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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
People for Animals Mysore picked up a horse whose head had been half eaten. I am including his pictures – the before and after. This has been a success story, but there are a hundred others who have had to be put to sleep because the parasites had burrowed far too deep.
Animals put up with a great deal more pain than humans – but what is their option? There are no doctors to look after them. Most owners abandon them if they get sick.
There are three killers on the road for stray and abandoned animals: distemper, parvo and maggots.
Have you ever come across a dog with gaping holes in its back? A cow with holes in its abdomen? A donkey with seeping wounds on its neck? These are maggot injuries. Every day we get dozens of cases at my shelter in Delhi, and it is heart breaking that we allow our animals to reach such a stage.
Imagine if you had flesh eating flies, and their larvae, landing on a slight wound on your skin and burrowing into your body till you have been eaten from the inside. And, when your body starts smelling because it is rotting away, people throw stones at you to shoo you away.
A horse brought to my shelter had a fist sized hole on its head, and his brain was exposed. Bali, as we later named him, was found lying in an abandoned building, at the brink of death. Flies had laid eggs on a wound near his ear and the maggots had eaten their way in. Bali had given up when he first arrived at the shelter, but how could we? This was a start to a 3-month recovery of Bali at my shelter in Delhi.
Myiasis, or infestation of the animal body with flies and their larvae or maggots, is one of the most common problems faced by animals, especially those on the streets. What attracts these flies to lay their eggs on the animal’s body, and what follows after?
These flies are attracted to any animal with an open wound left unattended – not just dogs, but cats, cows, horses, sheep, goats. The eggs are deposited and hatch within four hours when the weather is moist and warm. The young larvae start burrowing into the flesh of the animal. Animals who are weak and debilitated are ideal victims. Any type of draining wound, or a moist coat soaked in urine and faeces, can become the perfect spot for flies to lay their eggs.
Is it just street animals? No, a large number of pets come in. Their owners keep them chained outside in all weather, never brush their coats, feed them badly. They gnaw at themselves out of boredom, or the chain bites into their necks, and the maggots come in. It is only when they start smelling that the owners bring them in. Some want them treated. Others stand in line for treatment and then quietly slip out through the gate abandoning them forever.
How can you identify and treat a maggot infested wound?
Maggot infested wounds are easily identifiable. Look for any unattended wounds on the animal’s body, a characteristic smell, and you will be able to see actual white maggots moving inside the wound/hole. Some of the more common places I have come across for maggots in a dog are the toe nails and pads under the feet – which are less frequently checked – under the tail and on the head. If you see flies buzzing around any part of the animal make sure to find the wound and get it treated before those eggs hatch.
Treatment of maggot infested wounds is fairly simple; however, complete recovery can take up to 1-3 months depending on how far the maggots burrowed. The vet starts off by putting some chloroform into the wound, waiting for a while and picking each maggot out one by one. Since we get hundreds of cases at my shelter, we use a mixture of chloroform and turpentine, in equal amounts, to kill the maggots. In small animals, like dogs, the vet cleans the wound with an antiseptic before beginning to remove the maggots. He then applies Lorexene or Maggocide ointments, specifically meant to kill maggots. Once the wound is cleaned and the maggot-killing ointment applied, the vet then stuffs cotton gauze into the wound and covers it with a bandage. It is very important to make sure the wound is airtight, this is, so the maggots left inside suffocate to death without any oxygen to breathe. Depending on the severity of the maggot infested wound, the vet makes the decision of changing the bandages twice, or once daily, while being extremely meticulous about removing all the maggots each time the bandage is opened.
As supportive therapy, Zincolak can help the wound heal faster. Antibiotics in the Sulphur range, or Amoxycillin which act as tissue healers, might also be prescribed by the vet. Once the healing begins, we usually use Betadine and Furacin ointment at the hospital for a rapid recovery.
Bali was one of the few lucky ones who survived. With constant care over a period of 3 months, Bali was back to being the beautiful horse that he was meant to be.
When animals are in pain, and are about ready to give up, they hide in dark places. Unfortunately, for the larvae these are perfect conditions to flourish and feed, speeding up the process of the animals evisceration and death. If you were to ever come across a wounded animal on the street, do make sure to call my shelter and save the animal from endless days of misery with maggots feeding on its flesh.
On one last note, maggot infested wounds might be gross to look at, but are simple to treat, with basic medication and care. Make sure to keep an eye out for our animals on the streets.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Dr. Madan Mohan Bajaj is not an animal welfare activist. He doesn’t try to stop cruelty, nor does he protest or go to court. He is the Director General of International Scientific Research & Welfare Organisation, and Chief of the Medical Physics, Immunophysics, Nuclear Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratory of the Department of Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Delhi, where he has been teaching since1968.
