October-December, 1998 Vol. 2, No. 4
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Inside This Issue
Raising Vegan Children…in a (Not Yet) Vegan World
By JoAnn Farb – Vegetarian Journal – Sep/Oct 97
I believe with all my heart that some day people will look back on this period in time as the “Diet Dark Ages.” Children of the future will wrinkle up their faces in disgust as they learn of our cannibalistic eating of other beings, and their mouths will drop open in disbelief upon learning that once upon a time we actually drank the milk of non-human animals.
Until that time, however, we live in an alien culture. In front of my child I proudly ask endless questions of waitresses and the people whose homes we visit: “What is in this?” or “Can I see the label?” To my daughter Sarina I whisper, “This is not vegan, so we won’t eat it.” Yet privately I wonder if the rigidity required to follow a healthy vegan diet in this society might somehow damage her. The last thing any parent wants to do is to set a child up to feel deprived. Being overly isolated is not healthy either. That is why I would encourage anyone raising children vegetarian to build yourself a support system — you need to be part of a community.
It was by chance (and my willingness to share with others the benefits of eating a plant-based diet) that I ended up in a playgroup with other vegetarians and vegan wanna-bes. The woman who taught my Bradley Birth class approached me one day with an invitation to join a newly-forming playgroup for mothers who were making less traditional choices as new parents. Some of these women had home births, some were taking a stand against common but dangerous medical procedures, some spoke of the benefits of nursing a child for two or more years, some were in favor of the family bed, and some were planning to home school. At the outset, I was the only vegan, and only one other mom was vegetarian. But what united all of us was our search for a more healthy and wholesome way to nurture a baby in a culture that pushes materialism and conformity as an antidote to separateness.
At our weekly gatherings we discuss books and scientific journals. We share our different areas of expertise, and we always bring food. Over time we’ve all evolved, incorporating new ideas that make sense. The potluck part of playgroup is always vegetarian, and most of the offerings are egg- and dairy-free. (I guess raising children to love a plant-based diet makes sense to all the families!) We even get together on the weekends occasionally when the dads can be with us. We celebrate the children’s birthdays with healthy, food-filled parties, and when a family in our group welcomes a new baby, we take turns bringing them dinners — vegetarian of course! Having this wonderful support system in place makes it easier to deal more comfortably with the not-so-utopic rest of the world.
At 18 months of age, my daughter was invited to attend a birthday party for a one-year-old (not in our play group). The thought of toddlers racing around with cake, cookies, and candy was a definite concern for me, so I shared this with my friend when we RSVP’d. She offered to postpone the food portion of the party for a bit while the children played. I prepared my toddler ahead of time by telling her that we would only stay for a short time, because Grandma and Grandpa were expecting us. We went, played, opened gifts, and then left to visit grandparents before the eating became widespread.
Recently, a playgroup family was planning a party for their three-year-old, and, because the mother was almost nine months pregnant, she was going to buy a cake rather than make one. She warned me ahead of time that the cake would be store-bought (meaning dairy, eggs, and sugar), and so I offered to make the cake. She was delighted. It was a small effort to make sure that my 2-1/2 year-old could participate fully, and it reinforced for my child the concept that the way we eat is “normal.” By the way, Lorna Sass’s recipe for Carob Devil’s Food Cake from Recipes from An Ecological Kitchen is easy and terrific. We layered our cake with Soy Delicious Carob Peppermint frozen non-dairy dessert for an “ice cream” cake.
Another time we attended a party where I expected ahead of time that there would be lots of “junk food.” About two hours beforehand, I made my daughter a meal of something that she liked. After she had eaten as much as she wanted, I brought out another food, one that she liked even better. When she grew tired of that, we played a bit and then I offered her some high-fat vegan cookies that she loved, but which I seldom had around. After she had eaten even more, and we were about 15 minutes away from leaving for the party, I suggested we nurse (she always has room for this). By the time we arrived at the party, her tummy was quite full. She nibbled on some fresh fruit, and ignored the cake, cookies, ice cream, and popsicles.
We are fortunate to have two sets of grandparents living in our town. One set is mostly vegetarian. The other set is not. While I was pregnant, their well-meaning questions about “What will you feed the baby if you don’t give (cow’s) milk?” gave me ample opportunity to educate them about our dietary choices.
While they still don’t fully “get” why we eat this way, and why some foods are acceptable while others are not, they honor our lifestyle. Our visits to the non-vegetarian grandparents are always between mealtimes. I always send soy milk and a variety of tasty, interesting foods. For holidays like Thanksgiving, we take the initiative and invite everyone over to our house (where meat, dairy, and eggs are not allowed). We do occasionally join them at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. At one such dinner, I looked over just in time to catch Grandma feeding rice from her plate (“It wasn’t touching the meat …”) to my daughter. Now when we go to restaurants, our toddler always sits right between my husband and me, and I always pack some never-before-seen knick-knacks to entice her to stay seated until all the food has been cleared away. Then she is free to get out of the high chair and sit on Grandma’s lap.
Occasionally I talk to Sarina about the fact that we are vegans, and that that is something to be very proud of. I tell her that the world is changing and that one day most people will value their health and the well-being of the planet, too. I tell her that we love animals, and so we don’t eat them. When we drive by cows in a pasture, I point out the mother cow nursing her calves, and mention how much mommy cows love their babies — just like I love her. Sometimes I even mention that some people actually take cow’s milk away from the babies and drink it, but that I think that is yucky. “Can you believe that?” I ask her — and she laughs.
