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| Newsletters - October 2008
Don't Be Cruel! Be Vegan! 
Why do we humans, feel a shiver down our spine when we read of a cannibal in Germany advertising for someone willing to be his dinner, or watch the video of a man be-headed in Afghanistan, yet keep our empathies sealed in vaults made of the strongest metals, when we look at breakfast tables decorated with slaughtered animals?Will we ever open our eyes to the cruelty and suffering these animals are subjected to before they find their way as hamburgers, chicken tikkas and lambchops to your plate? Picture this: Every day, across the world, cows are separated from their day old calves. They bellow and wail helplessly as the little ones, crying frantically, are dragged away from them. The calves are left alone yearning for their mother, terrified, but waiting and watching with hope before things get worse. The calves are stuffed into a dark, stinking shed with other calves, fed an iron-free diet (to keep their flesh white) and kept immobile for many months to ensure their meat is tender, before being dragged out, thrown into a truck and packed away to slaughter houses. The cruelty meted out to the mother cow is no less. When her useful life of producing milk has passed, she is also packed off to a slaughter house and dismembered for the human eating pleasure! The same pain and suffering is experienced by goats, sheep, lambs, birds and chicks every day, around the world. Whoever told us that animals feel no pain – are wrong! Whoever told us that our pets are our friends and need the love he / she demands but the animals that we feed on don’t – are wrong! Every living and breathing form of life on this planet feels. Every animal feels the entire range of emotions of joy, sadness and pain that you and I feel. They just speak a different language. Turn vegan today, be the voice that speaks against cruelty and act so no animal needs to suffer for human desires. Eating meat has many other consequences that our planet and our future generations may have to deal with. Pollution The meat industry causes more water pollution in the United States than all other industries combined, because the animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population-86,600 pounds (39,281 kilograms) per second. A typical pig factory farm generates a quantity of raw waste equal to that of a city of 12,000 people. Land Of all the agricultural land in the United States, 87% is used to raise animals for food. Twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a pure vegetarian (i.e. vegan). Water Raising animals for food consumes more than half of all the water used in the United States. It takes 2,500 gallons (9,460 litres) of water to produce a pound (450 grams) of meat, but only 25 gallons (95 litres) to produce a pound (450 grams) of wheat. An individual can save 1 million gallons (3,780,000 litres) of water-every year-by giving up animal-based foods. Deforestation Rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of 125,000 square miles (323,748 square kilometers) per year to create space to raise animals for food. For every quarter-pound, fast-food burger made of rainforest beef, 55 square feet (5.1 square meters) of land are consumed. Energy Raising animals for food requires more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles (32 kilometers) and enough water for 17 showers. Health Cancers (which are responsible for 25% of all the deaths in the U.S.) and heart disease (which kills 50% of the population annually) are the hallmarks of an animal-based diet. The human body cannot digest animal products, and, consequently, more people are becoming ill and dying because of the animals they eat. The U.S. Surgeon General has stated that "eating kills two thirds of Americans every year." What smoking does to the lungs, meat does to one's arteries. The causative effect between smoking and lung cancers was made in 1950, but it took decades for society to accept this fact. The inherent dangers of vaccinations are only now becoming more widely known and accepted. So, too, will the horrific toll that consuming animal products takes on our health and our planet soon become common knowledge. All of the above points apply to us, in India as well! For those who haven’t yet felt a change of heart, a thought you should probably consider. “Cruelty is a kind of cowardice. Cruel laughter is the way cowards cry when they’re not alone, and causing pain is how they grieve” – Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram. Peas v/s Pills - A Workshop To encourage those of you willing to make the change to vegan, a workshop, "Peas vs Pills" by Dr. Nandita Shah, noted Homeopath will be held by the German Cultural Centre on: Saturday, 15th November 2008 From 9:30am to 5:30pm At The International School of Hyderabad 6-3-346, Road No.1 Banjara Hills Hyderabad 500 034 Andhra Pradesh India Registration Fee: Rs. 1800/- (inclusive of breakfast, lunch, a snack and workshop materials) All meals will be strictly vegetarian. If you have any dietary restrictions please inform us in advance. All income from this workshop will benefit the NGO, SHARAN. Registration and Free Preview of the show on: Thursday, 13th November 2008 From 5:30pm to 7:30pm At Goethe-Zentrum Association For German Culture Hermitage Office Complex (HUDA) Hill Fort Road, Nampally Hyderabad Tel: 040-6552 6443 / 2324 1791 Hydeutsch1@yahoo.co.in The workshop will cover: 1. Health, disease and the scope of medicines. 