Is beef a silent killer? Here’s the flip side of the beef ban controversy

If the celebrated American doctor and clinical researcher Neal D.Barnard had spoken about beef in India, he would have been dubbed a Modi fan and RSS sympathiser by the anti-beef ban lobby in the country.

Barnard is a strong votary of a blanket ban on beef consumption. “The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined,” he says.

He feels that beef consumption is just as dangerous to public health as tobacco is and wants to hold beef producers legally accountable. “If beef is your idea of ‘real food for real people’, you’d better live real close to a real good hospital,” he tells beef-eaters. “I have been following a vegan diet now since the 1980s, and find it not only healthier, but also much more attractive than the chunks of meat that were on my plate as a child,” he adds.

Barnard’s view is supported by many doctors in Kerala, one of the largest beef consuming states in India. They are of the view that consumption of beef induces antibioitic resistance in humans and is one of the major reasons for deadly health problems of Keralites. They point out that incidence of cancer and heart-related problems are high among those consuming beef in the state.

Protection of cows can’t be treated merely as a religious issue concerning the Hindus. Many `green’ activists too advocate beef ban. They look at cow as a protector of the mother earth. Milk, gobar (cow dung) and gaumutra (cow urine) yielded by the cow help sustain green growth and fight global warming. So by killing the cow you are digging your own grave, they argue.

The Congress Party is on the forefront of the agitation against beef ban. For their consumption, here is what the Father of the Nation said about cow protection: “Mother cow is in many ways better than the mother who gave us birth. Our mother gives us milk for a couple of years and then expects us to serve her when we grow up. Mother cow expects from us nothing but grass and grain. Our mother often falls ill and expects service from us. Mother cow rarely falls ill. Here is an unbroken record of service which does not end with her death. Our mother, when she dies, means expenses of burial or cremation. Mother cow is as useful dead as when she is alive. We can make use of every part of her body-her flesh, her bones, her intestines, her horns and her skin. Well, I say this not to disparage the mother who gives us birth, but in order to show you the substantial reasons for my worshipping the cow.”

The fact that beef is a favourite meat of vast sections of people in Kerala could be the reason why the political activists of the left and right hues in the state are most vocal in their opposition to beef ban advocated by the Sangh Parivar.

Recall the high drama in Kerala House, Delhi. The CPM and Congress leaders from Kerala raised hell over the police entry into Kerala House to investigate a complaint that beef was being served there. To protest against the police action, Kerala House cooked 18 kg of beef for lunch the next day and served it to, among others, the CPM and AAP activists.

After the controversy over the police raid, Kerala House quietly replaced the word `beef curry’ in Malayalam on the menu to `Meat curry(buffalo)”. Had it done so before, perhaps, the controversy would not have arisen at all.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Folomojo.com.

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