We don’t watch television, not just because it would diminish the time that she is engaged in creative, coordination-building activities, but also because the programs and the commercials set a standard for what to buy, how to look, and what to eat, that does not reflect our values.
Sometimes I do struggle with the fact that in our city, we are the only family I know that never consumes dairy or egg-containing foods. That is why we make a point at least once each year, of attending some national vegetarian conference, like the NAVS vegetarian Summerfest. There we meet, play with, and eat with many other vegans. I often point to other children and say proudly to my child, “That’s Sarah, and she’s a vegan, and there goes George, he’s a vegan, too … just like you.” These other children provide needed role models for my daughter, and the whole experience lets me, for one wonderful week, live out my vision of a vegan world.
JoAnn Farb and her family reside in Kansas. If you like to read more articles like this, please subscribe to the Vegetarian Journal. Call 410-366-VEGE, or write to Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.
Bad News on Milk
Is your child chronically constipated? The cause may be a common allergy to milk. Italian researchers report that constipation cleared up in 68% of children ages one to six who switched from cow’s milk to soy. – by Janice M. Horowitz
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A Diet for Spiritual Health
by Urmila Devi Dasi – Excerpted from “Back to Godhood” – Jan/Feb, 1998
When our oldest son was less than three, he and I were once in a supermarket when a woman passing out samples handed him a cookie that looked like ones made at our temple. He was several yards away from me, and I was apprehensive he’d automatically put the cookie into his mouth. Instead, he ran over to me and asked, “Prasadam? Prasadam?” I said no, it hadn’t been offered to Krishna and couldn’t be. He smiled and gave up the idea of eating the cookie.
Training our children to be strict vegetarians can be difficult. Giving them enthusiasm for further restricting themselves to Prasadam, food prepared for and offered to Krishna, can be even more challenging.
Devotees of Krishna strictly avoid meat, fish, and eggs, and though a growing number of food products don’t contain any of these, many products have onions or garlic, which devotees also consider unfit to offer the Lord. Devotees try to avoid commercially prepared food altogether. Krishna is hungry for our devotion, not the food we offer Him, so we need to take time to prepare Krishna’s meals ourselves, with love for Him.
As our children mature and gradually learn to prepare varieties of full meals on their own, they are equipping themselves for a life of cooking for Krishna. If’, on the other hand, they don’t learn cooking skills, they may grow up to think that buying foods that nondevotees have prepared is a necessity.
Being away from home or a temple is one of the most difficult times for sticking to a Prasadam diet. We adults may be willing to wait until we get home and cook. But children on an unexpectedly long shopping trip may feel that avoiding all but properly cooked and offered food is impossible. Sometimes we can bring Prasadam with us, but other times we are caught unprepared. At such times, we may be able to buy fruit and make a simple offering. If we absolutely must buy prepared foods, we should strictly avoid grains that nondevotees have cooked. Lord Krishna has told us that such foods make the mind wicked. A devotee must strive to keep the mind pure, so that it will be a suitable place for thoughts about Krishna.
Urmila Devi Dasi and her family run a school for boys and girls in North Carolina. She is the major author and compiler of Vaikuntha Children, a guide to Krishna conscious education for children.
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In the fast pace of our lives, may we all take time out today to recognize how our actions and lifestyles directly or indirectly cause harm. From the relative peace we experience, and the wealth we possess From the clothes we wear, to the cars we drive, to the foods we eat the sustenance of our daily lives undoubtably causes suffering to other life around us whether it be human, non-human animal, plant, or other. As much as is in our power, may we be conscious of this suffering, and may our actions reflect our desire to prevent or minimize it. And as for the suffering that occurs of which we are not aware, or that we cannot
prevent, may we, at least, recognize it and be humbled.
Monali and Steve – Cleveland, OH
Supporting Vegetarian Friendly Businesses
Putting Your Money Where Your Ethics Are
By Wayne Smeltz, Ph.D. – Vegetarian Journal, March/April 1996.
You have just tasted a vegan burger you think is wonderful. The packaging on the cruelty-free soap is beautiful and environmentally friendly, as well. You receive complements from fellow employees on the shoes you wear to work — on their stylishness and look of comfort. You wonder what their reaction would be if they knew the shoes were vegan (containing no leather).
As we attempt to buy products that satisfy both our consumer and philosophical needs, we come across some products we think are amazing and some we think should never have been produced. For those products that provide us satisfaction must come a desire to reward the companies responsible for these products. We need to support their efforts and assist them in the daunting challenge of being ethically and materially successful. This article will explore various ways you can support these businesses.
One can eat only so many vegetarian burgers. So beyond direct consumption you may ask how you can provide meaningful support to these businesses. A simple approach but one that is appreciated by the owner is to communicate your satisfaction by phone or mail. You should also communicate your satisfaction to the retailer and distributor of the product. You will be surprised at the impact this has on retailers and it may persuade them to continue carrying a product that has only modest sales. You can promote the product to friends, family, co-workers, and through any organizations where you are a member. Provide samples and explain to them why you think it is a great product.
This experience may convince you that you would like to play a larger role in promoting the product. Depending on your sophistication in business affairs, the first step will be to determine who owns the product that you like. This is often not as clear cut as it may seem. The low-fat bean burrito that you enjoyed at Taco Bell is a product of Pepsi Inc. and is probably being sold to you by one of their franchisees. The Healthy Choice cereal you eat in the morning is produced by Kellogg, who has licensed the Healthy Choice trademark from Con Agra Corporation.