Author of more than 300 research papers, he is a fellow of Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Indian Academy of Medical Physics, American Chemical Society, Physical Society of Japan, Japan Society for Medical Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Bangladesh Physical Society, Physical Society of Nepal, Asian Physical Society, Indian Society for Cancer Chemotherapy, Indian Society for Cancer Research, Mathematical Association of India, Society of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India. He had been the Secretary of the Indian Academy of Medical Physics and the Chairman of several symposia organised by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
Dr. Bajaj has guided 18 Ph.D. students, 8 M.Phil. students & helped 2 D.Sc. students. Dr. Bajaj has co-authored 15 scientific books.
He is the founder of the Mahatma Gandhi School for the Children of Leprous Families.
In short, he is a hardcore scientist and a humanitarian.
He has co-authored a book, with other well known physicists, putting forward a new and interesting point of view. It is called “Etiology of Earthquakes, A New Approach, by M M Bajaj, Ibrahim and Vijayraj Singh; Publishers: H. B. Prakashan, Indore". It is based on a research thesis presented in June 1995 at an international scientist conference held in Sudal, Russia.
So far, predicting earthquakes is almost impossible, since humans still do not know the reason for them. The authors claim that the concentrated creation of pain and fear caused by the nonstop killing of animals/birds and fish is what creates earthquakes. They claim that pain creates actual physical waves.
Of course the theory will be dismissed by geologists, who guard their domains jealously. And, of course, it will be laughed at by other scientists. But remember this : driverless cars, cordless telephones, meat made by the multiplication of cells, sea waves that generate electricity, and a million other common things, were once laughed at theories. Uri Geller, who is world famous because he uses the power of his mind to bend spoons, is now one of many who can do the same. Schools to develop mind power have sprung up all over the world, from Russia to Italy, and I have seen some of them. In India we have so many Swamis who cure diseases, and change destinies, by concentrating on them. How does one explain the power of thought? The closest thing to a rational explanation I got was from the film called Lucy made by Luc Bresson in 2014. What we called coincidence – when we think of someone and they call in a few minutes - is also called synchronicity. It is a concept first introduced by the legendary analytical psychologist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related. Jung used the concept in arguing for the existence of the paranormal, but added "with our present resources it is impossible to explain Extra Sensory Perception".
Does the mind generate waves of energy? The story goes that when Swami Vivekananda approached Chicago, he pointed at a particular area in the distance which, according to him, had a thick black cloud of sadness on it. It was the stockyard / slaughterhouse, the largest in America, where cattle were brought to be killed. Was the miasma caused by the waves of despair and suffering?
Jung is not the only scientist of world acclaim who believes in what is now called “the paranormal” (or what will be the new “normal” in a few years) Albert Einstein, the father of modern science, also propagated the EPW, or Einsteinian Pain Waves Theory, in the realm of geology.
The BIS (Bajaj-Ibrahim-Singh) Theory claims to be a development on the EPW of Einstein. It argues, on the basis of the evidence the authors have gathered, that it is possible to correlate the cause of earthquakes with the concentrated genocide of animals.
Why and when do earthquakes happen? No one knows. So this theory is as good as any. Maybe future seismology scientists will “ prove” what the Rishis have been saying for centuries – that the universal mind is the most powerful instrument of all.
The book collates the reports from different parts of the world where earthquakes have taken place, and where millions of animals have been butchered in, or near, high risk seismic zones.
The Einstein pain wave theory says that while primary and secondary waves move quickly, pain waves build up pressure over a period of time and then, when they reach flash point, the crust of the earth breaks and reacts with an earthquake.
The book claims to have studied the complex role of nociceptive waves: in a sentient body, intense chemical (e.g., chili powder in the eyes), mechanical (e.g., cutting, crushing), or thermal (heat and cold), stimulation of sensory nerve cells, called nociceptors, produces a signal that travels along a chain of nerve fibres via the spinal cord to the brain, resulting in the experience of pain. Nociceptors require a minimum intensity of stimulation before they trigger a signal to the nervous system. Once this threshold is reached a signal is passed along.
The authors claim that the same kind of pain waves are generated and passed along the crust of the earth by the immense noise and tension generated by animals on the verge of being butchered. These waves result in cracks in the crust in a certain direction, or seismic anisotropy.
Acoustic anisotropy, or the effect on the crust caused by sound, is what, the authors are claiming, causes earthquakes. While low frequency resonances are hardly felt by people, earthquakes high on the Richter scale originate due to the slaughter of millions of animals daily for years together.
