January-March, 1997 Vol. 1, No. 1
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Inside This Issue
Harmlessness is the Supreme Religion
Compassion is root of a religion.
Ahimsa. It is a very well known word, even in American English language. Commonly, it is translated as “non-violence”. However, the word “non-violence” does not fully convey its deeper meaning. The Webster’s Dictionary defines it as the Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of refraining from harming any living being. The American Heritage Dictionary further defines it as sacredness of all living creatures as strictly practiced by the Jains. Both these definitions put together do come close to its fuller meaning. Refraining from harming any living being; and the sacredness of all the life.
And then Shrimad Rajchandraji went on to say in Atma Siddhi Shashtra, dyaa Saa]Ita samataa xamaa, satya tyaaga vaEraga; haeya maumauxau Gaq IvaPae, taeh sada saujaga. Compassion, peace, equanimity, forgiveness, truth, etc. are essential attitudes for the one seeking Moksha. In other words, he starts with compassion; and further, he puts the responsibility on us, to observe a constant vigilance. Narsinh Mehta also started his summary, with vaEPNava jna taae taenae re kIhyae, je pai` paraw jaNae re. Only he/she is a true Vaishnav, who understands the pains of others. This is a very fundamental principle of the whole Indian culture.
Normally, we consider vegetarianism as Jiv Daya. It is true. Because there are countless cruelties involved in eating meat. But, Jiv Daya can not stop there. It takes us into reading carefully all ingredient labels; it also takes us into avoiding the use of animals in cosmetics and their testing; and use of silk, wool, ivory, pearls, etc. beauty items for fashion; it also questions the use of animals in schools; or using the animals for our entertainment in zoo, circus, or a cage at home. In a very short sentence, we may put it as “Animals are not for ours to eat, wear, to experiment on, or for our entertainment.”
In America alone, 7 billion animals are killed every year, of which 99% are slaughtered for food. Thus, if you are vegetarian, your diet keeps you away from a major portion of that violence. However, this number is staggeringly huge. Even the other 1% animals killed for non-food purposes amount to 70 million. That means, still, that on average one animal is killed per typical vegetarian household, every year, for the other purposes such as leather, cosmetics, its testing, our entertainment, and so on! — unless you become very careful about the way you live. This is the reason for taking some extra effort, and learning all Jiv Daya issues.
Many consider eating eggs acceptable. And almost every Indian can argue why milk is a vegetarian food. But here we will examine these issues also, from a different angle.
We would try to discuss all these issues in detail in this magazine. We will examine, how they also affect our health and the ecology and environment. They are all tied together, far beyond our imagination!!
HISTORY OF NUTRITION EDUCATION
An Examination from Vegetarian Perspective
How Animal Products Got Their Prime Importance, and Why They are Losing it Now
Good nutrition and the establishment of a balanced diet have always been great concerns for the American society. Since as far back as the 1800’s, a curiosity existed about the nutritional values of different foods. During this time, awareness concerning the different components of food was limited to proteins, fats, some minerals, and carbohydrates, with little knowledge about how the body uses these substances. Food was considered to be merely a provider of energy, with proteins needed for tissue building.
THE DISCOVERY OF VITAMINS
In 1912, Casimir Funk discovered substances he called “vitamins.” He noted a direct correlation between the “vitamins” and certain physical conditions. During the same year, Dr. McCollum and Marguerite Davis discovered a substance in cow’s milk, butter fat, and egg yolk that seemed to be essential to growth in animals in laboratories. Their discovery was called vitamin A, the first vitamin to be discovered. Additional vitamins were discovered and elimination of deficiency diseases now became possible through the consumption of vitamin rich foods.
In 1923, the Bureau of Home Economics, a new part of the Department of Agriculture, took on the responsibility of addressing questions of human nutrition, in response to public interest. They came up with a set of diet plans centered around twelve food groupings known as the Basic Twelve. Four diet plans were created that encouraged the selection of foods from the twelve different groups according to level of income. This implied that all levels of income needed some guidance; or adequate nutrition was determined by wise food choices, not just by having enough food. Prestige automatically became attached to animal foods, portraying them as “preferred” foods and foods for the higher class. Furthermore, the government endorsed these eating patterns in order to support the economic interests of producers in the meat, dairy, and egg industries.
R.D.A. AND BASIC SEVEN
In 1941, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council formed the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), which were the first comprehensive set of nutrition standards. To make the RDA more practically applicable to diet and food choices, they reduced the Basic Twelve to seven food groups consisting of:
(1) leafy green and yellow vegetables, (2) citrus fruits, (3) potatoes and other vegetables, (4) milk and milk products, (5) meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dried beans & peanuts, (6) cereals, bread, and flours, and
(7) butter and margarine.
The Basic Seven was introduced in the schools. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also published a series of pamphlets promoting the latest guidelines. Until 1955, the Basic Seven remained the nation’s nutrition education model.
