Jain Spirit 2002 06 No 11

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 50

ENVIRONMENT
GO ORGANIC
Ketan Shah encourages people to eat healthily and preserve nature
THINKING OF JOINING THE ORGANIC BANDWAGON? | grandparents. Yet no mother intentionally feeds her Scientific reasons, as espoused by Craig Sams a pioneer children harmful food and no spouse deliberately cooks up
in natural foods, should convince you to reduce and lethal dinners. The dishes look lovely enough. The eventually cut out where possible food from intensive farming: ingredients from the supermarkets look colourful, smooth, "Organic food regulations prohibit hydrogenated fat (a cause of perfect: firm yellow bananas, bright oranges, bright green heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity), aspartame (a lettuce, long grain rice, shiny polished dal, wholesome neurotoxin), phosphoric acid (which causes osteoporosis), wheat, identical green beans. So what's wrong with them? antibiotics (reduced immunity), hormones (gender confusion,
Modern, non-organic conventional farming based on obesity, multi-generational cancer), pesticides (with mutagenic, cheap food policy has drenched farms with artificial carcinogenic and unknown 'cocktail' effects), BSE (human fertilisers and pesticides for ever increasing yields. Most of variant CJD), GMOs (probably IBS, Crohn's disease, autism, us simply don't understand how dangerous they are. Some other gut-based diseases), or any of the 7,000 artificial
pesticides are related to nerve gases and all of them are colourings, flavourings, preservatives and
poisonous. They have to be - they are processing aids that are permitted in
designed to kill. Do we really know conventional food (also causing cancer,
“Modern food is
what the accumulation of potent liver diseases and gut problems)."
pesticide residues from fruits and fruit Many people have already started to deceptively packaged to look juices in children's bodies is doing to replace intensively farmed foods and non
them? Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, foods such as clothes, toiletries and even attractive but in reality
liver and kidney diseases can develop home decoration items, paints and textile
over a long period of time. By the time
we are middle aged, it is too late. Some have gone even further and made it ow
Perversely, the strength of their career choice after seeing the light'. Due to increasing organic food lies in what it does not contain: artificial media coverage of the dangers of conventionally farmed food, fertilisers, hundreds of the legally permitted insecticides, and being confronted daily with stories of BSE, Foot and
pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, waxes, hormones, Mouth disease, salmonella poisoning and animal cruelty, young antibiotics, artificial colourings, flavourings, preservatives, people in the midst of shaping their future are actively flavour enhancers or other additives present in non-organic questioning the ethics of their preferred industry and seeking foodstuffs and consumer goods. Complete freedom from better alternatives. Some are taking more holistic approaches this cocktail reflects an ideal situation. However, it takes a to their current careers.
long time, especially here in the UK, to convert a convenFood today is rarely thought out carefully. It is hurriedly tional farm into an organically maintained one. Even the cooked and eaten, and increasingly detached from the simple
latter is susceptible to background pollution from residues cooking methods of our Jain forebears. Ironically, every already present in the air, water and soil. Then there is the culture has its diet rooted in organic farming - agricultural, additional problem of GMO organisms and pesticides industrial and food processing chemicals simply were not used drifting from neighbouring non-organic farms. before the mass marketing of these insidious additives by giant Organics is more than a food issue and therein lie its agro-chemical companies. The truly frightening aspect is the strength. Anyone can make a real difference to his stealth with which the accumulative effects of eating
environment by being sensitive and adopting organics' selfintensively farmed foods and living in polluted environments fulfilling principles, whether at home or in business. Clive affects our health. Heart disease, many cancers, diabetes, Smith summarises the key organic issues best: animal obesity and allergies are problems that do not occur overnight welfare, environment, health and resources. These sound but creep up after years of eating food that looks benign but uncannily like the modern Jain principles espoused by Jain isn't.
Spirit. There is something interesting after all in the old How has this come about? A favourite line of conversation Jain 'religion'! in Jain households is how poorly we compare with our hardy Organic livestock is free from the routine use of
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Jain Spirit . June - August 2002
Jain Education Interational