Simple Substitutions

April-June, 1998 Vol. 2, No. 2

January – March

July – September

October – December

Inside This Issue

The Importance of Vegetarian Culture
S. Reneè Wheeler — Vegetarian Journal — Sep/Oct 1997

My husband and I have three vegan children who have had the benefit of being vegan their entire lives. Sheehan began talking at a year, and by 18 months was selecting snacks on our weekly trips to the natural foods store. I cannot remember exactly when we first talked about being vegan, but in his weekly selections he would choose things that weren’t vegan and I would say to him, “That has animals in it and we don’t eat animals, so choose something else.” He never had a tantrum or got upset; he would just choose something else.

I decided it was best to hell him that certain foods contained animals and not go into specifics unless he asked. My husband I also thought it best to make friends with vegetarian families so Sheehan would have a base of friends. As he gets older, it helps his self esteem to know mostly vegetarian children. It seems very important for children to know other children who share their values. My husband and I also did a lot of tabling for vegetarianism and selling veggie food when he was young, and he was exposed to a lot of other adult vegetarians. To this day, he remembers a lot of these people and will seek them out when we attend certain events.

Our children are great eaters. My advice for getting children to eat veggies is to eat them frequently yourself. Also, cook them until they are just soft and do not have a strong flavor.

To improve self identity and to help our children avoid animal-based foods when they are older, we give foods that have a non-vegetarian counterpart a distinctly vegetarian name. Soy milk has always been “soy milk” and margarine has always been “margarine,” but those are easy. I wanted to avoid foods with animal names; so vegan cheese became “slice,” substitute meat slices became “deli slices,” soy ice cream became “Rice Dream” or “Tofutti,” veggie wieners became “tofu dogs,” and soy burgers became “veggie burgers.” When my children are older and go to non-vegetarian houses or places without me, I don’t want them to assume that our milk (soy milk) is the same as cow’s milk. A separate vocabulary gives children a sense of their own identity and the importance of their choices. It also legitimizes our choices with the rest of the world. Every time those words are used, others have to stop and think about their behavior.

Since Sheehan was a baby, we have known vegans who keep rescued farm animals and we visit them often. Sheehan and Caislin have gotten to know “farm” animals and we talk about them and their families and how they might feel. We also have vegan cats and dogs at home, and so they have intimate relationships with companion animals. As my children get older, they want to know where animal-based foods come from. My son first thought chicken was a tofu, a pleasant thought. I told him it was a dead chicken, and we went on to talk about the chicken’s feelings and the fact that it did not give its life, but rather had it been taken away. Ham, beef, hamburgers and other dead animal foods are described as dead pig or dead cow. I feel strongly about telling my children the truth with as much detail as is appropriate for their age or as they desire. But it’s very important to let them know that these animals had lives, feelings, were children and, in some cases, parents.

Giving our children the ability to speak freely to others about vegetarianism is also important in helping them to grow up believing their lifestyle is a valid choice. Many times I have felt uncomfortable as my son probed people about their eating habits. As adults, we do not approach strangers about such personal choices, but if we let go of our discomfort, our children can help others come to new awareness.

My son once questioned a cashier as to why the store sold dead animals. After her answer, he went on to say he would love it if the next time he came in they didn’t have dead animals. I don’t think we should ever quiet our children as they speak to others about vegetarianism as long as they are not abusive. Even relatives are subject to my children’s questions. I work hard to let my children love their relatives and others who are not vegetarian, but at the same time make it clear that we don’t agree with their decision to eat animals. There is nothing to be gained by labeling others as “bad,” but we must let our children know that we do not condone or accept hurting animals for food when the world is full of cruelty-free options. Non-vegetarians frequently say that it is natural for animals to eat other animals. My children know this, but I point out that non-human animals do not have a choice.

Finding books with vegetarian themes is also vital in helping our children feel legitimate in being vegetarian. Children identify with book characters, and those who are vegetarian help reinforce vegetarianism in the “real world.” I think it is equally important to screen books before I read them to my children and not read stories where animals are used as food. It is important for our children to know animals are killed to be eaten, but story time should be positive. On the occasions I have not screened a book well enough, I just change the words in the story as I read.

By helping our children to understand that vegetarianism means eating no animals and discussing with them animal lives and feelings, we make our vegetarianism a choice based on reverence for all life and not just another rule for them to follow. I know my children will probably want to experiment with eating animals when they are older, but that base of care for our fellow animals will always be there. They will be making an informed choice to harm or not harm others while most non-vegetarian children never realize that a feeling being is the source of their dinner. Our eating patterns are more social than anything, and giving our children a healthy, cruelty-free start is one of the most important things we can offer as parents. It can be done gently and without coercion if the child understands that animals have the desire to live their lives without being victims to the taste buds of humans. I consider one of my jobs as a parent a success when my two-year-old daughter says, “Mom, is this begetarian?”

Reneè Wheeler is a vegan activist in Maryland.
Vegetarian Resource Group P.O. Box 1463 Baltimore, MD 21203Veggie-Friendly Cookbooks for Kids

Rachel Himmelheber

There are dozens of children’s cookbooks on the market today — however, it is difficult to distinguish which will meet your needs. It is especially difficult for vegetarian parents who want the books they buy to reflect their values and eating habits. Add in a concern for healthy recipes and a desire for the cookbook to have an educational slant, and the task of choosing a children’s cookbook can be daunting.

