deforested land in Central America is 55 square feet. In comparison, the amount of trees spared per year by each person who adopts a pure vegetarian diet is 1 acre. Estimated rate of worldwide tropical rainforest cleared per day is 216,000 acres.
Land resource also includes the use of fossil fuel to grow food. Here again tremendous fossil fuel is expended for livestock production than plant foods.

Food Resources:—
To increase profit, today’s agribusiness has transformed the traditional foods of livestock. Worldwide more and more grain, corn and soya beans are grown and either fed to raise livestock or exported to other countries to feed livestock! This is a shameless travesty of mankind’s common sense. It is more sensible to use this directly for human consumption.
In the US, 8 billion livestock animals eat 80% of the total grain harvest. This amount can feed the whole world over five times.
UK feeds about 66% of its home grown cereal to livestock!
In Switzerland 57% of the grain is fed to animals!
The EU imports 20 million tons of cattle feed from third world countries!
90% of the world’s soya beans is used for fodder!
Since 1950, meat consumption in Russia tripled and demand for fodder quadrupled! By 1990, it became the world’s third largest importer of grain. Hunger and starvation are now common.
Developed countries may be able to afford the wastage cited above. However when developing countries increasingly adopt a meat-based diet, agriculture wisdom turns farcical.
In the past 25 years, land in Egypt used to produce staple foods such as wheat, rice and millet, is now used to grow corn to feed meat animals!
Statistics says that in 1950, Taiwan exported grain. Moreover, 170kg of grain per capita amply fed the total population. By 1990, it imported 74% grain for fodder because meat and egg consumption jumped six fold. It now requires 390kg of grain per capita.
In the1990s, China exported grain. Today it is the world’s second largest importer after Japan. Reason? It eats more grain-fed meat.
In Costa Rica, rain forest is slashed to produce beef. Most is exported to US. The average Costa Rica family eats less meat than an American house cat!
50% of grains is fed to livestock in Brazil. All soya bean crops are exported to feed livestock in Japan and Europe. 66% people suffer from malnutrition.
Guatemala annually exports 40 million pounds of meat to the US. Malnourished children under five in Guatemala are 75%.
Twenty years ago, Thailand fed only 1% of its grain to livestock animals. Today it feeds 30%.
Worldwide one child dies every two seconds from disease caused by hunger. The number of people that can be fed, if the grain and soya beans eaten by US livestock are used for humans is 1.4 billion.
Number of malnourished and underfed people who need food is 1.2 billion.

Water Resources:—
Raising livestock uses enormous amounts of water compared to growing plant foods.
Water needed to produce 1kg wheat is 900liters. Water needed to produce 1kg meat is 15,500litres.
Water needed to produce a day’s food for a meat-eater is over 18,200litres. Water needed to produce a day’s food for lacto-ovo-vegetarian is 5,460litres. Water needed to produce a day’s for a vegan is 1,365litres.
Water required annually per capita to produce foodstuffs in meat-consuming regions e.g. USA and EU is 1800litres. Water required annually per capita to produce foodstuffs in poor countries that cannot afford animal products is 600litres.
In the US, 75% of water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer is used to produce beef.

Pollution:—
The livestock industry dreadfully pollutes water in oceans, rivers and groundwater worldwide.
Raising livestock in today’s factory farms feedlots create their own problems of overcrowding, inefficient ventilation, build up of urine and faeces, flies, pests and disease. To deal with some of these problems, a potent cocktail of chemicals are used such as growth hormones, herbicides, antidotes, pesticides, larvaecides and appetite stimulants. These may include banned chemicals which are known carcinogens in humans. Some are not biodegradable and remain stable for decades or even centuries. These include: DES, DDT, dieldrine, heptachlor, endrin, aldrin, mirex, PCB’s, PPB, toxaphene, lindane. Agent Orange used in Vietnam, contains two active ingredients: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T which contains dioxin. These are still sprayed on land used to grow fodder for livestock in the US. Dioxine kills even test animals even in doses of few parts per trillion. Such chemicals build up in the fat of livestock animals. In fish and sea foods they can build up into huge concentrations. Sea foods in turn are eaten by other creatures and humans higher up the food chain causing further build up and toxicity.
In Europe, 50% of water pollution is caused by raising livestock. In the US, the amount of water pollution created to produce one pound of meat is 17 times more than that produced for one pound of pasta. Often, this arises from livestock manure from animal factories spilled directly into waterways. The animals destined for America’s dinner tables produce 20 billion pounds of waste every 24 hours or 250,000 pounds per second! This cause massive fish kills and human illnesses. For instance, hog waste in the East Coast waterways caused proliferation of a microbe— pfiesteria piscicida— known locally as ‘the cell from hell’. In North Carolina waters, it killed more than one billion fish. People who drank or came in contact with such polluted water suffered from severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney and liver dysfunction, memory loss, difficulty in breathing and/or severe cognitive impairment! Animal manure in fresh or marine water causes oxygen depletion. This suffocates small fish, which in turn affects other fish and organism. The Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana has an area of 7,000 square miles known as the ‘dead zone’, which can no longer support aquatic life.

