Remember
Rajaji?
When cows go non-veg
 The
mad cow disease has reached India. According to reports. Earlier it
spread from Britain to Europe, and probably, hit Australia. West
Asia, eastern Europe and Africa also run the risk of contracting the
deadly ailment. The world live-stock population is in danger. So
also the mankind.
How it all came? Scientists are investigating. Some of them have
linked the etiology of the disease, also known as BSE (acronym for
Borine Spongiform Encephalopathy) to the animal feed called
meat-and-bone meal (MBM).
EU has banned the use of MBM for the time being. And FAO has advised
all countries to avoid the use of MBM in cattle feed. Also being
examined are the raw materials used, cross-contamination in the feed
mills, feed transport system, the slaughtering methods and the
disposal of waste materials. Also in focus is the widespread
practice of artificial insemination.
Time to remember how a proposal to produce cattle feed from bone
meal was rejected by the provincial government of Madras decades
ago. Late C.Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was chief minister.
The scheme was tabled by a foreign company. Some of the local
industrialists were also interested in the venture.
The scheme was rejected outright. It was not a question of
viability. Rajaji was disinclined to make cow a non-vegetarian. It
was going against the nature. He was also against artificial
insemination which was being experimented extensively then.
The story of how Rajaji dealt with the bone-meal project was related
to reporters years ago by the late T.A.Pai, former union minister
and Syndicate Bank Chairman.
India has a booming dairy industry. The second largest in the world.
Rajaji might not have any presentiment about the raging mad cow
disease. But he was aware of the risks of meddling with the law of
nature.
Meanwhile, the BSE is blowing into a pan European crisis. As many as
24 million cattle are slaughtered all over Euro land every year. And
the cost of providing disease free meat is rising by day. As BSE is
seen not confined to cows, pigs, chicken and fish products are also
affected. Mass produced poultry and fish items are suspect.
The crisis had its echo in politics too. Two German cabinet
ministers lost their jobs. For mishandling the problems arising from
the brain-wasting disease. Italy has approved a decree allocating
huge funds to destroy animal parts and feed at risk from it.
Everywhere in Europe the use of meat and bone meal to feed cattle,
chicken and domestic animals has been banned.
The BSE scare is estimated to cost Europe's farm budget as much as
$6 billion in the next four years. The budget was originally cast
based on a possible drop of 10 per cent in beef consumption. Now the
off take is down by 27 per cent.
Meanwhile reports from Germany make gruesome reading. At a Berlin
zoo, the staff have begun savouring animals and birds which are
edible. As safe meat is hard to come by. The zoo has lost all its
geese, four ducks and seven hens. Germany's food scare now includes
sausages, venison, lamb and park. More shocking is the news that
Bavarian pigs, a popular dish, are fattened on illegal drugs.
Animals outside the food scare net are elk, reindeer, ostrich and
crocodile.
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