When I began looking at children’s cookbooks, I encountered all these problems and more. I also wanted them to appeal to children. I tried to pick books with colorful illustrations and those that would be appropriate for a variety of age levels.

The following books include all these elements. Be flexible when making the recipes found in these books. Many vegetarian dishes can easily be converted to vegan ones. Explore the different options with your child; be creative. Most of all — have fun!

Many Friends Cooking: An International Cookbook for Boys and Girls by Terry Touff Cooper and Marilyn Ratner — Published by Philomel Books in cooperation with the U.S. Committee for UNICEF. ISBN# 0-399-20755-4

Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson — Published by Tricycle Press. ISBN# 1-883672-06-6

A Native American Feast by Lucille Recht Penner — Published by MacMillan Publishing Company. ISBN# 0-02-770902-7

The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate MacDonald — Oxford University Press. ISBN# 0-19-540496-3

American Heart Association Kids’ Cookbook by Mary Winston — Random House. ISBN# 0-8129-1930-0

Whenever a recipe calls for an ingredient that is not vegetarian or vegan, try following to fit your needs:

Try oil or soy margarine for butter
Try soy milk or rice milk for cow’s milk
Try soy yogurt for yogurt or sour cream
Try rice syrup or sugar for honey
Try vegetable broth for beef or chicken broth.

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Guide to Healthy Eating — Questions & Answers Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) — 5100 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 404 —

Washington, D.C. 20016

A healthy person is a blessing on animals. Most sicknesses in western society are cured with drugs made from animals, and/or tested on animals, by the doctors who very likely have acquired their skills by experimenting on lab-animals. Under the circumstances, a compassionate vegetarian must learn how to remain healthy.

n I’ve heard that dairy products contain growth hormones and pesticides that might be harmful, but I’m worried about my two-year-old’s bones and teeth. Doesn’t he need milk to develop properly?

Milk and other dairy products are also loaded with saturated fat, cholesterol, and drug residues. About 30 percent of American children are overweight, largely because of their high fat intake. And there is evidence that milk consumption contributes to heart disease, ovarian cancer, and even cataracts in later life, and that colic in infants is caused by antibodies in milk.

Cow’s milk is not “a natural,” even for children. Greens, beans, nuts, and seeds will provide all the calcium and protein your son needs.

Product Testing on Animals

n I don’t like the idea of hurting animals to test products, but I’m nervous about using face creams, toothpastes, and things that could get in my eyes if they haven’t been tested. How can I be sure the products I use are safe?

Product tests on animal merely measure the damage substances inflict on animals’ eyes, skin, lungs, and other organs; they don’t ensure safety to consumers, and they aren’t used to develop antidotes for harmful reactions. Emergency room physicians, and attorneys, can testify that thousands of people each year are injured by animal-tested products.

Many companies that don’t use animal tests do test their products, of course, using human skin patch tests, cloned human skin, and new technologies that are more accurate than animal tests. Or they simply use time tested ingredients that are known to be safe.

Salmonella and Cantaloupe

n I recently read about a number of people becoming sick with salmonella poisoning as a result of eating cantaloupe. I knew that salmonella is a problem in foods like potato salad, chicken and eggs. Is it true that fruit is a source of salmonella poisoning, too?

While salmonella bacteria usually are found in animal products, they can also grow on other foods if the food is contaminated with this bacteria. The outbreak of infection that you are referring to occurred when people ate cantaloupe that was sitting out at a salad bar. Presumably, the cantaloupe had been out for some time. The cantaloupe at your grocer is not a source of concern.

This situation points to the importance of safe handling of all foods — that is using clean utensils and cutting boards in preparation and keeping foods at an appropriate temperature. Generally speaking, however, fruits that are kept refrigerated after they are cut open should be safe. In terms of food poisoning, fruits and other low-protein items are generally considered to be safe. Poultry, eggs, cream-based dishes, and dairy products are the leading causes of salmonella poisoning.

Protein for Athletes

n I have been a vegetarian for three years and have always enjoyed good health. However, I began lifting weights recently. My program is fairly rigorous at times, and I’m worried about getting enough of the right kinds of protein now that my muscles are being worked so strenuously and are bigger. Are there special recommendations for vegetarian athletes?

First and foremost, exercising muscle requires extra calories. It takes about 2,500 additional calories to create one pound of muscle. Body builders also require more protein than non-exercising individuals — perhaps as much as 50 percent more. However, meeting protein needs is easy — even for athletes. As long as you meet your increased calorie needs by eating more healthy foods such as whole grains, legumes, and vegetables, you will automatically meet your increased protein needs.

Since the average American consumes twice as much protein as he or she needs, most non-exercising individuals actually end up consuming more protein than even an athlete requires! For athletes, as for all people, there is no need to follow special rules for combining foods and no advantage to using amino acid supplements.