BASIC FOUR
By 1960, (1) meats, (2) dairy products, (3) breads and cereals, and (4) fruits and vegetables replaced the basic Seven and became the dominant dietary model in the country. It was well-received by industries promoting animal products as food, since their foods made a notable presence, comprising one-half of the recommended categories in this new diet. While other vegetable protein sources were supposedly included in the meat category, they were always considered second rate and most often not mentioned at all. Fruits and vegetables on the other hand, decreased from five of the twelve food groups, to three of the seven food groups, and eventually to one of the Basic Four where they all got packed together, a blatant statement concerning the relative insignificance these foods were to have for the dietary trends of the future.
Dr. McCollum, who was noted for his work with vitamin A, presented the health-giving properties of cow’s milk. Since no one had yet discovered that certain vegetables also contained vast amounts of these vitamins, cow’s milk was immediately declared a wonder food and deemed essential. In addition, McCollum coined the term “protective” foods for any foods containing vitamin A – namely butter, whole milk, and eggs. With the promotion of these foods, the dairy industry boomed. Furthermore, the government decided to guarantee dairy farmers a minimum return for all milk products they produced by purchasing the leftover products. The surpluses were distributed to schools, prisons, and the military in the form of butter, cheese, and milk.
Milk had been priced according to its fat content in order to prevent producers from watering it down. This fat-pricing system had further increased the value of fat and the high cost of cream and butter. Regulations preventing the sale of “filled milk” (milk whose far was replaced with vegetable fat) had ensured people were getting nutrient-packed dairy fat. Legislation had discriminated against margarine to reinforce the sale of butter.
GROWING CONCERNS ABOUT DIETS BASED ON ANIMAL PRODUCTS
It was until the mid 1950’s that the dairy industry remained in a positive limelight. It was then that the first studies connecting these foods with increased blood cholesterol and dairy fat was uncovered. Further studies confirmed that butter had more cholesterol-raising effects than other fats and that high blood cholesterol levels were associated with increased risk of heart disease.
Meat, which had been acclaimed for its favorable protein content and considered the food for the “higher” classes, was also found to be linked to heart disease. During the Korean war, autopsies were performed on the bodies of both American and Korean soldiers, and it was revealed that blood vessels of 77% of the American soldiers had been narrowed by atherosclerotic deposits (a precursor to most heart attacks and strokes), while no such damage appeared in the arteries of the equally young Koreans.
Later it was publicized that saturated fats, found primarily in animal foods, raise cholesterol levels. A diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat appeared to increase the cholesterol in the blood and clog arteries, which often leads to stroke and heart attacks, two of the most common causes of death in America. Heart disease as well as other health problems, such as obesity and diabetes were found to be results of an unhealthy American diet. It was strongly recommended that Americans adopt a diet significantly lower in calories, cholesterol, saturated fats, salt, and sugar. More vegetable and fruit products were suggested.
By 1980, the Basic Four altogether was discarded and replaced with seven simple guidelines:
Eat a variety of foods.
Maintain desirable weight.
Avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
Eat foods with adequate starch and fiber.
Avoid too much sugar.
Avoid too much sodium.
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
Efforts are being made to educate teachers and the American public about healthier eating habits. Options such as vegetarianism or even an increased consumption of vegetables/fruits and a reduced consumption of meat (especially red meat), are gaining support and attention. The need for nutritious and well-balanced meals is essential to increase the health of the American society. In 1991, when USDA published the New Food Pyramid, it portrayed the importance of animal derived products reduced, and that of the grains, fruits, and vegetables reinstated.
An Award Winning Essay at 1992 Vegetarian Fair at San Diego, by Anita Daudani. Top
What’s Wrong With Dairy & Eggs?
We consume far more ice cream, cheese and other dairy products than our brothers in India. Should we consider cutting some of that down?
Even though most people have never visited a slaughterhouse, the panic, dread, and terror that await innocent creatures, and the gruesome sights and sounds which emanate from these hidden “houses of death” are not at all difficult to imagine. What many people do not realize is that these same horrors are the fate of every factory-raised dairy cow and every hen at commercial egg farms.
Milk’s Got More….Cruelty
A dairy cow’s life is a continuous cycle of impragna-tion, birth, and milking to provide one thing only — a constant supply of milk for human consumption and profit. She will be milked for 10 months out of the year, including seven months of each of her consecutive nine-month pregnancies. Two to three times a day, seven days a week, she will be attached to an electric milking machine, like just another cog in a factory. Then she will be returned to her cramped, narrow, concrete stall to do nothing but await the next milking.
Within hours after giving birth, the cow’s calf will be forcibly taken from her. Male calves will be sold for pet food, killed at just a few days old to make “bob veal”, or raised for beef. Others will be auctioned to producers of “formula-fed veal”. On veal farms, male calves are confined in tiny crates to restrict their movement in order to keep their muscles tender. They are fed an iron-deficient diet which causes severe anima but which keeps their flesh white, making it more valuable when they are sold for meat. Subjected to total sensory deprivation and stripped of any measure of joy, 20% of veal calves will die before even reaching the typical slaughtering age of 16 weeks.
The female calves will be sequestered in tiny stalls in preparation for their enslavement to the dairy industry. When they are old enough to be artificially inseminated, they will begin the drudgery of a dairy cow. Their mother will be promptly put back into intensive milk production, where she will remain at risk for numerous stress related illnesses, infections, and diseases, many of which can be fatal.