Often times finding the owner of a known product is relatively easy. By examining the packaging of the product there is usually information on the owner, and there may be an “800” number to call for comments and information. To find out basic information about the company and its finances you can go to most local libraries and almost all college libraries and request the librarian refer you to Value Line and/or Standard and Poor Investment Guides.
For smaller firms, it may be a bit more difficult to locate information. Since most of these firms are privately held (ownership is retained by the founders), your best source is probably Dun and Bradstreet or the Thomas Register. Ask you librarian who can probably suggest other sources such as state business directories, etc. For small businesses such as restaurants and neighborhood health food stores, there may be little published information available and you will have to do your own observation and enter into conversations with the owner and employees. You will often be surprised how willing they will be to discuss the business and its prospects.
Vegetarian Friendly Investing
Once you learn more about the business, then you will need to determine whether it compliments your ethical standards. If there is a fit, then you need to consider what type of relationship you wish to forge with the firm.
One option would be to act as a sales representative for the business. This arrangement would be mutually beneficial for both parties as you try to convince area distributors and stores to carry the product. By doing food tastings or giving out samples at stores and local fairs, you would increase customer awareness about the product, which should lead to direct customer sales and/or have them request that their local stores carry the product.
If a direct relationship turns out not to be feasible, then you may consider investing in the business. A sound principle of investing is to go with businesses that you are familiar with, believe in, and understand. A vegetarian-friendly business may well satisfy these criteria but they must also satisfy sound investment criteria, as well.
This type of investing can be considered a more focused approach to socially responsible investing (acronym SRI). The Social Investment Forum, a national professional association for “socially responsible” investing, defines SRI as “the channeling of personal, community, or workplace capital toward just, peaceful, healthy, environmentally sound purposes and away from destructive uses.” SRI has existed since the early 1900s and in recent years has experienced significant expansion in the number of investment opportunities and providers. It has been estimated that in 1989 more than $450 billion of investing was done with SRI criteria in mind.
The expansion of opportunities has made vegetarian- friendly investment both easier and somewhat more complex. It is easier because, just like the Vegetarian movement, the number of businesses providing vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly products has grown significantly and provides a panorama of investment choices. The complexity is due to the often complicated process of identifying which business you want to invest in and what is the best approach for making this investment. This identification of desirable investments requires both an understanding of your own ethical priorities and of the investment world.
In developing a vegetarian-friendly investment strategy, you must determine the types of businesses and products you want to support and which ones you want to avoid. Often times you will find that a firm may produce some wonderful products or have an enlightened approach to the environment, yet tests on animals and/or not practice fair employment. There are resources like The Better World Investment Guide that evaluate companies’ policies toward typical social responsibility concerns such as testing on animals, employment policies, environmental practice, etc.
While guides are useful, they are only a starting point in identifying a good vegetarian-friendly investment. The same can be said of mutual funds based on SRI criteria. To the best of my knowledge, there does not exist any references specifically geared to vegetarian-friendly investments. If any reader knows of references on investment managers offering vegetarian friendly investments, please contact Vegetarian Journal.
This does not mean that there are not vegetarian- friendly investments available, but they will require some effort on your part to identify them. Once identified, you then need to analyze their investment merits. There needs to be balance between ethical and investment criteria. Not all firms that are vegetarian-friendly will make sound investments. Many times firms on the cutting edge may be ahead of the competition, but if they are too far ahead of consumer tastes they may not generate enough market interest to be financially viable. The next step in the process is to understand some of the basics of investment.
Investment Basics
You now have some ideas on a few companies that may be worthy of investment but you need to know more about how to invest. The first step is to ascertain the ownership form of the business. If the firm is publicly held, you can invest directly by buying stock or indirectly through investment in a mutual fund. A publicly-held company is one where part or all of the ownership has been sold to public investors and is traded on one of the stock exchanges. While there are thousands of publicly-owned businesses there are millions of businesses totally owned by the entrepreneurs running them and are known as “privately held.” So a firm must reach a certain size before it is feasible for it to go public, and it usually goes public so it can obtain capital to grow further.
When a firm does go public, it does through an “initial public offering” (IPO) that is managed by an investment banker. Advantages of buying stock at the initial public offering include not paying a commission and getting in early. However, it is sometimes difficult to participate if the company is felt to be a winner because all stock will go to a stockbroker’s best customers. Another caveat on initial public offerings is the need to check on the integrity and prior successes and failures of the investment banker underwriting the offering. Some investment bankers operate on the fringes and their offerings should be avoided.
Once a firm’s stock is in public hands, it is traded between different investors, and trades do not directly affect the firm. The firm does not directly gain when you purchase their stock from another investor. Yet, executives are concerned because oftentimes their compensation is tied into the performance of the stock.
Overall, your reason for owning stock is that you believe that the business provides a needed product/service that minimizes or eliminates the use of animal/environmental resources and does business in ways that match your values. The business should also be run efficiently (maximize use of their resources) and effectively (providing the marketplace with what they want). This is quite a challenge and any business that comes close to satisfying these criteria deserves investment support as well as being a good investment opportunity for you.
A Few Examples
It may be useful to examine some publicly-held businesses that may qualify as vegetarian-friendly investments. These examples show the risk and opportunity inherent in investing. They also show that you will have to determine whether or not they fit your ethical and investment criteria.