The authors say that sound waves put great stress on rock. The daily butchering of thousands of animals continually, for several years, generates acoustic anisotropy due to the Einsteinian Pain Waves (EPW) emitted by dying animals. The book claims that since the EPW travel a great distance with time, abattoirs of one country may lead to havoc in another country.
Their theory is that large-scale abattoir activity is the causative agent for major earthquakes. The authors have given the examples of the Latur (Khillari) earthquake, earthquakes of Utterkashi, Assam. In the US, the earthquakes of Northridge (1994), Long Beach (California – 1933), Landers (California -1992), San Francisco (1906), New Madrid (Missouri – 1811-12), have been mentioned. Russia's Neftegorsk (1995) finds a major mention. Kanto (1923), Nobi (1891), Kita-Tango (1927), Sankiru Tsunami (1933), Shizuoka (1935), Tonankal (1944), Nankai (1948), Fukui (1948), Off-Tokachi (1952), Kjta-Mino (1961), Nigata (1964), Off-Tokachi (1968), Kobe (1995), in Japan, the massive slaughter at Gadhimai and the Nepal earthquake have all been described to demonstrate a pattern.
Could this be possible? Why not? For years Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves, propounded in1916, was laughed at by scientists. A hundred years later, when instruments had been developed, in February 2016 US scientists announced that they had detected, heard, and measured gravitational waves, a landmark scientific discovery that is important in furthering our understanding of the universe.
Gravitational waves are faint ripples in the fabric of space-time, created by massive movements in the universe, such as two black holes colliding, or massive stars exploding. The signal, that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) caught, was produced by two merging black holes. Since gravitational waves are not absorbed, or reflected, by matter, they carry information on the motion of objects in the universe.
All through history there have been scientists who have given concepts which were unknown and immeasurable at the time. In the 16th Century, Giordano Bruno claimed that the sun was just another star and there were many worlds in the universe. He was burnt alive. Donald Trump still thinks that global warming is a myth.
Here is a common example from basic physics to help understand the possible destructive power of pain waves. An object 'A' has a natural frequency at which it vibrates freely. If another object 'B', in proximity to 'A', vibrates at the frequency equal to the natural frequency of 'A', then 'A' starts vibrating with much greater energy. This phenomenon is called Resonance and can be potentially destructive for 'A'. The theory of Resonance can be extended to pain waves, which could trigger the tectonic plates to vibrate, resulting in severe earthquakes.
The Tacoma Narrow bridge in US was the first documented bridge to have collapsed (in 1940) because of this resonance effect. It was found that, due to a design fault, the natural frequency of the bridge matched the frequency of airflow, which resulted in its destruction when the entire bridge started vibrating because of the air flowing over it.
If a tiny vibration, at a specific frequency, can lead a bridge to vibrate as a whole, why can’t the pain wave, originating from an animal being slaughtered, lead to a similar destructive outcome such as an earthquake? The pain of an animal being slaughtered is a sudden release of a huge amount of life energy, probably a form of energy that we can’t measure as of now.
Who knows when we will learn the technology which can measure collective pain and the frequencies at which it can cause mass destruction? Remember the Spanish proverb, “Toma lo quequieras y pagaporello, dice Dios” (“Take what you want and pay for it, says God.”)
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
For me, food is at the core of every religion because it signifies the most important commandment of the universe: those shalt not harm. People who eat meat cause vast amounts of suffering, not just to the animals but to the planet itself. The five most amazing vegetarians in the world, in my opinion, were the Holy Prophet Mohammad, Jesus, the Buddha, Rumi and Mahatma Gandhi. How sad that all their followers eat vast amounts of meat while mouthing the empty phrases of their religious books.
You should know about Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi known simply as Rumi, a 13th century (1207-1273) Muslim poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic, born in Balkh (in Iran then and now in Afghanistan) and died in Konya, now in Turkey. Known as Maulana and Maulawi (master), he is regarded as one of the greatest Sufi spiritual masters and poets, famous for his epic Mas̄navī-yi Maʿnavī (“Spiritual Couplets”), which widely influenced mystical thought and literature throughout the Muslim world. Upon his death, his followers, and his son, founded the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes.
Rumi’s influence has spread across nations and ethnic divisions. Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, Muslims of different nationalities. His poems have been widely translated into most of the world's languages and have influenced literature hugely, specially Persian, Turkish, Urdu and Pashto.
