Controversial Points...

Controversial Points –

1. Recent remarks by certain animal lovers in the national press branding milk as non-vegetarian has made traditional vegetarians see red. This is because a bulk of Indian vegetarians follow a 'lacto vegetarian' diet, that is, they consume milk products of animals while abstaining from their flesh.

The rationale on which the anti-milk propaganda is based ranges from the lack of the milk-digesting enzyme (lactase) in 80 per cent of adult humans to the cruelty inflicted on cows by the dairy industry. Milch cows are constantly kept pregnant and injected twice a day with oxytocin, a hormone that causes uterine contractions akin to labor pains. Most live only a fraction of their normal life span of 20 years and are literally milked to death.

2. Those who hold up health benefits as the reason to consume milk are in for a shock. Not only is milk responsible for blocking the absorption of iron, only 30 per cent of the calcium it contains is absorbable by the human body. In other words, milk may be chock-full of calcium but as it cannot be easily assimilated, it ends up as kidney stones.

3. Weight-watchers beware! Milk is the fat-food to shun, for it is meant to increase the calf's body-weight up to four times within a month. Instead, soy milk is an ideal substitute, rich as it is in proteins and vitamins. It has 50 per cent protein by weight compared to cow milk protein, which has only 3 per cent.

4. You may be a non-vegetarian without knowing it! It is shocking but true. If you are serious about turning vegetarian, avoid consuming the following products or check up on the ingredients with the manufacturer.

Silver Foil (Varak): normally used on Indian sweets, fruits and paan, it is made by beating silver sheets between fresh cow and buffalo intestines while they are still warm. Microscopic examinations show fragments of intestines embedded in the foil.

Ice Cream: It often has nondairy fats. Commercial ice cream does not use milk but the blubber from slaughterhouse waste products like cattle udders, noses and anuses.

Biscuits: They are quite likely to contain animal fats.

Bread: Most large producers use vegetable based emulsifiers but local bakers may not. Some bakers may grease the tins with animal fat.

Gelatin: It is a gelling agent derived from animal ligaments, skins, tendons, bones and other body parts. Alternatives such as agar agar, carrageen and gelozone exist.

Medicine capsules: Usually made from gelatin, vegetarian alternatives are coming into the market.

Cheese: It is likely to have been produced using animal rennet. Rennet is made of the stomach acids of a calf obtained by slitting open its stomach while still alive. Vegetarian cheeses use microbial or fungal enzymes. The Indian brand, Amul is vegetarian.

Chewing gum: It often contains glycerin.

Toothpaste: Most brands contain glycerin.

5. How many strict vegetarians wear shoes or gloves or coats or watch-straps, or have cases or furniture made of genuine leather, but object to killing for food?

6. If one truly practices vegetarianism for the sake of ahimsa, he should avoid ALL animal products! Even stop stringing his violin with catgut!