Tofutti Brands — TOF Symbol on American Stock Exchange
Tofutti Brands is one of the pioneers of the Vegetarian Friendly Movement. While purists may argue over the healthfulness of some of Tofutti’s products, it nonetheless led the way as a developer of soy based products. The company was founded by David Mintz who started in his kitchen experimenting with dairy-free frozen desserts. In time, Mintz was able to develop a tasty product similar in taste and consistency to ice cream but without butterfat, cholesterol, or lactose.
The company tried to parlay the Tofutti frozen dessert into a full product line and opened several café outlets in New York City. Revenues rose from 2.4 million in 1984 to 17.4 million in 1985 but then steadily dropped to $4 million level. This is due to retrenchment back to Tofutti Plus, a dairy free cream cheese and an egg substitute product.
The stock price movement reflects the reversal of fortune. The company went public in 1983 at an adjusted price of 1.92 and hit a high of 18 in 1985. The stock dropped from that point and in the last 7 years has traded between 50 cents and $4. The movement in Tofutti’s stock shows how quickly the stock price can go up and down. Those participating in the initial public offering and cashing in within the next few years did extremely well. Those investing during the growth years fared poorly. Tofutti’s stock price movement is not that unusual and should be considered relevant as you make investment decisions.
Wholesome & Hearty Foods — WHFI Symbol on NASDAQ
Wholesome & Hearty Foods has been a publicly held company since June 1992, and financial data is available from 1990. It is best known for its ‘Garden burger’ which has been served at TGI Friday’s for several years. In addition, the firm produces variations of the Garden burger, sausage, dairy-free beverages, and cheeses. Products are sold in the U.S., Canada, and certain European markets through 100 brokers and 500 distributors.
Revenues and income almost doubled each year from 1990 to 1993. Due to changes in outstanding shares, earnings per share have not quite doubled. The company’s stock has split twice, a 2-1 split in 1993 and a 3-2 split in 1994. A stock split is done to make the shares more affordable for investors. Splits do not change the worth of the investment for each investor.
The movement of the stock price has been rather volatile. The initial public offering consisted of 40,000 units with each unit providing investors four common shares and two redeemable warrants, each convertible into a share of stock. The range of each share of stock in 1992 ranged from 1 21/32 to 4 3/32. The stock experienced a steady rise and in 1994 shot up to 30 3/4. It then almost immediately dropped to 15 level.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) NYSE
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has been making news even without their ubiquitous sponsorship and commercials on all the Sunday news commentaries. Media has reported that one of their executives has turned out to be an FBI informant who alleges that the company is involved in the illegal price fixing of certain food additives.
Given this scenario you may be wondering how this company could qualify as a vegetarian-friendly investment. As a matter of fact, several years ago, ADM developed a vege-burger called the Harvest Burger that was one of the first good-tasting, meat-like burgers on the mass market. This burger seems to appeal to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians and created quite a stir in the vegetarian community. The Harvest Burger will be distributed by Worthington Foods starting in 1999.
What ADM is good at is processing and merchandising agricultural commodities such as oilseeds, wheat, and corn to food manufacturers and farmers. It is a $12 billion company and has generated increasing earnings for a long period of time. Its stock price also followed this trend until their problems with the FBI. It was as low as 3 5/8 in 1985 and was over 19 in 1991.
Assessing Risk and Reward
As our review indicates, there can be a great deal of risk in investing in stocks. On the other hand, a well- timed investment can bring large rewards. As you consider investing in vegetarian-friendly businesses, you have to gauge your tolerance for risk and your ability to lose some of your investment. As you begin, it makes sense to make investments in an amount that you can afford to lose. Your initial trades will also provide practice in developing investment strategies and learning more about how the market behaves.
In general, larger, more established firms will experience less volatility in their stock prices than smaller firms. However, smaller firms offer the potential for the greatest reward. Also, most vegetarian businesses will be rather small and quite likely volatile. You may decide it best to invest across several businesses, which will lessen your exposure to any one company’s fortune.
Mutual Funds
The idea for Socially Responsible Investing began with mutual funds and most SRI-related investment is still focused on this investment type. A mutual fund is formed by pooling money of many investors and purchasing stock and bonds according to the objectives of that fund. The fund is managed by investment professionals and is usually part of a family of funds managed by that investment group. Most small investors use mutual funds as their primary investment vehicle, and the number of funds have increased dramatically in the last few years.
Mutual funds provide several benefits over the purchase of individual stocks. (1) Funds provide a cheap method for obtaining a more diverse portfolio. (2) For those who do not have time, expertise, or desire to do the requisite research needed to identify good stock investments, the managers of the fund perform this service. (3) There are funds specifically set up for various SRI objectives.
Unfortunately, from my research I could not identify a fund that is specifically geared to vegetarian-friendly investment. If any reader knows of one, please let Vegetarian Journal know.
My advice is to write to several SRI funds and tell them you are interesting in investing in vegetarian- friendly businesses and inform them what is required to be vegetarian friendly. Request investor information which should detail their investment philosophy, the criteria they use to construct positive and negative screens, and their current portfolio of holdings. From this information, you can scan their portfolio and you will be able to identify potential vegetarian-friendly businesses worthy of further research.