Peanut Butter

n I am a sixteen-year-old who has been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for three years. Recently I eliminated dairy foods and eggs from my diet. I am concerned about nuts and seeds in my diet. I eat a fair amount of peanut butter and other nuts. But I’ve read that they are high in fat. I also heard that peanuts can cause cancer. Should I avoid peanuts and other nuts?

Actually, peanuts aren’t even nuts. Because they grow in a pod, they are classified as legumes. But because they are nutritionally similar to nuts — especially in their fat content — they have earned an honorary position among that food group.

There has been some concern about the fact that peanuts can be host to a mold called aflatoxin. Aflatoxin, which causes liver cancer, is the most potent carcinogen known. In the United States, peanuts are inspected for aflatoxin and small amounts are frequently found in peanut butter. Since liver cancer is relatively rare in this country, aflatoxin is apparently not a serious public health problem. In countries where food inspection is poor and peanuts are central to the diet, aflatoxin may be more of a concern.

Nuts and seeds are the only groups of plant foods that are high in fat. Their fat is mostly poly- and mono- unsaturated. (Coconut is the rare exception, being high in saturated fat.) Regardless of the type of fat, high fat intakes are associated with risk of colon cancer, breast cancer, and obesity. On the other hand, nuts and seeds are powerhouses of nutrition. They are rich in fiber, protein, B-vitamins, iron, copper, zinc, and in some cases, calcium. So with nuts and seeds in the diet, it is somewhat of a balancing act. Including one or two servings of these foods in your diet every day will help you to meet the increased calorie and nutrient needs of adolescence. But balance these foods with generous servings of whole grains, vegetables, beans, and fruits. As long as you aren’t loading up on fatty snack foods like chips and sweets, your meat and dairy-free diet is probably low in fat. That means that there is a place for small amounts of nutrient-rich nuts and seeds in your meal planning.

Margarine and Butter

n I have elevated blood cholesterol levels and have been making changes in my diet to lower my fat intake. One of these changes includes using margarine on my food instead of butter. However, now I have heard that margarine contains fats that may actually raise blood cholesterol. Would it be a better idea to use butter after all?

Actually the best idea is to use neither, since both butter and margarine are equally high in fat. Butter is predominantly made up of saturated fat, while margarine contains a mix of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fats. Nutritionists usually consider margarine to be a wise choice over butter since it helps to lower intake of saturated fat, although it does not help to lower total fat intake at all.

Margarine is made from liquid vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated. The addition of hydrogen turns a liquid oil into a solid fat — and also increases the amount of saturated fat in a product. Scientists have known for some time that hydrogenation also produces fats known as “trans fatty acids.” This means that the structure of the fat molecule is rearranged slightly so that it looks a little different from naturally occurring saturated fats. A Dutch study suggested that consumption of these trans fatty acids may raise levels of LDL-cholesterol (that’s the “bad” cholesterol) and lower levels of HDL-cholesterol (or “good” cholesterol) in your bloodstream. They concluded that there is no advantage to using margarine over more saturated fats like butter. One problem with the study, however, was that the subjects consumed diets that were much higher in trans-fatty acids than most Americans consume. There are a number of margarines on the market that are lower in trans-fatty acids than the product used in the study.

An important consideration is that about 75 percent of the trans-fatty acids consumed by Americans come, not from margarine, but from commercial baked goods, snack foods, and fast foods. Eliminating these foods from your diet will make the most significant dent in your intake of trans-fatty acids.

Finally, while vegetable fats are a better choice in your diet than animal fats, the key to healthful eating is to reduce all fats. Build your diet around whole grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits. Try fruit spreads on breads instead of fats. And on the rare occasions when you cook with added fats, use vegetable oils such as olive oil.

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A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Editorial from “ANIMAL PEOPLE,” Jan/Feb 1998

We had a rare chance for three representatives of ANIMAL PEOPLE to visit India for the price of one. Almost directly opposite to us on the earth, scarcely anywhere could have proved more relevant or enlightening relative to the state of humane work and wildlife conservation in North America.

We knew already that India has the oldest recorded humane tradition, is the only nation which constitutionally recognizes a human obligation to treat animals kindly, has more than half the world’s vegetarians, has more native mammals and birds than any other, and is deeply involved in the struggle to protect endangered species.

Next to Japan and China, we recognized as well that India may be pivotal in determining the cultural, social, and moral direction of all Asia. India has accomplished a perhaps unparalleled synthesis of western-style democratic government and technological transition, still underway, with social stability, lifting a growing percentage of her people out of dire poverty and illiteracy despite rapid population growth that has only just begun to slow.

A big part of the Indian success may be the strength of the indigenous humane tradition, encapsulated in the Jain notion of Ahimsa, meaning “doing no harm.”

We wanted to see how philosophical and political lip service to Ahimsa translates into real-life animal control work, in a nation of ubiquitous need. We wanted to see how the Indian tiger poaching problem compares to the killing of North American predators by poachers, sport hunters, and USDA Wildlife Services, formerly Animal Damage Control.

We accordingly spent two hectic weeks inspecting nature reserves, humane societies, and gaushalas (cow shelters) from Bombay to Delhi and back, speaking at schools, meeting with Jain religious groups, meeting privately with Indian humane movement leaders, and attending and addressing the Animal Welfare Board of India’s National Seminar as the sole representatives from outside India.