2. What is the healthiest diet for our species? Understanding our anatomy, physiology and real nutritional needs. 3. Why the foods we are eating today cause disease. 4. Results of diet change. 5. The relation between diet and stress. 6. The relation between diet and our environment. 7. How to manage making the transition without missing the foods we are used to. 8. How to handle social situations. Do get in touch with us at bluecrosshyd@gmail.com for further information Who Wants To Be A Lab Rat? Most consumers in India are not aware that Genetically Modified foods, especially in the form of Bt Brinjal, are looming large over their plates. Genetically Modified (GM) foods are created from plants that have been modified at the molecular level by bringing in genes very often from completely unrelated organisms – from bacteria, viruses, scorpions, pigs etc. and by inserting them randomly and irreversibly into the cells of our food plants like rice, brinjal, bhindi, potato, cauliflower etc. This random, forcible insertion often leads to unpredictable changes in the host plant’s DNA – remember, DNA is considered as the building block of life and each organism acquires its characteristics from the particular structure and functioning of its DNA. The changes due to deletions, inversions, scrambling and genome-wide mutations due to genetic engineering manifest themselves as changes in protein networks at the molecular level and further up as cellular level, organ level, organism level and eco-system level changes. There could even be evolutionary level changes due to the irresponsible deployment of genetic engineering without understanding the many implications of the technology. A majority of the countries around the world have rejected GM foods/crops mostly due to concerns related to health and environmental impacts. Studies for assessing biosafety with GM foods have found various adverse health results like stunted growth, impaired immune systems, misshapen cell structures in different organs, liver and kidney lesions, inflamed lung tissue, higher offspring mortality etc. It has also been found that with genetic engineering, the nutritional composition of our foods is altering! For instance, beneficial nutrients like phyto-estrogen compounds could be lower in GM foods, compared to non-GM foods. Further, there are many environmental hazards like increased incidence of pests and diseases, pest and weed resistance, impacts on beneficial organisms, increased use of chemicals in farming, potential impacts on soil and changes in associated eco-systems. Many of these potential hazards have already manifested themselves in the past six years of Bt Cotton cultivation in India, the only GM crop allowed so far, including reports of large scale mortality and morbidity of sheep and goats after grazing on Bt Cotton fields. There are also ethical implications with the entry of GM crops – if you are a vegetarian and in your food, genes from an animal have been inserted, would you continue to be a vegetarian? GM crop developers in India, supported by some American agencies like USAID/Monsanto/Cornell University etc., are seeking to bring in Bt Brinjal into India in a few months’ time. Nowhere else in the world has such a GM vegetable crop been allowed. To raise consumer awareness about GM foods and the known health impacts of GM foods and to get consumers exercise their right to safe food and food of their informed choice, a new campaign has been launched in India called “I AM NO LAB RAT”, spearheaded by the Coalition for a GM-Free India. This campaign highlights the experimental nature of this technology with its unpredictable and hazardous results and the fact that Indians, as unaware consumers, would be made guinea pigs with GM foods coming in. It urges those Indians who do not wish to become lab rats to visit www.iamnolabrat.com website and send a petition to the Union Health Minister, urging him to stop GM foods from entering into our plates. 
In Hyderabad, “I am no lab rat” campaign was launched by well known actress and environmental activist Mrs. Amala Akkineni on September 24th 2008.- Kavitha Kuruganti, Centre For Sustainable Agriculture CSA India Blue Cross News
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