Summary
It is important if you want to spread the influence of vegetarianism that your investment strategy be included in your overall activities. To do this will provide assistance to businesses trying to market vegetarian- friendly products. The success of these businesses have a direct impact on the ultimate influence that vegetarianism can have. If these businesses can attract mainstream customers with their products, then these people may begin to adopt the broader beliefs of vegetarianism.
The next time you buy a high-quality vegetarian- friendly product, take the time to find out who pr duced it and see if you can become a part of their business. This can profit you, the business, and the vegetarian movement.
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Farm Animal Waste and the Clean Water Dilemma
How the America’s diet style is destroying its ground water
Farm Sanctuary News – Spring 1998
Nationwide, 130 times more animal waste is produced than human waste — five tons of it per person — making individual livestock operations the waste equivalent of a major city. A 50,000-acre swine operation, for example, in southwest Utah — which has been designed to produce 2.5 million hogs each year — has a potential waste output greater than the entire city of Los Angeles.
Due to a lack of sufficient land in which to handle the waste produced by America’s livestock animals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently described the animal waste issue as “a serious policy problem.” Further, the Environmental Protection Agency has identified more than 60 rivers and streams as “impaired” due to the waste runoff from agricultural uses. The largest contributor to this pollution is animal waste — from the factory farms and feedlots producing the nearly nine billion animals raised for food each year.
Public concerns about nutrient enrichment of waterways have also been heightened by toxic algae and microbes in recent years: three people dead and 100 sick in Canada; 162 dolphins, a sea lion and at least four whales dead in Mexico; thousands of tropical fish dead off Florida; 304 dead manatees in Florida; hundreds of brown pelicans dead in California. In the Gulf of Mexico, nutrients from farm runoff — including animal waste — are linked to the formation of a so-called “dead zone” of hypoxia (low oxygen) in the Gulf as large as 7,000 square miles.
The estimated annual U.S. manure production (1997) piles up like this: Cattle 1,229,190,000 tons; hogs 116,652,300; chickens 14,394,000; turkeys 5,425,000. The annual production of more than 600 million chickens on the Delmarva Peninsula (the Chesapeake Bay tri-state area) yields over 3.2 billion pounds of raw waste each year, 13.8 million pounds of phosphorus, 48.2 million pounds of nitrogen — as much nitrogen as in the waste from a city of 490,000 humans. The 1,600 dairies in the Central Valley of California alone produce more waste than a city of 21 million people.
In his book, Diet for a New America, John Robbins calculates that human waste is produced at 25,000 pounds per second, compared to the 250,000 pounds per second produced by farm animals.
Animal waste permeates our water supply in several ways. When manure is applied to crop land in amounts greater than it can be used or retained by the soil, nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients leach into surface and ground water. Leaching from earthen waste storage lagoons may also pollute ground water. Following a disastrous series of spills in North Carolina three years ago, researchers examined manure lagoons across the state and found that half of them were leaking manure.
Spills of liquid animal waste directly into water have an immediate environmental impact — they choke to death fish and other aquatic life by depleting oxygen in the water. An informal study of leading livestock-producing states indicates that state enforcement actions taken in response to spills or discharges nearly doubled between 1992 and 1995.
In Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri (accounting for 36 percent of hog production), recorded animal waste spills rose from 20 in 1992 (killing at least 55,000 fish) to more than 40 in 1996 (killing at least 670,000 fish).
Animal waste consists not only of manure and urine, but also of dead animals, used bedding, waste feed, and other residual organic matter. Poultry operations typically produce dry litter, with about 15-25 percent moisture content, that may be mixed with straw or another dry material for easier handling. The removed litter is stacked and stored in metal or wooden structures, or on the ground on a temporary basis.
Hogs and cattle generate a manure that is more liquid, and typically water is used to flush the manure out of the barns and into storage facilities. The resulting “slurry” is up to 97 percent liquid, and most commonly stored in earthen lagoons — which, as we’ve seen, are prone to leakage. Even the best recycling systems, however, do not follow the environmental standards associated with the treatment of human waste.
Current attention is focused on the direct impacts of animal waste on aquatic ecosystems, but there are also human health concerns associated with animal waste pollution that should be studied further. Manure contains pathogens to which humans are vulnerable, including Salmonella and Cryptosporidium, and can pollute drinking water with nitrates, which are potentially fatal to infants.
More indirectly, microbes that are toxic to animals and people are thought to thrive in waters that have excessively high levels of nutrients from sources including animal waste pollution. As an example, the annual litter from a typical broiler house of 22,000 birds contains as much phosphorus as in the sewage from a community of 6,000 people.
Nationwide, the U.S. produces 7.6 billion broiler chickens. It also produces 300 million turkeys, 103 million hogs, and 58 million cattle.
Last year, Vice President Al Gore directed the EPA and the USDA to work together to develop the Clean Water Action Plan. The Plan cited animal waste as the leading cause of water pollution, and it called for increased inspections of operations and stepped-up enforcement against polluting operations.
During the same time, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, (D-IA) introduced the Animal Agriculture Reform Act (S. 1323). The bill calls for national environmental standards for the handling of waste by large animal feeding operations. It also seeks to provide a directive for USDA to implement waste management standards of individual farms.
Animal waste pollution is a national problem, and current Federal regulations are inadequate solutions. Comprehensive national standards for animal waste management, such as those set forth in the Animal Agriculture Reform Act, are an important step toward improving water quality across America.