Our primary host among many, pediatrician and Jain vegetarian activist Dr. Pramod Mehta, saw to it that we had little or no “down time.” If there was an open moment during the days he traveled with us, no matter how early or late, he arranged discussions and briefings. Even time waiting for trains was never idle, as we studied the dogs, monkeys, birds, bats, and even cattle and goats who inhabit Indian train station environs.

…and through the looking glass

We expected to see starving dogs and cats, communities struggling with rabies control, overloaded beasts of burden scarred by flogging and ill-fitting harnesses, and butcher shops killing animals in the street. Indeed we did see all of that in various places.

But we also saw that none of this was the unchallenged rule. We saw plentiful stray dogs even in cities with active and successful Animal Birth Control programs, yet few in those cities were puppies, pregnant, or nursing, and they looked as well-fed and happy as most North American pet dogs — far more so than the millions of North American dogs who spend their lives tethered and neglected.

We saw that many roving cattle and work animals who at first glance appear to be “starving,” because their ribs show, are actually far older than cows and horses usually get before being slaughtered in North America, and that one must look twice, closely, to distinguish actual suffering from the normal ravages of age.

We saw much abuse of the water buffalo used to draw carts, whose status is markedly less than that of cows and oxen, yet we also saw water buffalo dairy herds led through city streets to spend their afternoon recreationally bathing in a river — a consideration with little or no parallel in modern U.S. or Canadian agriculture.

For every person we saw who acted harshly toward animals, we met someone who had dedicated significant personal resources to preventing animal suffering — like Ratanlal Bafna, our host in Jalgaon, who funds a gaushala from his own pocket and hires teachers to discourage animal sacrifice in remote villages.

The North American animal care-and-control community typically blames shelter killing on a lack of resources and an ignorant public. We know as much about public ignorance and lack of resources as anyone in the humane field. But when we saw first-hand what institutions such as the Bombay SPCA are doing on budgets of less than the personal salaries of many U.S. humane group executives, it was clear that the real problem here is not the public nor tight resources, but rather a lack of heartfelt moral commitment at the leadership level, infecting the whole animal care-and–control infrastructure with attitudes of learned helplessness and abject confusion.

Gandhi was willing to go half-naked, if necessary, to inspire a more kindly India. No one here needs go half-naked. The North American humane community already has adequate access to resources to catch up — yes, catch up — with the progress already made in India, where half the people can’t read or write. What we need here is Gandhian courage.

Oprah Winfrey: “Mad Cow Trial”

April 16, 1996: During the national broadcast of her show featuring Howard Lyman, Lyman warned about the possibility of a British-style mad cow epidemic in the United States. Oprah told her audience, “It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!”

Several ranchers in Texas, led by a multimillionaire Paul Engler, filed suit against both Winfrey and Lyman, for twelve million dollars, in Amarillo, Texas.

January, 1998: Oprah Winfrey won her case against the Texas ranchers. She beat the ranchers on their home turf, and got to keep her $ 12,000,000.

However, it would have been still better, if the trial also had tested the veggie libel laws, that in some states seem threatening First Amendment (free speech) right.

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THE TOP TEN REASONS TO BUY ORGANIC FOODS
Pesticide kills insects — contrary to Jiv Daya

Protect Future Generations. The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to eight most widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food.
Prevent Soil Erosion. Soil is eroding seven times faster than it is being built up naturally on U.S. croplands, in modern chemically fertilized farms.
Protect Water Quality. The EPA estimates pesticides contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the population.
Save Energy. Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, and more energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to cultivate and harvest crops. Organic farming relies on more labor-intensive practices and using green manures and crop covers to build up soil.
Keep Chemicals off Your Plate. Many pesticides were approved before research linked them to cancer and other diseases. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimates that pesticides might cause an extra 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans.
Protect Farm Workers. A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a six times greater risk of contacting cancer.
Help Small Farmers. Most organic farms are small, independently owned family farms of less than 100 acres. At the rate family farms are being lost, organic farms could be one of the few survival tactics left.
Support a True Economy. Conventional food prices do not reflect hidden costs born by taxpayers, such as $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage.
Promote Biodiversity. Mono-cropping reduces diversity of plant life and strips the soil of minerals and nutrients, ever-increasing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Taste Better Flavor. More and more chefs are using organic foods in their recipes, because organics taste better!

People’s Cooperative — Ocean Beach, California

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The Voice of Animals in Indian Parliament
MANEKA GANDHI

Maneka is in India quite a common first name. Yet headlines often refer just to “Maneka,” and Indians know exactly who they mean: Maneka Gandhi, the maniacally energetic founder of India’s leading animal advocacy group, People For Animals; foe of corruption; fearless newspaper columnist; and member of Parliament. She is lampooned almost daily by cartoonists and fellow columnists, but is also quoted thoroughly on subjects that most others in public life dare not address.

“It was pyrotechnics,” the Indian Express opened describing a typical Maneka speech to a local Rotary Club. ‘Maneka had everyone scurrying for cover, as she launched a loaded attack on policy makers, parliamentarians, seminar organizers, and ‘all those who make a big show of environmental conservation without even understanding what they are saying.'”

