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                        CHEMISTRY AND VEGETARIANISM
                                    Dr. Chiranjee Lal Bagra

  After studying the biology of the human digestive system, which is non-conducive to animal food, let us survey further the other chemical implications entailing the diet.
  A serious threat posing the human community is the looming fear of turning immune to the potent power of life - healing drugs or in other words being infected by bacteria, at large, which is infect “drug resistant.”
Antibiotics and other fattening chemicals are injected in the diet of animals and poultry, enabling them to maximize  the profits of the individual trading in them, by producing increased flesh.
  These antibiotics and the associated chemicals present in the diet of the livestock and poultry, clubbed with the diseases and infections contracted by the animals, thanks to their living conditions and to the further dose of antibiotics, when they fall prey to some imminent ailment, portrays a complete sorry picture for the livestock , specially of the third world, fed on a heavy diet of antibiotics and chemicals.
  The flesh food made of infected animals, the chemicals and toxins it carries, when enters into our bodies, can have a totally paralyzing  effect, which could be even worse that then of these suffering animals.
An epidemic - like situation gradually becomes a threatening possibility as the resultant diseases contracted by the millions, induced by the accompanying germs with the animal food, develop resistance to certain drugs and antibiotics. The mad cow disease is a live illustration of the above, when millions of English people were infected by the malady and the beef industry of the U.S was in a disarray.
  Eighty percent of the U.S. livestock and poultry receive doses of antibiotics during their life time, whereas fifty - five percent of the total amount of antibiotics in the U.S. are fed to livestock.
  The breeding and piling of antibiotics resistant bacteria in factory farms impelled by the regular diet of antibiotics to livestock, is in the process of building a stage for the dreaded condition in humans, where their body becomes infected with drug resistant bacteria following consumption of flesh of these infected animals. Thirteen percent cases of Staphy Loccoci infections, which were immune to penicillin in 1960 increased to ninety one percent by the eighties.
  Human flesh, as it is, carries along with it, toxins and the consumption of flesh of other animals adds to the volume of toxins, which is procreated. “ Foods originating from animal and poultry source are the prime carriers of pesticide residue in human diet.”
  Meat contains considerable quantities of pesticide residue including DDT and antibiotics, which seriously damages vital human organs viz. heart, kidney, liver and lungs. Another pesticide, for instance, Dioxin, which is considered the most toxic chemical known to mankind, is used widely and carries deadly toxic chemicals causes cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, to name a few.
  Dr. John Robbins in his book - Diet for a New America’ states that - “various poisonous chemicals find entry into our body through the consumption of eggs and meat as a result of the chain system... A worm living in the soil will store in its tissues all the pesticides it ever accumulates both from what it eats and what it absorbs through its skin. A bird which eats the worm will thus imbibe all the pesticides ever eaten or contracted by the worm it eats. At each successive stage, up the food chain, the concentration of toxic chemicals is greatly increased. By the same token a chicken will retain in its flesh and blood all the pesticides it has consumed. With each step up the food chain animals become more concentrated carriers of the most deadly chemicals and a human, whenever eats meat and eggs, thus imbibes in his body system these toxic chemicals”.
  Heptachlor is another deadly pesticide, which has disastrous effects on the living tissues. This particular pesticide is carcinogenic at the lowest level, tested in laboratory experiments - 1/2 (one half) per million. 
The Environment Defense Fund observes - “ The incidence of heptachlor in human food is currently very high especially in meat, poultry and fish and dairy products.”
“In the U.S, a mother fed on a non-vegetarian diet is in a position to feed her baby with milk containing DDT upto the levels of ninety-nine percent while a vegetarian mother’s milk carries only eight percent DDT”.
The above scenario is of great concern to all the well - wishers of humanity, as a child’s very first diet is being intoxicated and turning unhealthy, demanding immediate attention to the gravity of the situation.
Toxic chemicals imbibed by the human species threatens to damage the very blue point of life - hereditary diseases are prompted by defects to the DNA molecule, scientists observe, “defects developed in the chromosomes of sperm or our precursor cells, may be transmitted to all future generations of humans. The heredity of man, his greatest treasure, is thereby at stake. Once irreversibly injured, the chromosomes cannot be repaired by any process known to man.”
  Cholesterol, which are waxy alcohol- like substances, are largely found in egg yolk and meat. They get deposited in the live blood vessels of humans, triggering a fatty change in the liver and the hardening of the arteries.
  Besides the above, chloramphenical, cabadox, nitro-furazone dimetridazole and ipronidazole - are the potential contents of meat which causes Cancer. Beef, in most cases, causes cancer from the herbicide residue. The high residue content of meat can effect male fertility and enhance birth defects. Certain cancerous toxins are released in meat while cooking or frying at high temperatures reveals a latest study by National Cancer Research Institute of USA.
Notwithstanding, the favorable impact of consuming “raw food” on human body. which injects an abundance of raw vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants, physiochemical, besides many more, in the human system, making it rejuvenated, physically and mentally. Various other diets have varying symptoms on human behavior and moods.
 Women being essentially inclined towards having starch in their diet prefer eating bread, rice or biscuits whenever they are in a state of emotional turmoil. Starchy food heightens the level of spirits in the body triggering a soothing and tranquilizing effect on the nerves.
 Identical is the effect when sugary or fatty food is consumed. Intake of sugar in the body, activates insulin in the body and there is a surge of the same in the system elevating, through momentarily, the spirits and moods of the person.
 Protein-rich diet consisting of food like pulses and cottage cheese acts as an energizer to a person, making him active and aggressive and also enhancing his concentration power. This is because of the rise in the levels of tyrosine.
 Another point to be noted here is that human saliva being alkaline in content, facilitates to digest carbohydrates, whereas in the case of carnivorous animals, the nature of their saliva being acidic, assists in the digestion of flesh.
 To conclude, we can safely add that vegetarian foods do not constitute any of the chemical and toxic elements, which are found in high quantities in meat and eggs. Besides this, vegetarian diets are found to be ideal in all respects especially for persons suffering from heart diseases, diabetes and obesity as they do not contain high cholesterol.    
 

    
 

 

  


     

                                                                                                                                                                 

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