A dairy cow will survive a mere four years of this cruel, hollow life, whereas under natural conditions, she might live up to 25 years. At the end of her days, when she can no longer keep up the demanded level of milk production, drained and exhausted, she will be packed onto a crowded truck for transport to her final destination — the slaughterhouse. After a life of slavery and servitude, her retirement gift will be to end up like her fellow “food animals” — on somebody’s plate. All vegetarians, especially those who continue to drink milk while unwittingly clinging to the myth that it is benignly begotten, should be outraged to know that 40% of America’s hamburger is made from “spent” dairy cows.
The Incredible, Inedible Egg
On factory egg farms, laying hens are housed in intensive confinement buildings where up to 100,000 birds are crammed into a single warehouse in stacked rows of bare wire cells called “battery cages”. Four to six laying hens are crowded into each cage about the size of a folded newspaper, unable to stretch their wings, walk, or even roost. Because of this inability, hens’ feet frequently grow directly around the bare wire of their cages.
To reduce stress-induced pecking and fighting resulting from over-crowding, the hens’ beaks are painfully severed at the tip. This delicate tissue is amputated without the use of anesthesia, using a hot knife or a crude guillotine-like device. Debeaking causes excruciating pain and severe shock and frequently results in death.
Hens are also forced to undergo a production process known as “forced molting”. This common egg industry practice involves denying the birds food and water for days on end in order to shock their systems into another egg laying cycle. Ultimately, this destroys a hen’s immune system and greatly increases the risk of salmonella contamination of her eggs.
Although a hen in a natural environment might live to be 15 to 20 years old, at the age of just 18 months, when she is no longer capable of producing eggs at the rate required to be lucrative for the business, she, like her sister the dairy cow, will meet her demise in the abyss of the slaughterhouse. Here she will be ground into pet food or boiled for chicken soup.
Many people naively view dairy and egg production as less abusive than meat production because milk and eggs do not necessitate the immediate deaths of the cows and chickens that produce them. Clearly, dairy and egg farms not innocuous industries as so many of us have been led to believe. Their alliance with animal abuse and slaughter is inextricable and undeniable.
But What About “Humane” Farms?
Although “free-range” hens are generally given more space to live in than hens kept in battery cages, there is no uniform, industry standard defining how “free-range” hens must be housed. The hens may simply be put into larger cages than their sisters who live on factory farms. In addition, it is common for “free-range” layers to be debeaked just like battery cage layers. But even if “free-range” hens were given all the space they could use and an environment in which they could fulfill normal social and behavioral needs, they will still be killed for meat when their egg production rates drop off, usually after just one or two years. And, like other “free-range” animals, they are subjected to the horrors of abusive handling, transportation, and slaughter.
Another problem inherent with ALL egg production involves the disposal of unwanted male chicks at the hatchery. Because males don’t lay eggs and because egg-type strains of chickens don’t grow fast enough to be raised profitably for meat, the baby male chicks are discarded shortly after hatching. There is no incentive for producers to spend time and money to euthanize these chicks which they consider to be a liability. Hence, male chicks are killed by the cheapest and easiest means available. Typically these include suffocation or being ground up alive. All egg hatcheries commit these atrocities whether they provide hens for factory farms or “free-range” farms.
“Organic” Milk
Cows’ milk is intended for calves, not humans, so whenever cows’ milk is taken by humans, calves are denied what is rightfully theirs. Milk production, whether on a small dairy farm or on a large, intensive confinement facility causes animal suffering and death.
For a cow to produce milk she must bear a calf. Most cows on modern dairy farms are forced to have a calf every year. The female calves are used to replace worn out, less productive cows in the milking herd. While dairy cows living on less abusive dairies may live longer and suffer somewhat less than cows in intensive production, ultimately ALL dairy cows end up at the slaughterhouse.
Unlike female calves born to dairy cows, male calves cannot produce milk. Therefore, they are used solely for meat. The veal industry was created as a direct result of the dairy industry. It was developed in order to capitalize on the millions of male calves born to dairy cows each year. This ongoing alliance among the dairy, veal, and beef industries occurs whether the farms are “organic” or intensive, factory-style operations.
The above article was written by Joanne Stepaniak for “Sanctuary News”, by Farm Sanctuary. She is a renowned cookbook author, who teamed up with Farm Sanctuary to produce a unique vegan cookbook, “Vegan Vittles” featuring a plethora of dishes to enjoy. It also includes sections on nutrition and vegan diets, “food animal” production, substitutes for meat, eggs, and dairy products, vegan mail order sources, and heartwarming photographs and rescue stories of the Farm Sanctuary critters. The Farm Sanctuary is very much like a “Panjarapol” in India. The book costs $ 11.95 plus shipping $ 4.00. Send your order to Farm Sanctuary, P.O. Box 150, Watkins Glen, NY 14891-0150. The Farm Sanctuary also accepts donation support for adopting animals. Call 607-583-2225 or 916-865-4617 for more information and details of their activities. Top
Kosher Parve Certification
What Advantage it Offers to a Vegetarian or a Vegan
“Kosher” is meant for observant Jews. How can it help any Hindu or Jain?