Maneka’s affection for dogs, birds, trees, and indeed all living creatures is routinely ridiculed. Her face appears on editorial pages grafted to the heads of all sorts of strange beasts.

Yet beneath the derision is an evident streak of respect. Among the flock of birds and dogs defecating and urinating on her as she makes a speech in one drawing are political foes who have disguised themselves as animals in order to approach. Plainly Maneka is not really the cartoonist’s target.

Clean hands

Maneka’s many enemies have been trying to catch her with political dirt on her hands for most of her life. The worst they have found has been animal dirt, from the animals she has personally rescued and attended, in a nation where millions of Indians still pick up and shape cow patties with their bare hands to fuel their cookstoves. She lives self-evidently more simply, in a much more modest neighborhood, than most Indian politicians. The People For Animals headquarters, about the same size as the ANIMAL PEOPLE office, occupies the largest room of her house, with an office staff of three. The four-acre PFA sanctuary and animal hospital is at a separate site. The whole neighborhood is witness that Maneka and her household used the seeds from the fruit they personally ate to plant most of the trees and shrubbery that now make the neighborhood the only part of Delhi with decreasing air pollution.

Paradoxically, in view of her notoriety, Maneka may be the only prominent Gandhi whom no one — yet — has ever tried to kill or kidnap. It may be that she is protected to some extent by her very willingness to expose herself to public denunciation, and her ability to turn most of it into sympathetic laughter. And whatever else Maneka may say or do, she is respected for her honesty.

Because her critics cannot attack her for the corruption that otherwise permeates the political life, and because they can only go so far in ridiculing her animal work without seeming to endorse cruelty, they mostly attack Maneka for alleged impropriety in denouncing the corruption of others. Though most of her charges are upheld, she is often accused of defaming people unjustly, of being a spoiled brat, of throwing tantrums, and even of insanity.

Despite the attacks, Maneka at age 42 is probably the best-known and best loved Gandhi since the founder of modern India, known to Indians as Gandhi-ji — and since the Indian population has tripled since Gandhi-ji’s death, which came well before electronic communications and mass literacy reached most of India, she reaches far more Indians than Gandhi-ji ever did in his lifetime. Indeed, Maneka probably enjoys a bigger audience than any other living animal advocate, ever.

Searching on the Gandhi surname on the Internet actually produces more references for other members of her family, yet when self-promotional publicity materials are deleted, Maneka is the most discussed, most charismatic, most provocative, and most problematic Gandhi, to many. Both supporters and detractors question why Maneka didn’t make the political compromises years ago that could have made her prime minister, and perhaps still might. Further, in a nation where family ties are extremely important, her self-estrangement from many other family members causes consternation and head-shaking.

Kicked out

Married to Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son and generally recognized political heir of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi, Maneka was abruptly widowed in 1980, at age 25, when Sanjay crashed his private airplane. She was expected to quietly raise their two-year-old son Feroze within the Gandhi household, until and unless she remarried. Instead, Indira banished her within two years, in consequence of her outspoken statements on behalf of animals, ecological consciousness, and women’s rights. These were among Indira’s favorite causes, too, inherited from her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India 1947-1964, who had taken them up under the influence of Gandhi-ji, his longtime mentor — but Maneka had a way of colorfully upstaging Indira that Indira didn’t like.

After Indira was assassinated in October 1984, Maneka’s brother-in-law Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister. Accusing him of corruption, Maneka helped oust him in 1989 by capturing the Parliamentary seat she has held ever since as — then — a leader of the opposition Janata Dal party. Trying to regain power, Rajiv was assassinated during the 1991 election campaign. His widow Sonia, Rajiv’s son Rahul, and his daughter Priyanka now all prominently represent the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Maneka meanwhile served two separate stormy terms as environment minister, helped revitalize the long moribund Animal Welfare Board of India, and inspired — as much by example as by preaching — the rise of a dynamic Indian animal rights movement.

In July 1996 she also got herself kicked out of her party for at least six years, for denouncing deals the executives cut to site a new power plant.

Maneka provocatively scolds India with every other breath, yet between scoldings proclaims her passionate love for the nation and her people. Few Indian politicians make themselves more accessible, while Maneka’s political record shows enduring concern for alleviating human as well as animal suffering. Both, Maneka argues, come from the same remediable failures of Indian society, and contrary to the common argument that halting animal suffering must follow development that may relieve poverty, Maneka holds — as did Gandhi-ji — that the abolition of human and animal suffering can be accomplished only by means that do both together.

Maneka speaks often and affectionately of her son Feroze, now 19, who clearly admires his mother, shares her values, and yet has a naturally more diplomatic style. He smiles as Maneka rages. His way is to use a relatively few well-chosen words, and to listen more than speak.

Maneka on Maneka

Then there is Maneka on Maneka. According to Maneka, her volubility and abrasiveness are developed, not instinctive. She forces herself to speak out because someone must, but sometimes speaks too soon because she is afraid that if she hesitates, shyness will overcome her and she will be silent, like too many other Indian women.