Sufism, or Tasawwuf, is the inward mystic philosophy, the spiritual dimension/discipline of Islam. It considers the Holy Prophet Muhammad as the perfect being who exemplifies the morality of God. Sufis belong to different orders, congregations, formed around a grand master. These strive for perfection of worship. According to William Chittick, "In a broad sense, Sufism can be described as the interiorization, and intensification of Islamic faith and practice." Sufism is perceived as a peaceful and apolitical form of Islam, particularly suited for interreligious dialogue and intercultural harmonisation in pluralist societies; a symbol of tolerance and humanism -flexible and non-violent.
While Sufis strictly observe Islamic law, they are ascetics, firm in their practice of Dhikr, the remembrance of God. Classical Sufi scholars have defined Tasawwuf as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God". Sufis believe that by pledging allegiance to Muhammad spiritually they may connect with God. "intensive devotion, pious abstemiousness and pondering the divine mysteries" is the Sufi way, the “science of purifying the heart". Existing in both Sunni and Shia Islam, Sufism is not a sect, but a method of approaching, or a way of understanding, the religion, which "through simultaneously fulfilling the obligatory religious duties" and finding a "way and a means of striking a root through the 'narrow gate' in the depth of the soul out into the domain of the pure unimpressionable Spirit which itself opens out on to the Divinity."
While all Muslims believe that they are on the pathway to Allah and hope to become close to God in Paradise—after death and after the Last Judgment—Sufis also believe that it is possible to draw closer to God and embrace the divine presence in this life through “repentance from sin, the purging of contemptible qualities and evil traits of character, and adornment with virtues and good character.”
Devotion to Muhammad is an exceptionally strong practice within Sufism. Rumi attributes his self-control and abstinence from worldly desires as qualities attained by him through the guidance of Muhammad. Rumi states, "I 'sewed' my two eyes shut from [desires for] this world and the next – this I learned from Muhammad."
Dhikr is the remembrance of Allah commanded in the Qur'an for all Muslims through a specific devotional act, such as the repetition of divine names and supplications from Hadith literature and the Quran. Ritualized dhikr ceremonies of the Sufis include "recitation, singing (the most well known being Qawwali music), instrumental music, dance, incense, meditation, ecstacy, and trance."
Sufi whirling originated and is still practised by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a dance through which dervishes aim to reach the source of all perfection. This is sought through abandoning one's egos, personal desires, listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.
At the age of 12, Rumi, born in a Muslim meat-eating world, wrote this quatrain and became a vegetarian till he died.
'Shadeed-az-kwa nee ast munazin/Ya rafeer ul-qist amnazeer/Choon ke ast shadaaz raftam ke azdaan/Wahen ul-khirama, za dizt'un bu'azir'? (I have existence and I value it so much/So have all the beings on earth and they too, try to preserve it/ Then, how can I kill even the tiniest creature/Just to satiate my palate?).
Rumi believed that all lives were sacred: Taa'shif nifaak b'astz sang (Even a seemingly lifeless stone has a degree of consciousness; respect it). Rumi was a staunch vegetarian and shunned even milk and milk products (Sheer mun-haraam nuzt: To me, even milk is forbidden). He even refrained from sacrificing animal/s as an Islamic ritual on Eid-Al-Adah (Bakrid).
Rumi says in Turkish, 'Ye'k dez charinda-ul-insaan rish'h'aaz'(Look at all animals as you look at humans). This is of paramount importance. This creates sensitivity that further blossoms into universal empathy. The sanctity of every life is to be saved and preserved: 'Kahin nish shudam el-fazeer-un-nisaar.'
Rumi writes that what we eat, directly influences our thinking. If we consume an animal, its blood and gore will make us act like a slaughterer: 'Un qasaab, gosht-e-zakaaf'.
“We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state , and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early Spring when we slightly recall being green again” Rumi, Selected poems, Penguin UK.
When Rumi died his body was interred and a shrine, the Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb), was erected over his place of burial. His epitaph reads:
When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.
Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path to reach God. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirling dervishes developed into a ritual form. In the Mevlevi tradition, worship “represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to the Perfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination.” And that includes animals. There is a belief, expressed by chroniclers, that much of his poetry was composed in a state of ecstasy, induced by the music of the flute or the drum, the sound of the water mill in Meram, where Rūmī went with his disciples to enjoy nature. He found in nature the reflection of the radiant beauty, and felt flowers and birds partaking in his love. Mewlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi says, "All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!"
The Mewlewī order issues an invitation to people of all backgrounds:
“Come , Come,
Whoever you are
Wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire
Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times
Come, and come yet again
Ours is not a caravan of despair.”
