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2015 JAINA Convention
Jainism World of Non-Violence
My grandmother allowed her call to consume milk from 3 udders and only one udder of mik was consumed by the family. She was well aware that the baby call would have consumed all the milk if she allowed her.
Organic Dairy Farm - An organic dairy farm is generally smaller than a huge factory style farm. It does not use antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones on the cows. They do not add any milk additives into the mik. However, these farms also keep the cows continually pregnant, sel approximately 80% of calves to the veal or beef industry, and the cows are sold to a slaughterhouse after five or six years of life. Therefore, organic milk is almost as cruel as reqular milk. The cows are slaughtered immediately during meat production, while during commercial milk production cycle the cows are tortured for 5 years and then slaughtered even though their life expectancy is around 20 years. This indicates that the cruelty in the production of milk is as bad as the cruelty associated with the production of meat
Contemporary Dairy Product Consumption - Ethics and consequences The output of modern agricultural production of the world is such that it can feed the world population several times over. Hence there is no need to consume dairy products for our survival. Also heavy machinery replaced the bulls for farming, modern medicine replaces the usage of cow's urine, and natural gas and electricity replaces the usage of cow dung At the same time, the demand of dairy products has increased significantly after the invention of refrigeration and improved packaging technology. To meet the increased demand, the dairy industry is commercialized. The dairy cows are now treated as milk producing machines, which inflicts terrible pain. To maximize profit, animals are raised on a mass scale. Raising large numbers of animals for food also creates a significant environmental imbalance because it involves a significantly greater use of natural resources than for the equivalent amount of plant food. The cruelty to animals and the impact on the environment by this industry are unimaginable The following ist summarizes some of the violence (Himsa) inflicted an animals used in the production of dairy products. These problems exist in large factory farms in the US and Europe as well as in the small dairy farms of India or anywhere else in the world. I write from experience, I have visited several dairy farms in USA and many small dairy farms in India and observed such practices.
Milking cows are kept pregnant all the time. They are subject to artificial insemination or some ather practices that ensure the maximum production of milk. Artificial insemination is done only
two months after delivery. In natural course, cow would get pregnant after calves are weaned. • Approximately 96% of male and 66% of female baby calves are sold to the real or beef industry
where they are slaughtered between six months to three years of age. Sometimes, farmers let the male calves die of hunger as practiced in several villages of India (I have observed this practice in Our holy city of Palitana). Milk cows are sold to slaughterhouses at five to six years of age when their milk production Vield drops more than 30% naturally, due to ald age. This is also true in India more than 90% of the time. The life expectancy of a dairy cow is 15 to 20 years
Ecological Impact of the Dairy Industry The following data summarizes the magnitude of cruelty and the impact on the environment. This data is taken either from USDA or other similar sources
Waste Released in the Environment. In USA alone, more than 500.000 cows, hogs, and other animals, and 24 million chickens are killed every day. Waste released into the environment by the US meat and dairy industry is 230,000 pounds per second, polluting our land, air and water systems Greenhouse Effect - The world's 1.3 bilion cows annually produce 100 million tons of methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas and traps 25 times as much solar heat as carbon dioxide. Water Consumption - Livestock (cattle, calves, hogs or pigs) production accounts for more than half of all the water consumed in USA. To produce one pound of meat, an average of 2.500 gallons of water is used, while one pound of potatoes, wheat or rice requires an average of 50 to 250 gallons of water
• Hormones and antibiotics are fed or injected day to increase the milk yield (except in organic
dairy farms). Almost all smal dairies in India use hormones and antibiotics. Because the cows are kept continually pregnant and are fed or injected daily with hormones and antibiotics, they produce about three to six times more milk than what they would produce normally and naturally for their baby calves. In this way, farmers try to meet the growing demand of dairy products without increasing the number of cows.
Land Usage - A third of the surface of North America is devoted to grazing. Half of American croplands grow livestock feed for the dairy and meat industries In USA, this represents 220 milion acres of land, in Brazil 25 million acres, and half of the forests in Central America have been deforested for livestock production Impact on Health - The past 25 to 50 vears of medical study indicate that consumption of meat and dairy products is associated with the major causes of disease and death among middle and upper class people around the world: heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer prostate cancer and even fractures. Some medical studies have observed that as mik consumption increases, fractures actually increase, which shows, contrary to advertising, that consuming calcium in mik does not protect people. "Not only meat, but also dairy foods, contribute to the high fat and cholesterol diets which are major causes for heart disease and type2 diabetes". "Dairy foods are linked to prostate cancer
and the development of type 1 diabetes". From an environmental point of view, all animal based products such as milk, leather, sik, and wool cause significant harm to the environment relative to plant based products. Various studies indicate that the degradation is 7 to 10 times higher. In conclusion state that more than 98% of milk production worldwide inflicts pain and sufferings to COWS and slaughters them after 5 years of their productive life. Also please reflect upon the Law of Mother Nature and decide for yourself to consume or not to consume mik and other dairy products.
To produce very large quantity of mik in a day, the cow's body needs to work very hard. After about five years of this intense stress the cows body breaks down and her milk production yield drops significantly. At this time she is sent to a slaughterhouse legally in the western world and illegally in most states in India. There are many illegal slaughterhouses in India. I have visited a few of them in Ahmedabad and other places. Less than 0.1% of cows end up in the cow shelter places called "Panjarapole in India
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| SR No. | 527538 |
| Book Title | JAINA Convention 2015 07 Atlanta GA |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Federation of JAINA |
| Publisher | USA Federation of JAINA |
| Publication Year | 2015 |
| Total Pages | 124 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Magazine, USA_Convention JAINA, & USA |
| File Size | 25 MB |