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MEDICAL DISCOVERIES:
LESSONS FROM THE PAST
By Andy Breslin — AAVS Outreach Coordinator — AV Magazine, Nov-Dec 1995
Proponents of vivisection and the status quo of the scientific community often maintain that our knowledge of nature of health and illness is dependent upon the deliberate infliction of disease and injury upon healthy animals. Indeed, they are almost forced to make this claim, for how else could they attempt to justify such an abhorrent practice? They could not succeed in gaining the public’s support for such immense cruelty if they had not so thoroughly gained acceptance of infamous vivisector Claude Bernard’s preposterous assertion that “…we can save living beings from death only after sacrificing others.”
Though this statement has become a cornerstone of modern science, it is not supported by a shred of evidence. The history of medicine is replete with examples of knowledge freely offering itself to the human mind, like a beautiful piece of fruit waiting to be picked.
About a century ago, a man by the name of Phineas Gage had the great misfortune to be involved in a bizarre accident, ironically of great benefit to the world of medical science. An explosion drove metal pipe through Mr. Gage’s skull and brain, but he survived, miraculously, and seemed to have suffered no serious injury. However, it soon became apparent that Phineas was not the same man as he was before. His personality changed dramatically, and he became irritable, moody and sullen. Physicians were able to determine from this evidence the correlation between the region of the human brain which had been injured and human personality.
Another interesting accident greatly advancing our medical knowledge was the case of Alexis St. Martin, a young Canadian man who received a gunshot wound to the abdomen. William Beaumont, an American surgeon, treated Mr. St Martin’s injury. The patient recovered well from the injury, but was left with a gastric fistula (a hole which opened directly into his stomach). Beaumont was able to directly sample the gastric juices of his patient’s stomach. For over two years, Beaumont observed the digestion process in St. Martin, and essentially laid the entire foundation of our knowledge of gastric digestion. This he did without the deliberate injury of anyone, human or otherwise, but by learning from what was available to him.
It is strange to think of much good coming from the horrors of war, but indeed much has been learned during these unfortunate episodes in history. Obviously, there have been numerous medical developments arising from attempts to treat injuries. What is more interesting, and rather paradoxical, are the advances made from observing possibly beneficial effects from the horrible weapons of war.
Soldiers who had been exposed to the deadly chemical known as mustard gas during WWI were observed to have dramatically reduced levels of white blood cells. This led medical scientists to investigate the possibility of using this compound for treatment of cancers characterized by uncontrolled growth of white blood cells (leukemia and lymphoma). The compound turned out to be too toxic for use, but in 1943, during WWII, German pilots bombed a U.S. supply of nitrogen mustard (which differed from the sulfur mustard which had been previous studied). Clinical observations of the victims exposed to nitrogen mustard suggested immense therapeutic potential against the aforementioned types of cancer, and it has since been one of the most widely used and successful anti-cancer drugs. Related drugs, such as cyclophos-phamide, have also been successfully used against cancer.
Another ironic leap forward in the world of health and medicine resulting from the world at war was the overwhelming clinical evidence of the benefits of a vegetarian diet. During WWI, Denmark had been blockaded from all imports by allied forces. The Danish government decided that food resources had to be stretched to the limit, so of course they couldn’t waste grain by feeding it to animals (who would later be consumed), but rather fed it directly to people — essentially mandating a vegetarian diet for three million people. After the war, scientists were shocked to discover that the death rate in Copenhagen during the time of food restrictions was the lowest in recorded history! Similarly, in WWII, the population of Norway was essentially forced to adopt a vegetarian diet with a corresponding drastic reduction in circulatory disease-related deaths. The death rate climbed back to its former higher levels after the war, when the Norwegian citizenry again opted for a meat-centered diet.
Prior to the development of modern anesthetics, surgery was an excruciatingly painful process. Surgeons were once valued more for the speed with which they could perform operations than any other skill! One of the first widely used anesthetics, which ushered in the new era of painless surgery, was not a product of animal research laboratories, but rather a result of the decadent indulgences of certain privileged 19th century party-goers! The chemical compound nitrous oxide was one of the most important advances in the history of anesthesia, though when it was first discovered its initial application was as a popular recreational drug among the members of the upper class. Parties centered around the inhalation of nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas,” were common. At these bacchanals it was discovered that in addition to the initial euphoric effects producing giddiness and laughter, increased doses led to a deep unconsciousness, and this effect was eventually exploited in the operating room. Who would have predicted that from such debauchery such a useful medical tool would emerge?
Some of the most dramatic advances in medicine have come from the serendipitous discoveries of observant and resourceful scientists in completely different fields. Consider the development of the X-ray, which, when used responsibly, is certainly one of the most powerful diagnostic tools in existence. In 1895, Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, a physicist, was conducting experiments using cathode ray tubes when he unwittingly discovered the existence of what we now know as X-rays. In his continued study of these mysterious rays, Rontgen discovered that certain substances would block these rays, but that they would pass easily through others. He held a small piece of lead between the source of the rays and a photographic plate, and upon development of the film discovered that not only had the lead blocked the rays, but so had the bones in his hand! Thus the diagnostic science of radiology was born.