But Maneka also remembers failures. At lunch in her home with us, she unexpectedly delivered a shockingly forthright and clearly considered self-critique. She acknowledged offending allies whom she should not have offended, generously praised those who continue to put up with her, acknowledged a need to make amends toward several, admitted tactical blunders as environment minister, and confessed to having difficulty with apologizing, especially to older men, because of her phobia about an apology being mistaken for a sign of weakness. She wished it was in her nature to cultivate wisdom, instead of to always be the firebrand. She described how she often cries herself to sleep with the realization that a misdirected “shouting” may have done more harm than good, and how she has begun to sometimes make herself get back out of bed and call people whom she may have shouted at to ill effect — like some of those who call her about finding homeless dogs, or injured birds, seeking someone else who will take responsibility for completing the rescue.

It was the sort of self-deflation that Gandhi-ji was known for. But at age 42, Gandhi-ji was only four years into his adoption of the philosophy of nonviolence and his political struggle against anti-Indian discrimination in South Africa. Virtually everything for which he is remembered was said and done during the latter half of his 79-year life. Gandhi-ji would not come under the scrutiny that has characterized Maneka’s career for at least another decade — and if he had, in an era of mass communications, his reputation by midlife might have been similar.

— Merritt Clifton

(From “ANIMAL PEOPLE,” January/February 1998 P.O. Box 960, Clinton, WA 98236, USA.)

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THE DEER THINKS
by Don Lutz from his book
“The Weaning of America”

The idea that human life is worth more than the lives of the other animals may be the point of view of most humans, but it is not the view of all humans, and certainly not the viewpoint of the animals…

It is just before the hunting season begins. The older deer are thinking of the upcoming attack. To them the hunters are an army, much like the armies that humans send against each other…

At least the human/deer wars last only several weeks of the year, and are quite predictable at that. But these wars are different from the conflicts between humans; deer are even more defenseless than the human peasants that the animals watch die in the big wars. Deer have little interest in weaponry. We would rather share and live in harmony with all others.

Humans, of course, are not all bad. Some of them even try to help us. In a way, we’re quite fortunate. At least they don’t treat us like dogs. How cruel to feed and fondle, and then suddenly chain you to the ground by the neck. Some dogs are neck-chained all the time.

And deer are certainly fortunate not to be imprisoned in great numbers as are cows, chickens and even mice. It’s been said that humans do horrible things to animals in hard buildings. Things so horrible that they must not even be seen by other humans. Humans would certainly never do these things to other humans, even though they are killing each other all the time.

Yes, deer are lucky in many ways. We haven’t been needled and changed like the prison food animals. Or taken from our mothers and kept in the dark until eaten. If something tries to kill you in the real world, at least you have a chance to get away. The prison food animals are certainly among the unluckiest of all creatures.

Why do humans try to pretend that they are nice to animals? They are always making pretty pictures of animals, and have show prisons where people go to look at animals before they are dead. But most of the time humans only look at animals when they are eating them or wearing their skins. How strange and different humans are. All animals have a few that they fear in the real world. But in the human parts of the world, all animals fear humans.

Humans don’t seem to like the real world. They are making more real world into human world every day. And the human world is not a nice place. It has bad smells and bad water. It seems as if humans have taken fire and burned things from the real world to make things for the human world. But all the things they make are dead; it’s as if they speed up the process of life and make things dead too soon.

Of course, some animals have fought in the wars. The bravery of the tiny animals in the face of the prison weapons is without equal. And how cruel it was to lure the tiny animals to great fields of food, before the poison sprayers attacked.

Humans are very good at making war. They have terrible weapons which they use against each other and the other animals, then leave in a pile and make more weapons. Humans spend most of their time destroying and killing in one way or another.

Some animals think that humans were not so war-like way back before. And they were much more like the other animals. It’s as if they have learned to be more cruel every year, and now most humans never think about the feelings of the other animals.

How can they not know that the real world animals think, feel and love? Perhaps it’s because we don’t say as much with our mouths as they, or because our faces don’t act like theirs when we talk. But somehow, just because of these wonderful difference — the differences that make every animal unique and beautiful — humans have decided to shoot us, trap us, poison us, imprison us, change us, and even eat us, though there is surely enough real food for every human. To purchase the book, send a $12.95 check to P.O. Box 1378, Alachua, FL 32616.

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“Vegan” The New Ethics of Eating
by Erik Marcus

Following introductory article is excerpted from above named copyrighted book. Available at bookstores and natural food stores nationwide or from McBooks Press, Drawer 24, 120 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850. You may call toll-free at 1-888-266-5711 to order. The prices are $14.95 soft cover, or $24.95 hard bound, plus $3 shipping and handling.

AN AWAKENING IS AT HAND. From hot dogs at a ballpark to the Thanksgiving turkey, America’s national diet has long centered around meat. But now, substantial numbers of people are becoming vegetarians. In the past decade, millions of people who have eaten meat all their lives have decided never to take another bite of beef, pork, turkey, chicken, fish, wild or domestic game, or any other animal. Many people are also becoming vegans — eliminating from their diets not just flesh foods but milk, eggs, and all other animal products.