The answer is, that the word “Parve” (also spelled as “Pareve” or “Parevine”) is very functional. It means a guarantee that the food product does not contain any meat or dairy products, and it has not come in contact with either. So it is very useful for all the vegetarians, and vegans.
It is also important to know and to understand that it has some limitations.
This article is based upon a talk given by Rabbi Yoel Levy, at a workshop sponsored by the Natural Products Expo West, at Anaheim, CA, March 1995. Rabbi Levy is the Kashruth Administrator of the Organized Kashruth Laboratories, or Circle K.
The word ‘Kosher’ actually means ‘fit’ or ‘spiritually fit’, as described in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. As a result of kosher supervision, kosher products are scrupulously clean, and the word Kosher has become synonymous with premium quality. Kosher requirements are far more stringent than U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements.
There are three segments to the Kosher inspection: (1) ingredients, (2) processing, and (3) equipment.
The Organized Kashruth Laboratories maintains a computer data base of 40,000 primary ingredients that come from certified kosher sources. Before visiting a manufacturing plant that has applied for kosher certification, the rabbi checks their ingredients and other factors in the manufacturing process to determine if there is something blocking the products from being certified kosher.
No one thinks of stainless steel equipments as absorbing an odor and therefore being to absorb a non-kosher material, but such is not the case. A stainless steel pickle vat will have a vinegar odor until it is cleaned by boiling water or steam. Vinegar is not necessarily treife (non-kosher), but it proves the point.
Strange situations may arise in the rabbi’s inspection while tracing the finished product to its primary ingredients. A tanker ship carrying cooking oil had been properly cleaned with boiling water but its cargo had to be transferred to a shallow water barge tanker, as the ship could not unload in a shallow water port. The barge had previously carried disinfectant. No kosher law had been violated, but after the rabbi discovered the contamination the manufacturer wisely chose not to accept the cooking oil.
A common food product may contain all kinds of kosher as well as non-kosher ingredients. For example, seaweed is a plant product and therefore considered not subject to kosher requirements, but that is not always correct. The seaweed may contain tiny bits of seahorses, which do not have fins or scales, and are therefore treife. A vegetarian does not wish to ingest parts of a seahorse! Therefore, look for the Kosher Parve symbol! Extracts and flavors do not have to be listed on the label as ingredients, but they may be treife. An example is that of a red coloring that may come from an insect and be described as natural.
Fermented products such as miso or soy sauce present such a complex problem that the certifying rabbi must also be a food chemist. For the initial inoculation to start the fermentation process, peptones are needed. These peptones can be of animal origin or soy origin. Soy peptones are made by either the use of hydrochloric acid or enzymes. If enzymes are used, there are 2 types. One is made from papaya, which is a vegetable source, and the other is made from pepsin, which comes from the stomach of swine. The bacteria used in fermentation is stored in a medium of glycerin. The glycerin can be of animal origin, vegetable origin, or synthetic.
Kosher certification is an on-going process. The plant is subject to inspection at any time, (the rabbi has a key), and the entire process has to be repeated at least once a year.
Some Important Limitations
1. Kosher Parve products are allowed to contain, according to Jewish laws, eggs, honey, and fish. So you still need to READ THE LABEL! In this matter, Jews Kosher does not concur with Hindu and Jain Ahimsa. But still it is a good help for buying processed food.
2. Classification “Kosher Dairy” or “D.E.” signifies that dairy equipment was used. Still the product may contain no dairy product. Read the label!
3. Not every single item in a generally Kosher Parve product line from a manufacturing plant is necessarily Kosher Parve. Learn the symbols below, and look for one on each product.
The above article is reprinted, with kind permission, from Jewish Vegetarian Newsletter, Spring 1996 issue. For subscription, please write to Isreal Mossman, 6938 Reliance Road, Federalsbufg, MD 21632. For a free sample copy, send a self-addressed envelope with 55 cents stamp. Below is a compilation of several kosher symbols. Top
Vigilance While Eating Out at Restaurants
Many times we eat at restaurants. How do we select our items of order there? We know about the sauce problems at Pizza Hut. But let us be fair and objective. We live in a society where meat eating is the norm, and very strict vegetarianism like ours is exceptional. Therefore, Pizza Hut is not the only place where we have to watch out. As listed below, many restaurants have a variety of challenges in store for us! The two most common problems and several others are indicated below in column “BEWARE!”
However, let us find our ways. Here is a guide to what to order, and/or how to order, when in doubt. Please understand that all the businesses continuously keep changing their recipe formulations, and therefore it can never hurt to ask before placing your order. In fact, we encourage that!
This list of popular restaurants was prepared by Bhairavi Talsania, San Diego, CA, with reference to book “Meatless Meals for Working People”, published by Vegetarian Resource Group. For more information, please call Debra Wasserman or Charles Stahler at (410) 366-8343. For regular updates of this information, subscribe to their bimonthly magazine, Vegetarian Journal.