Of course, no discussion of accidental advances in medicine would be complete without mention of penicillin. In 1928, Alexander Fleming had been growing a culture of bacteria in his laboratory at St. Mary’s hospital in London. He left this culture growing while he was absent from the lab for three weeks (normally very unprofessional behavior indeed!). The culture somehow became contaminated with spores of a strange mold, Penicillium notarum. This mold thrives at low temperatures, and, fortunately, the room was unheated during Fleming’s absence. The mold was able to flourish. The weather then turned warmer, curtailing growth of the mold, but stimulating the growth of the heat-loving bacteria — except, that is, in the regions where the mold had grown. Upon his return, Fleming discovered that in the areas surrounding mold growth the bacteria had all been killed. He correctly concluded that the mold had produced an anti-bacterial substance. It was years before Fleming’s discovery made an impact. The first attempts to apply his “miracle drug” keynote the role of chance as well as the pitfalls of animal experimentation.
Having developed methods to purify the anti-bacterial substance accidentally discovered by Fleming, scientists Howard Florey and Ernst Chain wished to test the drug. Standard procedure would have been to deliberately infect guinea pigs with a virulent bacterium and administer the drug to see if it had an effect. As readers of the AV Magazine may well be aware, penicillin is fatal to guinea pigs in minute doses, and such experiments would have been a dismal failure, in all likelihood curtailing further development of the drug, as Florey himself admitted: “Mice were tried in the initial toxicity tests…What a lucky chance it was… If we had used guinea pigs exclusively we should have said that penicillin was toxic, and we probably should not have proceeded to try to overcome the difficulties…” It is only by luck that mice and human beings happen to respond similarly to this drug.
Medical advances are not dependent upon the “sacrifice” of animals, but they rather are dependent upon the flexible and open-minded attitudes of scientists and the scientific community. In a world where the majority of ailments are preventable, but not prevented, it is clear that progress is not so much contingent upon the generation of data, but on the broad-minded application of the data which we have. For the sake of all, we can only hope that the scientists of today will take a lesson from the past.
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What is in a Dress?
An “EYE OPENER” from SanthiDoota, a Gandhian magazine in Southern India
The well-to-do and fortunate lot should willingly forego some luxuries of life enabling the government to provide the necessities of life to the poor and weak.
– Mahatma Gandhi
We want to ensure that food, shelter and clothing are available to all hard working citizens and the aim of all our efforts and policies should be to make them available in the order mentioned and to an extent that the resources of the Nation and the creativity of its people permit. People of a country can only share what the country owns or its people produce.
India is spending thousands of crores of rupees on Textiles, manufacture and distribution, and clothing is receiving major attention, time and money form everyone. How much is it costing the Nation in catering to the fancy of some to dress beautifully and attractively? Is the best in the interests of the Nation being done?
The army, police, industrial workers and players in matches are given uniforms as it promotes a feeling of unity and equality in fighting as one man. School children are made to wear uniforms to keep the young minds pure and free from any complexes. Will not wearing of similar if not entirely identical dress by all the citizens of a country help in making them forget the differences in caste, creed and community? Will it not help in inculcating a sense of unity and togetherness? Making all people wear one and the same type of dress may be taking things too far in a democratic State, but is it good to ignore the tremendous advantages obtained by regulating the production of all clothing in a few plain colors?
Let us study in depth the implications of the myriad designs and patterns in which clothing is now being produced. No two Indians are ever dressed alike! As technology develops new fibers and blends can be introduced as it may not be desirable to prevent those who can afford to buy better and costlier varieties of clothing but we cannot altogether ignore the huge unnecessary loss to the country’s economy by the production of myriad perplexing designs and prints. While permitting the manufacture of different grades and qualities of cloth, regulating the production of all verities, of cloth in a few plain and good looking colors will bring revolutionary benefits as explained below.
1. As one enters a cloth show room today, he/she is dazzled by the countless varieties and designs of cloth the owner takes pains to exhibit, to score over the neighbors in catching the eye of the buyer. Buyers are so much enamored of purchasing new material daily introduced that in a market at least 60 percent of the shops are cloth shops. If all clothing is ordered to be produced in a few plain colors this unseemly and ungainful competition disappears, and some of these shops may close down releasing greatly the pressure on market space and accommodation. With only few standard varieties to choose from, the buyer’s task becomes quick, easy and simple and there will be no need for the whole undesirable long search for attractive and alluring designs. Moreover, there will be no scope of buyer being prompted or tempted to buy good-looking but of inferior quality stuff. As a result our overcrowded and congested bazaars will get tremendous relief, and many of these shops can be put to better use.
2. 75 percent of the attendants engaged in enticing the buyers will be found in excess and they can be diverted to better jobs elsewhere.
3. Buyers who now take hours in selections and bargaining will find the job done in a twinkle. The time money and energy thus saved all over the country amounts to some hundreds of crores of rupees.
4. Since only few plain colored cloth is in use the tailors can utilize the cloth more efficiently.
5. Simple dress keeps the mind free of tensions and jealousy and it will bring about a tremendous change in People’s outlook and mentality.
6. Since the varieties are very few, the shops need no more maintain dead stocks running to Lakhs of rupees. Thus thousands of crores of rupees of worth cloth locked up in the show cases of all these shops will be released for investment in other projects. Lot of money spent on show cases is also saved. Similarly the producers, distributors can bring down their stocks by a big quantity.
7. Since no motivation is required for making people buy, money spent on illumination decoration and publicity is all saved. Big and costly show-rooms are no more needed and anyone with few thousands can enter the cloth business.
8. Manufacturing costs will come down as the mills need not constantly strive to introduce bewitching varieties every day and their performance will be steadier.