Why the growing interest in vegetarian diets? Individual reasons range from wanting to stay healthy to being concerned about the future of the earth and its population. Whatever the personal motivation, more and more people are realizing that being vegetarian makes sense — today more than ever. In the 1990s, we’ve discovered that vegetarian diets, and especially vegan diets, deliver far greater rewards than previously thought. This book examines some of these new discoveries and shows why a change in what you eat can be so simple and yet so significant.

The first chapters present some of the remarkable health advantages provided by vegan diets. Strong evidence shows that a low-fat vegan diet can practically eliminate the possibility of having a heart attack. Not only that, such a diet dramatically reduces cancer risk and can add years to your life. A vegan diet can also help you to reach and maintain your ideal weight, as well as providing a foundation for lasting health and greater energy.

The second section of the book examines the modern meat and animal product industries. In many ways, these stories offer even more compelling reasons to switch to an all-plant diet. It is hard to deny that animals deserve some measure of compassion, and the technology for raising and slaughtering farm animals has grown increasingly inhumane over the past two decades. Modern “factory farming” methods mean that many of today’s food animals never see sunlight or soil. They live under conditions of intense crowding in a world of cages, conveyor belts, and artificial light. I have been particularly careful not to exaggerate any of the facts presented in this book, especially those relating to animal production. The plain truth is enough to appeal to most people’s sense of ethics. The stories and photos in this section are intended to help you make the mental link between the miserable lives and deaths of animals raised for your consumption, and what you eat for dinner.

A further concern about meat production is its effect on world food supplies. As the human population grows, our world is becoming less able to afford the inefficiencies of cycling massive amounts of food resources through livestock. By moving to plant-based diets, we can do our part to push back the worldwide food shortages that scientists warn are probable in the coming decades.

This book is also about people — doctors, scientists, activists, people who were sick and got well, people who care about humanity, people who want to make the world a better place. You will meet them in the chapters that follow.

The book ends with a brief explanation of how I came to be a vegan and why it has been so important to me.

Eating meat is a strong tradition in this culture, and the meat, dairy, and egg industries have a large interest in seeing that tradition continue. In their efforts to maintain the status quo, they can call on huge financial resources, armadas of experts, and some of the slickest advertising campaigns ever created. Yet despite their many strengths, these industries are being called into question. Why? Because on so many levels, the arguments against the eating of animal products are overwhelmingly convincing.

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Computerized Mannequins
A New Era in Medical Training
BY SUZANNE MCCAFFREY

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) — “Good Medicine” — Autumn, 1995

New products that replace live animal labs in medical training are rapidly entering the marketplace. The most impressive new systems incorporate computerized mannequins, complex graphics, and sophisticated operator controls in state-of-the-art patient simulators. Students learn both medical concepts and manual procedures on life-size, interactive equipment that provides the benefits of anatomical correctness, unlimited repetition, scheduling convenience, and variable “health” conditions that prepare students for actual practice.

The Human Patient Simulator was developed by the University of Florida College of Medicine to train anesthesiologists in routine and crisis situations. Its interactive technology provides a realistic learning experience that is adaptable for a wide range of health care practitioners, including medical students, residents, nurses, and medical engineers.

The simulator mannequin has palpable pulses, heart and lung sounds, twitch response to nerve stimulation, and, yes, even a body temperature. Trainees can monitor its heart rate, cardiac rhythms, cardiac output, and blood pressure. Equipped with interface software and an instructor’s remote control, the simulator also gives accurate patient responses to over 60 different drugs, mechanical ventilation, and other medical therapies, and allows the instructor to introduce new conditions.

The simulator’s drug recognition and response system is particularly useful for replacing animal laboratories in medical school. Some medical schools still use dogs or other animals as laboratory subjects as basic science courses, where students inject the animals with various drugs to observe the change in their blood pressure, respiration, heart rate, etc. The animals are generally killed with a fatal injection at the end of the lab. The simulator allows medical students to observe accurate responses to drugs predicated on human patients without wasting the lives of animals.

The simulator’s interactive design allows it to be used with all anesthesia gas delivery systems and mechanical ventilators. It connects to standard monitoring system, including EKG, invasive and non-invasive blood pressure and pulse monitors, and even responds to equipment malfunctions.

Procedures that can be taught on the simulator include inserting artificial airways, taking non-invasive blood pressure measurements, monitoring arterial blood gases, and administering anesthesia. A special curriculum uses a series of clinical scenarios in which students manage the anesthesia and medications for a patient in a diabetic coma, surgical repair of an aortic aneurysm, treatment of end-stage renal disease, and other conditions.

The Human Patient Simulator has been used by the University of Florida system for over eight years. It sells for approximately $180,000, and has been purchased by, among other sites, Mount Sinai Anesthesia Simulation Center, the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, where the Florida Department of Education has developed a simulator-based curriculum for health care professionals. More information is available from Loral Data Systems, Medical Products, P.O. Box 3041, Sarasota, FL 34230, 813-378-6702.

Another hands-on, interactive simulator is the Virtual Anesthesiology Training Simulation System, developed from research done by David Gaba and John Williams of Stanford University, and Howard Schwid of the University of Washington. Like the Human Patient Simulator, this product combines a life-size mannequin, computer systems, an operator’s console, and monitoring equipment interface. It is appropriate for basic medical instruction in a variety of disciplines, as well as advanced training in anesthesia crisis management, emergency room care, critical care, and advanced cardiac life support.