More and more people are now abstaining from using dairy products on ethical, health, and/or ecological grounds. We urge you too to reduce, or preferably to completely eliminate them from your diets, for the same reasons. Use the guide below for making your choices.
| NAME | BEWARE! | VEGETARIAN | NOT EVEN DAIRY | COMMENTS |
| Arby’s | Beware # 2. Milk shakes include animal rennet. Buns include eggs. | Green salads, Pita Pockets. | Small side salad. | They use vegetable oil for frying foods. |
| Baskin Robbin’s | Egg Nog, French Vanilla, Vanilla, Custard, and Marshmallow flavors as well as cookies and cakes contain eggs. | Ices and Sorbets. | ||
| Burger King | Beware # 1. Buns may contain animal shortening. Bagels contain eggs. Snickers Ice Cream Bar contains gelatin. | Garden salad; Croissants; Blueberry muffins; Lemon, Cherry, and Apple pies. | Side salad. French, Reduced calorie Italian, and Oil and Vinegar dressings. | |
| Carl’s Jr. | They use vegetable shortening for most of the fried foods, but ask. | Zucchini. Baked goods contain no animal shortening. Macaroni. Pasta salads. | Bread sticks, hot dog buns, plain bun, flour tortilla, English muffin, Kaiser bun, all-you-can-eat salad bar. | |
| Denny’s | Beware # 1. Beware # 2. Veggie burger contains eggs. | Buttermilk biscuits, French toast, waffles, mozzarella sticks, cream of broccoli soup, grilled cheese sandwich and veggie cheese melt sandwich. | Garden salad no eggs. Buns are purchased locally, and may contain dairy. | |
| Domino’s | Beware # 2. The local recipe may contain eggs. | Domino’s crust recipes contain whey, and some other dairy derivatives. | Sauce. | |
| Hardee’s | Beware # 2. Egg and cheese biscuits. Gravy is sausage based. | Garden salad, pancake, cinnamon raisin biscuit, coleslaw, yogurt, crispy curls. | Side salad. | |
| NAME | BEWARE! | VEGETARIAN | NOT EVEN DAIRY | COMMENTS |
| Jack in the Box | Beware # 1. Secret sauce, Worcestershire sauce. Onion rings contain egg yolk. Cheesecake contains gelatin. | Italian dressing. Cinnamon Churritos. Reduced calorie French dressing. Croissant. Grilled sourdough bread. | English muffins, hamburger buns, sesame bread sticks, tortilla bowl (wheat), pita bread, gyro bread, guacamole, side salad, low calorie Italian dressing. Apple turnover. | The types of shortening used differ. They contain natural flavor from butter. |
| Little Caesars | Beware # 2. | Veggie sub sandwich. | Dough, tomato sauce, Crazy sauce, Crazy bread no cheese, Tossed salad, Greek salad no cheese. | |
| McDonald’s | Garden salad has eggs. All three Danishes have gelatin. Red French Reduced Calorie Dressing includes Worcestershire sauce, that includes anchovies. Big Mac sauce contains eggs. | Side salad, apple bran muffin, cereal. Chocolate chip cookies contain dairy. | Side salad, Lite vinaigrette dressing, McDonaldland cookies, apple pie. | They may cook in separate vats than those for meat, but ask. Call 1-800-524-5900 for more information. |
| Pizza Hut | Sauce for pasta and bread sticks contains beef base. Sauce for Crusted Stuff Pizza has chicken fat. All sauces contain cheese and animal derived enzymes. | Pan Pizza and bread sticks contain whey. Ask specifically for vegetarian sauce, when ordering. | Salad, Thin ‘N Crispy and Hand Tossed Crust, without any sauce. | Until recently, they made vegetarian sauce with beef base! |
| Shakey’s | Beware # 2. | Dough and frying oil are vegetarian. | Salad bar. Dough may contain dairy products. | |
| Subway | Wheat roll contains honey. | Veggie and Garden burger subs. | Salad. White Rolls. Soy cheese contains casein! | |
| Taco Bell | Beware # 2. Seven Layer Burrito contains dehydrated chicken meat, found in rice. | Guacamole contains sour cream. Heat Pressed Tortilla contains dry milk. | Corn and wheat tortillas, Light Heat Pressed Tortilla, cinnamon twists, hard and soft taco, Border Ice Products, regular and low-fat refried beans. Low-fat burritos. | |
| T.G.I.F. | Brown Rice Pilaf contain chicken base. | Garden burger has dairy in it. | Vegetable Medley without brown rice pilaf. Garden Cob Salad. | |
| Wendy’s | Beware # 1. Spanish Rice may contain animal flavorings. Fat-free French dressing contains honey. Italian Caesar dressing contains anchovy and eggs. Garden Spot Pasta salad contains eggs. | Wendy’s Superbar, refried beans. Flour tortillas, buns and croutons contain whey. Alfredo sauce. Deluxe garden salad and Side salad contain cheese. | Spaghetti sauce, Rotini, Taco chips, Taco sauce, Taco shells, Garden spot salad. Chow mein noodles. Dressings: French, Sweet Red French, Golden Italian, Reduced Calorie Italian. | “Super Bar” is one of the best among the fast food salad bars. |
Beware # 1: Many restaurants do not have (or enforce) a policy of using separate oil vats for frying vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. Ask before ordering.
