$JES 901 Jainism and Spiritual Awakening E9

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 93

15 - JAIN WAY OF LIFE AND ETHICAL LIVING AND ENVIRONMENT
population. Even 60 years ago, India was heavily dependent on America for grains under the PL480 program. Therefore, humans have taken care of cows as they would their family members, and only consumed small amounts of their milk after they had fed their calves first. In the past, milk was not sold at all in an open market.
Today, the output of modern agricultural production is such that it can feed the entire world several times over. Also, the dairy industry is commercialized. Dairy cows are treated as milk producing machines. The dairy industry wants the maximum output of milk with minimum expense. It inflicts terrible cruelty on cows.
As there is a huge demand for dairy products, the modern dairy industry has to raise animals on a mass scale. Raising large numbers of animals for food creates a significant ethical problem and 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 is unimaginable.
C. Ethical Living and Dairy Product Laws of Mother Nature
Every mother produces milk after she has delivered a baby. This is true for human mothers as well as for animal mothers.
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