This simulator is close to the Human Patient Simulator in design and application, and provides similar benefits. Some interesting features include mechanical lungs which ventilate spontaneously and can even simulate blockage of one lung, palpable carotid and radial pulses, points in the arm where intravenous fluids and drugs can be administered, a tongue swelling device, a color graphics workstation which serves as the operator’s console, and an interface cart that connects the mannequin to the computers, monitors and anesthesia machine. More information is available from CAE Electronics, Ltd, P.O. Box 957, Binghamton, NY 13902, 607-721-4552.

High-Tech, Not High-Priced

Want a high- quality simulator and don’t have $180,000 in loose change? The Critical Care and Anesthesia Simulator programs offered by Anesoft Corporation offer real-time, graphic computer simulations that reproduce patient care in an Intensive Care Unit or an anesthesia environment for a fraction of the cost of a simulator with a mannequin. With the Critical Care Simulator, developed at the University of Washington, students manage twenty different critically ill patients by controlling their airway, ventilation, fluids and medications. The program reproduces the patient’s monitors and simulates its responses, including those for boluses and infusions of about seventy drugs, which means it too can be used in place of the traditional dog lab. The simulated cases can be temporarily suspended to provide diagnostic and therapeutic information for optimum management of the clinical situation.

The Anesthesia Simulator Consultant reproduces dozens of anesthesia environments in real-time, including anaphylaxis, difficult airway, myocardial ischemia and pneumothorax. The simulated patient responds to management while an automated record-keeping system summarizes the case and an expert system provides immediate consultation. The Critical Care and Anesthesia Simulator software cost about $295 each. More information is available from Howard Schwid, M.D., at Anesoft, Anesthesia and Critical Care Software, 18606 NW Cervinia Court, Issaquah, WA 98027, 206-643-9388, fax 206-643-0092.

Non-Animal Teaching Methods Show Their Superiority

Many medical schools have dropped old-fashioned animal labs. The non-animal methods are cheaper, they don’t need to be anesthetized, and students don’t object to them. But do they work?

The answer is a resounding yes. Emerging students show that non-animal methods teach as well or better than animal labs and save money in the bargain, not to mention the enormous savings in animal lives.

Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Auburn, Alabama, tested an interactive video system, assigning students to participate in either an animal laboratory or an interactive videodisc simulation. The two groups scored about the same on a multiple choice/short answer test, but the interactive video program was more time-efficient.

Instructors at the University of Chicago compared student responses to an animal laboratory versus a computer simulation, and found, “the students rated both highly, but the computer-based session received a higher rating.” Patient-Oriented Problem Solving (POPS) is a small group teaching tool in which students solve clinical problems as a means of learning medical concepts. A study published by the Association of American Medical Colleges showed it to be effective in conveying principles of pharmacology, doing so at minimal cost.

Assisting in the operating room is the usual way that new surgeons learn their skills. However, some companies have pushed animal surgery laboratories in connection with sales of surgical products. Stephen M. Tsang, M.D., and his colleagues at Tulane University examined surgical complication and mortality rates for gallbladder surgery and found that those who had trained in animal laboratories performed no better than those who had not. In Dr. Tsang’s words, “there is no need to attend an expensive and time-consuming classroom and animal laboratory course.”

Pioneering heart surgeon Michael DeBakey said, “I gave up surgical training of our students and residents on animals years ago. We used to have a course. I stopped it completely. I said, “I’m not going to do this anymore on animals because we’re going to put students in the operating room with humans.” Dr. DeBakey went on to point out the ease of using non-animal methods. “You don’t have to have a living animal to try to do microsurgery, say, to repair a vessel. You can use fresh cadavers. It’s very easy. You just take a piece of tissue out of a fresh cadaver, whether it’s an animal that died from some other reason or a human.”

Okay, non-human teaching methods work. But will instructors or students find computer simulations, videos, or other methods to be as graphic and engrossing as a live animal laboratory? A method now being explored at Harvard Medical School may be just the answer to that question. Harvard recently allowed medical students to observe heart surgery in the hospital operating room rather than participate in an animal laboratory. In the operating room, a broad range of drugs are used in human patients — essentially the same drugs used in dog labs — and their effects on the cardiovascular system can be observed in great detail.

In support of this method, Robert Forstot, M.D., of the division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, wrote, “The demonstration of human pharmacology and physiology that is relevant to the needs of future physicians can be more appropriately achieved by taking medical students into the operating theater under the tutelage of staff anestheologists, rather than using dogs to demonstrate these drug effects. This is especially true if the students can be taken into the cardiac surgery suites, where I practice anesthesia.”

In Dr. Forstot’s words, the operating room is “an ideal venue from which to teach medical students both pharmacology and physiology that is relevant to their future practice.”

Animal laboratories are obviously not essential to medical education, given that many medical schools have dropped them entirely. Happily, scientific studies show that non-animal methods are much less expensive than animal labs, students enjoy them — and they work.