Beware # 2: Many restaurants lack a policy of using cheese made with microbial rennet only. Therefore the chances are, according to the market conditions, that you may end up eating cheese made with animal rennet. To be on safer side, order without cheese, if the employees do not have answers for sure.
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Hunting’s other victim:
The Environment
– Peter Muller – New York State Chairman of the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting –
Ecology teaches us that there are objective, measurable, quantifiable ways to measure the health of an ecosystem. Biological diversity is one such scientifically recognized indicator.
What is biodiversity? It is a measure of species-richness, or the number of species within a community of organisms. Generally speaking, high biodiversity (a great variety of plants and animals, and not too many of each) is an indicator of a healthy and viable ecosystem while a low biodiversity (few varieties of life forms and hordes of individuals of each species) is an indication the ecosystem is under stress and could collapse.
What effect does hunting — and its concomitant practice of habitat management — have on the balance of ecosystems?
Let’s start answering this question with some other questions: Isn’t hunting part of our nature? Don’t animals, living in a natural environment, hunt? So, what’s wrong with hunting?
Animals living in a healthy ecosystem are in a state of natural predation. By evolving together in the same ecosystem, both predators and prey have adapted so that they both benefit as a species from that relationship. Predator and prey species have adapted structurally and behaviorally to allow them to be healthy predators or prey animals.
For example, prey species usually tend to have very large litters and shorter gestation periods. Rodents such as mice, rats and guinea pigs are typically prey species and are among the most rapidly reproducing species of mammals. Lemmings, another prey animal, can have litters of about six offspring every three weeks. This is nature’s way of assuring the species will survive even though many succumb to predation. Elephants, with no natural predator, typically give birth to one calf after a 22-month gestation period.
The eye structures among prey species tend to be well suited for peripheral vision — their eyes are on the side of the head can rotate to be alert to a predator approaching from any direction. Among predators, the eyes are in front of the head and can be focussed stereoscopically to allow the predator to assess the right distance to take its prey. If we look at birds, for example, we see different eye structures among the raptors (owls, hawks, eagles) as contrasted to passerines (sparrows, starlings, orioles).
The ability to move and survive on their own shortly after birth (precocial) is markedly more developed among the prey species than among species that have no predators. The various species have evolved these adaptations so they can all live and thrive in an ecosystem.
The natural predator will take some of the prey species but will never get close to totally eradicating them. Among species that have evolved together, no predator species ever takes more than about 10 percent of its prey base.
How likely will any individual predator successfully kill its prey in any given attempt? Usually about one chance in five, because the typical rate is around 20 percent — however it sometimes is less than 10 percent.
Natural predation benefits both the predator and prey species (and incidentally, the scavengers). Predators obviously gain a source of nourishment but the prey species also benefit. Predation usually removes infected and diseased individuals, thus checking the spread of illness, and congenitally weak animals, which prevents them from breeding and improves the gene pool.
Hunting by humans operates in the opposite direction. The kill ratio at a couple-hundred feet with a semi-automatic weapon and scope is virtually 100 percent. The animal, no matter how well adapted to escape natural predation (healthy, smart, alert, quick, etc.), has virtually no way to escape being killed once it is in the cross-hairs of a scope mounted on a rifle. Nature’s adaptive structures and behaviors that have evolved over millions of years are almost useless when man is the hunter.
Hunters generally go after healthy, big animals for meat and trophies. This leaves the diseased and congenitally weak animal to breed — thereby degrading the gene pool and spreading disease.
Hunting by humans has never been akin to natural predation, and modern technology makes the matter worse. But even hunting by indigenous people, before the blessings of Western civilization, was just as destructive — only at a slower rate. The North American Mammoth and the Pantagonian Giant Sloth are just two examples of animals that were hunted into extinction by indigenous hunters.
To see how destructive hunting can be to an ecosystem, let’s look at a specific game animal. Perhaps the most widely hunted animal in North America is one of the common species of deer (white-tailed, mule-deer or black-tailed, with an aggregate of about 50 sub-species).Territories have a natural carrying capacity for each species that has evolved in that habitat. Nature has mechanisms to assure that the appropriate carrying capacity for each species is not exceeded. Let’s assume a naturally segmented area has sufficient browse to feed a deer population of 400 animals. What would happen if the net increase of one year brought the population well over 400?
Let’s say with all normal control mechanisms in place (such as natural predators), the population reaches 500 healthy individuals. At the start of the next rutting season, several mechanisms would kick in to assure fewer fawns the following year. If deer are hungry (not starving, but not well-fed, either) the sexual drive of the male deer declines and the female deer stop ovulating. Because the browse is not sufficient to feed all of the 500 animals, a portion of the deer population would not reproduce during that season. With the normal die-off during the winter and the lower-than-normal birth rate during the spring, the total population would be reduced to less than 500. Within a few seasons, the population would again stabilize around the capacity for the territory.
If the population drops substantially below the carrying capacity (say around 300), similar natural mechanisms would bring the population back up to the normal carrying capacity of 400. Other mechanisms, such as immigration and emigration, stop help maintain the population at the carrying capacity.