9. Since only few colors of cloth is available individual expenditure on clothing will be more than halved and hundreds of crores worth material now locked up in the wardrobes will be invested for better purpose.
The money, man-days, time and energy thus saved amounts to staggering sums. Is not it desirable to save this amount, and divert it to nation building projects like Power Generation, Family Planning etc.? What sense is there in allowing a city like Madras to suffer cute shortage of water for want of funds for decades, letting hundreds of crores idle in the show rooms of its mammoth cloth shops and in thousands of wardrobes of its citizens? All the well-to-do people should forego the luxury of dressing ‘dearly’ as they realize the tremendous advantage the Nation gets, if all Indians take to simple dress.
Unfortunately it was not realized that cloth control is more important than Gold Control. Had the Indian government promulgated cloth control soon after the independence, India would have been an altogether different country by now. Mahatma Gandhi is the one person who foresaw clearly the policies India should pursue if peace, stability and progress are to be ensured. The tremendous advantages of a simple dress which he advocated can be easily appreciated.
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“Jiv Daya Project” — Aagam Prakashan Trust
An announcement to Sahdharmiks and Pathshala Teachers or Coordinators
Non violence, mercy, truth and love are the virtues of Jain teachings or Jain philosophy. In order to promote Jiv Daya among our children, Aagam Prakashan Trust has undertaken a Bird Feeding Project.
The Bird Feeders are free. Please let us know the number of student attending your Pathshala. We will the ship Bird Feeders to you for distribution (directly from factory in Ohio). It would be of great value to explain to the children the importance of Ahimsa, Mercy, and Jiv Daya in the Pathshala while distributing these bird feeders. Even if you don’t have any Pathshala, we would encourage you to distribute these bird feeders to your children. Please provide following information as soon as you can:
Name of your organization/center _________________ Number of Pathshala students: ____________________ Number of Bird Feeders wanted: ___________________ Contact Persons’s Name: ________________________ Contact Person’s Phone No.: _____________________ Address where to send the shipment: _______________ Comment / Suggestion: __________________________ Jasvant C. Shah / Aagam Prakashan Trust 84 Cambridge Street Burlington, MA 01803
Phone: 781-270-1099 Fax: 781-273-1886
Maneka Claims Cabinet Post for Animals
Merritt Cliffton — Animal People – October, November 1998
“You will be happy to know that I have finally gotten the animal welfare department, which is the first of its kind anywhere in the world,” People For Animals founder Maneka Gandhi e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE. “It is now a part of my ministry,” Maneka said, as welfare minister for the government of India, “and I would like to make it into a full-fledged department.”
A senior independent member of the Indian par1iament, representing her New Delhi district since 1989, Maneka is among the power brokers in the coalition government of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party. She may actually have more clout now than she did during two appointments as environment minister while a member of the Janata Dal party, from which she was ousted in 1996 for denouncing alleged corruption among fellow ministers.
To create an independent animal welfare department has been Maneka’s first ambition since she entered politics, she told ANIMAL PEOPLE over lunch during the 1997 national conference of the Animal Welfare Board of India.
The Animal Welfare Board has advisory authority, a small budget, some deputized inspectors, and a constitutional mandate to prevent animal suffering, but it cannot actually make and enforce policy. The chief inspection powers pertaining to animals in India, as in the U.S., are split among departments with other mandates — and often inherent conflicts of interest.
Maneka explained to ANIMAL PEOPLE that she would like to bring all of the animal-related inspection services together in one branch of government which would answer to no other, would vigorously implement the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Board, and would uphold the unique provision in Article 51-A of the Indian constitution that the people of India have a moral obligation to prevent animal suffering.
Whatever Maneka is up to, though, the timing for animals couldn’t be better. Noting the success of the Animal Birth Control program pioneered 30 years ago by the Blue Cross of India in Chennai (Madras), and actively encouraging it through most of the years since, the Animal Welfare Board in December 1997 recommended that India should pursue achieving no-kill animal control nationwide by 2005. No-kill policies were already in effect in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, and several other major cities.
The recommendation was ratified by the government in power then — but that government was toppled by the Bharatiya Janata coalition in March 1998.
MANEKA MAKES NEW WAVESManeka has announced draft regulations to ban the use of pound animals in biomedical research, and published a ban on certain uses of animals in entrainment. She has also banned the import of dolphins and sea lions for exhibit in India. She has banned cattle transport by train, hoping to end the export of cattle to slaughter in West Bengal. And then she has banned the transport of poultry and other birds by train, striking at the wild-caught bird traffic.
The draft regulations focus on a two-paragraph prohibition of pound seizure, which apply to an estimated 200 animal research laboratories.
Such is expected of Maneka, who won the shift of the animal welfare department from the agriculture ministry to the ministry for social justice and empowerment. The department attempts to implement the policies set by the Animal Welfare Board of India.
“According to our information,” said Susi Wiesinger of Ahimsa (an animal rights organization in Mumbai), “she is also trying to get a separate ministry for animal welfare. It is very fortunate to have a minister for animal welfare who is actually a dedicated animal rights activist,” Wiesinger added. “We all have big hopes, and do expect dramatic changes for the animals.” Whether or not Maneka can get as much from the Bharatiya Janata government as she seeks, animal protection groups have high hopes.
The sources of this information are FDA; Wall Street Journal; and New England Journal of Medicine (3,4).
TIME Magazine, Oct-26-1998, Page 108 — Submitted by Dilip Doshi, Rego Park, NY.
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