Air Resources:—
Man’s industrial progress has also led to pollution of air with ozone depleting chemicals and an increase in greenhouse gases. Until recently, traffic and industry were considered as the major contributors to the increase in greenhouse gases. However the contribution of livestock raising is now equally responsible. This is declared by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker, head of the Wuppertal— Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy: ‘Cattle breeding’s contribution to the greenhouse effect is about the same as that of all automobile traffic, if we take into consideration the clearing of forests for cattle and for fodder….’.
Three gases cause the greenhouse effect: methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, among other factors.
The 1.5 billion cattle, 1.7 billion sheep and other livestock worldwide ( and their consumers) annually contribute 15 to 20 percent to the global methane emissions. Moreover, one molecule of methane increases the greenhouse effect 25 times more than one molecule of carbon dioxide.
Ammonia is another gas also produced by livestock manure. This causes acid rain which destroys forests. According to a recent UN figure, livestock animals raised for meat emit 64% of all ammonia.
Overall, livestock farming indirectly also generates another greenhouse gases during the process of fertilizer production (to grow fodder), industrial feed production and during transportation of live animals and carcasses.

Species:—
How can livestock consumption destroy species of biodiversity? For many meat consumers ‘ignorance is bliss’, regarding this issue. Species of rare plants, animals, birds, insects, microorganism, etc., become permanently extinct as deforestation of tropical rainforests continues in Central and South America, parts of India and South-East Asia, to make pastures for cattle grazing or to grow fodder such as soya beans, corn and alfalfa.
Percentage of tropical rainforest deforestation directly linked with livestock raising is more than 50%.
Estimated weight of biomass (trees, fungi, insects, birds, reptiles, etc.) killed or displaced for every hamburger produced from Central American forest is 0.5 ton.
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of rainforests and other habitats is 1,000 per year.
Estimated number of species that will become extinct in Central and South America by the year 2000 if present rate (in 1987) of deforestation continues is 150,000 to 500,000.
Un regulated fishing in the oceans, trawling for fish on the ocean floor and grudging, dynamiting coral reefs for fish, all contribute to extinction of marine species.
(3% of valuable mangroves (over 4,640 sq. kms.) in the Philippines have been destroyed for crab farms.
Hence, the less flesh and fish consumed, the less the destruction of biodiversity.

Genetics:—
All medicines, hormones, pesticides and fungicides used in livestock and fish production ultimately end up in the ecosystem; in the soil, freshwater and oceans. Some of these are biodegraded. Those which remain stable circulate in the food-chain and via fish and other means, return to animals and humans! These cause disease and genetic changes in both. Cases in point: DES, dioxin, DDT and PCBs. In addition to this, is the macabre genetic modification of fodder crops to increase yield. After these foods are eaten by livestock, there is no way of knowing how this will affect animals and humans in the long term.
Introduction transgenic organism into the environment is immensely risky. Of the many cogent doubts raised by Laura and Robin Ticciati in Genetically Engineered Foods: Are they Safe? You decide, one is: ‘What if we discover some bizarre disease in the next generation that ends up linked to the (soy or canola) oil we pour in our salads today?’ In the book ‘The Food Revolution’, John Robbins calls this ‘genetic roulette’.
All happen in the name of profits for the few in the livestock industry, chemical industry and fast food industries, at the expense of the many. However this form of ‘corporate oligarchy’ can only survive as long as consumers continue their demand. When their demands decrease and eventually cease, the suppliers will have to correspondingly shut down the slaughterhouses. Therefore, out of concern for the environment, many people are switching to organic vegetarianism, which is more sustainable and eco-friendly. Some schools in the US and UK have begun to teach pupils how to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs in school gardens and also incorporate food-related issues in teaching other subjects such as science and ecology. Such steps now, will ensure a planet with better quality of natural resources for our future generations.