These mechanisms with which the species has evolved have intrinsic assumptions that have been true for millions of years. Human hunting destroys some of them. Normally the sex ratio of male to female animals is 50:50. Deer are born about evenly male and female. Most “sport” or “trophy” hunters prefer to take bucks rather than does. This alters the gender ratio of the population.
Let’s say it changes from 50:50 to 75:25 — leaving three times as many does as bucks. Nature’s mechanisms that adjust the population to the food supply will now miscalculate and cause an overpopulation. The same 400-animal herd which would have produced a 100-animal net gain (assuming a 100-animal winter die-off and a 200-fawn increase based on a 50:50 ratio), will now produce a 200-animal increase. (This assumes the same 100-animal die-off, but 300 does give birth to 300 fawns).
With the ratio distorted to 75:25, the population would thus increase to 600 instead of 500. Now indeed catastrophic starvation and die-backs can occur. Hunting is thus not the cure — but rather the cause — of overpopulation and starvation of deer.
State agencies encourage the destruction of the naturally evolved ecosystem by encouraging hunting, which balloons the population of the game species at the expense of non-game animals. Other “management” techniques, in addition to sex-ratio distortion, include:
• Removal of natural predators (such as wolves, coyotes, panthers, bears)
• Altering the natural habitat to provide additional browse for game species and destroying the habitat of the non-game species, (i.e. clear-cutting and/or burning areas and sowing them with oats for deer at the expense of rabbits, voles, various reptiles and amphibians, etc.)
• Introducing exotic game species into areas and then destroying the habitat to favor their survival at the expense of native species that have evolved in the area (i.e. stocking an area with pheasants — an Asian bird — and cutting tall timber trees needed by raptors for perches).
Hunting by humans is not a sustainable, mutually beneficial predator-prey relationship. Human hunting techniques, even the most primitive ones, are far too efficient to meet the conditions required of a natural predator-prey relationship.
With modern technology, the efficiency becomes totally lop-sided so as to cause instant habitat degeneration. Add to this the conscious mismanagement of habitat to further degrade and obviate all natural corrective measures.
Biodiversity is destroyed by using techniques such as sex-ratio distortion, habitat manipulation, removal of natural predators and introduction of exotic game species. The goal is to maximize the number of targets for humans to hunt, thereby destroying the naturally evolved ecosystems and putting them at the brink of total collapse.
What will it take for these ecosystems to survive? Prohibit hunting by humans and other forms of non-sustainable consumptive uses of these animals. Permit the reintroduction of re-immigration of predators (which is naturally occurring). Stop “managing” the environment of those areas.
When it comes to managing the environment, our knowledge is inadequate to do an even passable job. Even given an ethically sound motivation — which can’t be said of most governmental agencies now — we simply don’t know enough to do a better job than nature. For the sake of life on earth, we must not allow the hunting and gun-manufacturing lobbies to continue to dictate wildlife policies.
The above article is reprinted, with kind permission, from Vegetarian Voice (Perspectives on healthy, ecological and compassionate living), Vol. 19, No. 2. Vegetarian Voice is published by North American Vegetarian Society, P.O. Box 72, Doldgeville, NY 13329. Besides publishing above quarterly, NAVS is also the originator of the “World Vegetarian Day” on October 1, in honor of Mahatma Gandhi, that started in 1975. They also celebrate Summerfest every year. For more information, please call them at 518-568-7970. Top
Teacher: Ok class. I have some really exciting news for you today.
Class: Yeah!
Teacher: Next week, we will begin our study of the physiology of organ systems. That means that we get to dissect animals and learn about how their bodies work.
Julie: Yuck! That’s gross!
Teacher: No. That’s life! You will see what the brain really looks like. You will even see a heart as it is still beating inside a rat. This is the most interesting part of 9th grade Biology.
Kevin: Does that mean that we get to see blood squishing all over?
Teacher: Yes, there will be blood involved.
Tina: Do we really have to touch the animals?
Teacher: You will touch the animals, but you will have gloves on at all times.
(The bell rings and the class runs out of the room, except Ketan, who goes to speak to the teacher).
Ketan: Mrs. Anderson, it’s against my religion to kill animals, so I don’t think I will be able to do the dissections.
Teacher: But don’t you make exceptions for the sake of learning? This will be a very good learning experience.
Ketan: I’m sure it will be, but there are many ways to learn without sacrificing life.
Teacher: Yes, but no matter how you do it, there is no replacing this experience. I can describe to you what a vibrating heart feels like. It’s soft, and moist, and there’s a vibrating feeling under it, but that description could also be used to describe a fish. It’s sort of like this. I can tell you what sugar tastes like, but you will never know until you taste it yourself.
Ketan: Yes, you are probably right. I will never know what a rat’s heart feels like as it is beating, but I don’t think it will make a big difference in my life if I do learn what it feels like. But for the rat… he is being deprived of his life, just so that I can feel what his heart feels like. That is so unfair. How would you feel if some elephants wanted to know what it felt like to step on a human and just stepped on you even if it didn’t make a life-and-death difference in his life?
I understand that it is important to learn physiology and anatomy, and know where things are located, but I feel that it is wrong to do so at the expense of animals’ lives. Especially at this stage of the game, where it does not really matter if we know what an animal looks like inside. And if we really need to learn, sometimes we see dead squirrels and rats lying on the side of the road. We can always get some gloves, pick them up, and cut them open to learn about their anatomy. We don’t need to kill live rats.
Teacher: I guess you have a point here. I will excuse you from this assignment, if you can come up with a reasonable alternative within the next two days.
Narrator: That day, Ketan goes home and talks to his cousin, who is in medical school.
Ketan: You won’t believe what happened in school today.
Chetan: What happened?
Ketan: Our class is going to be dissecting worms and roaches and rats and stuff for the next few months, so I talked to my teacher about it. I told her it was against my religion to kill and that I didn’t think it was very necessary in this case to kill so many animals.
Chetan: No way! You told her that?
Ketan: Yeah, but wait, it gets better! She told me that if I could come up with a reasonable alternative within the next two days, then I could be excused from the assignment.
Chetan: There are lots of alternatives to this. Our medical school has lots of them because we are now moving toward more humane methods of medical education — no one is required to kill anything for the whole 4 years that we go thru medical school.
Ketan: So how do you learn?
Chetan: Well, we have computer programs for anatomy and physiology which are very interactive and fun to use. We click on the mouse to remove the skin or a particular muscle and you can see what is under it. Or, you can click on a screen to see the heart pumping and click on a medication to see the effects of that medicine on heart rate, blood pressure, etc.. It is just like the real lab. Of course, you don’t get to feel what it really feels like.
Ketan: That’s exactly what Mrs. Anderson told me. She said I would never be able to feel the real thing.
Chetan: Yeah, but we have cadavers. These were people who have donated their bodies to the medical school after death, so we can feel a real liver and a real spleen and a real brain. But we don’t have to kill in order to get the experience.
Ketan: Wow! That’s so cool! I wish I could do that.
Chetan: Do you want me to speak to my anatomy professor to see if you can come in and look at my cadaver? I will show you all the important organs. It will be fun for you too. Plus, it will be a real human.
Ketan: Yeah, that would be nice.
Chetan: And you can use our computer programs while you are there to learn about the anatomy and physiology.
Ketan: Cool! I’ll ask my teacher tomorrow.
Narrator: The next day, in school, Ketan brings up his idea to Mrs. Anderson.
Ketan: (raises his hand)
Teacher: Yes, Ketan.
Ketan: Mrs. Anderson, remember when I talked to you yesterday about it being against my religion to kill animals? And you told me that I could come up with an alternative assignment? Well I talked to my cousin who is in medical school; he told me that they have some computer programs that I can use to learn anatomy and physiology and then he could take me to see his cadaver so that I can feel a real human liver and heart. Does that sound like a reasonable alternative?
Teacher: Yes. That sounds fine with me.
Julie: I want to do that too; I think it sounds cool to go to the medical school and use their computer program, and then see a real human body. Can I be excused from the assignment too?
Teacher: Yes, that would be fine Julie.
Kevin: (Whispers to Ketan) Does that mean you get a day off from school?
Ketan: (Whispers back) Probably more than one because I can’t do the whole computer program in one day.
Kevin: (Yells to the front of the class) Me too. I want to do the alternative assignment.
Teacher: We’ll have to see about that. I don’t know how many of you can be accommodated.
Ketan: I’ll ask my cousin — may be they can just have a special class for us or something.
Teacher: That would be fine with me, if it’s okay with the medical school. Perhaps in future we may look into purchasing a computer program for our school too.
This skit was prepared by a medical student, Yashica Ghelani, Absecon, NJ.
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ACTIVITIES TO DO
GREAT AMERICAN MEATOUT DAY
March 20, 1997
Help your friends kick out the meat habit by joining many others, when they go for one whole day without meat, and experience for themselves, how easy and enjoyable it is to live without it. Hopefully, they will continue that way. If not, we still saved a few lives, at least for one day!
FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement) initiated this move 12 years ago, and hundreds of communities and animal rights organizations and vegetarian societies in all 50 states and several Canadian provinces joined it, to promote meatless eating through colorful educational events. Visitors will be asked to “kick the meat habit on March 20th and to explore a more wholesome, less violent diet.”
From humble beginnings in 1985, Meatout has become a large and colorful annual dietary educational campaign. Headlines include many celebrities such as Casey Kasem, Rue McClanahan, Elvira, and many more. Call 1-800-MEATOUT for a free Meatout Action Kit.
What Can You Do?
Here are some suggestions.
• Sponsor a vegetarian potluck. • Have a vegetarian restaurant gathering. • Take an ad out in the newspaper. • Put up a billboard. • Sponsor bus signs. • Leaflet. • Sponsor an all-day conference. • Have a local newspaper do a story. • Write letters to the editor about the day. • Street theater. • Ask a restaurant to give discounts on vegetarian dishes. • At work or school, have the cafeteria serve vegetarian options.
• Anything else …. that your imagination can come up with.
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