I would repeat this invitation to all of you who eat the flesh of animals. Stop killing them, treat them with love and respect as another form of God and see how your happiness increases and the world changes around you.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Sometime ago I wrote about arsenic being deliberately added to chicken feed and the harm it did to the human body. There is another source of arsenic which is not added deliberately but, nonetheless, is found in large quantities - in seafood and shellfish.
Arsenic is an odourless, tasteless element that is used in wood preservatives, fertilizers, animal feed, and other industrial and agricultural applications. Like lead, mercury, and other heavy metals, arsenic can persist in soil for years after it is applied to crops. Arsenic is found in two forms: organic, which is considered less harmful, and inorganic, which is considered very harmful.
The key organic arsenic compounds that can be routinely found in food include monomethylarsonic acid (MMAsV), Dimethylearsonic acid (DMAsV ), arsenobetaine, arsenocholine, arsenosugars, and arsenolipids.
Seafood and seafood products contain high levels of arsenic compounds. It is mainly found as arsenobetaine. DMAsV or MMAsV can be found in various types of fin fish, crabs, and molluscs. Arsenocholine, which is mainly found in shrimp, is chemically similar to arsenobetaine. Arsenosugars and arsenolipids have recently been identified in marine molluscs. The current biological exposure index in the US of 35 µg/L total urinary arsenic may easily be exceeded by a healthy person eating a seafood meal. In Indians there are no standards, but our marine life contains far more arsenic than is safe to eat. Arsenic is present in all seafood, but there are higher amounts in bivalves [clams, oysters, scallops, mussels], crustaceans [crabs, lobsters], and cold water and bottom feeding finfish and seaweed/kelp, specially Hijiki seaweed which is the most commonly used in Japanese/Chinese food.
Arsenobetaine is considered nontoxic because it is organic. But then so was arsenic in the form of Roxarsone given to chickens to make them get fatter faster and look redder. It was proven in 2011 to be deadly because it changed from organic to inorganic (which is toxic) in the chicken’s body and got even more toxic when it was cooked.
Calcium, and other supplements made from seafood, may also contain high amounts of arsenic.
Concerns about the adverse effects of chronic arsenic exposure have focused on contaminated drinking water and airborne workplace exposures; the risks of naturally occurring arsenic in foods have received less attention. About 90% of the arsenic in US diets comes from seafood. This has not been taken seriously as it was considered that only a small proportion occurs in inorganic forms; the great majority consists of complex organic compounds that have been regarded as non-toxic. However, recent studies of seafood have documented that this arsenic becomes carcinogenic in rodents. Borak and Hosgood have analysed the risk of seafood arsenic on humans and found it substantial.
Research done by analytical chemists at the University of Graz in Austria, in 2013, found that certain forms of arsenic, which appear in seafood and are thought to be harmless, might actually be toxic. Even more troubling, the researchers found that while arsenic mostly passes right through some people, it lingers inside others for an extended period.
Francesconi and colleagues at the University created organic arsenic that they fed to six volunteers. The researchers had originally wanted to test 50 people, but medical ethics concerns limited the size of the study. Over the next four days, testing of urine and blood showed that four of the six participants excreted into their urine at least 85 percent and as much as 95 percent of the arsenic they ingested, with most of it coming out in the first day. Of the remaining two volunteers, one excreted just 15 percent, and the other eliminated less than 4 percent of the arsenic she had swallowed.
What happened to the non excreted arsenic? Obviously, it was being stored by the body- and that is not good news. 2 out of 6 people is a very high percentage.
Results also showed that, over the course of digestion, the synthetic organic arsenic broke down into potentially toxic forms. This finding raises new concerns about levels of organic arsenic in seafood.
At very high levels, arsenic can be fatal. At lower levels, arsenic can cause nausea and vomiting and decrease the amount of red and white blood cells produced by the body. It causes abnormal heart rhythms, may damage blood vessels, and causes a pins and needles sensation in the hands and feet.
What happens to people when they are exposed to low levels of arsenic over a long period of time? Arsenic is associated with skin, bladder, and lung cancers, says Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Chronic low level poisoning leads to heart disease, lung damage and breathing problems. Long-term exposure to arsenic causes skin discoloration that looks like freckles, or small moles, on the hands, feet, or trunk. Skin lesions start about ten years after first exposure. White lines appear on the nails and pigmentation on the arms and upper chest. This is accompanied by hair fall, conjunctivitis, corneal ulceration. There is an increased risk of diabetes.
For children and pregnant women, the risks are heightened. “The more we learn about arsenic’s additional effects on the developing brain, the more concerned I am. Getting exposed to a toxicant like arsenic in-utero, or during early childhood, can cause damage that may not appear until decades later,” says Michael Waalkes, at the Division of the National Toxicology Program. He is one of the authors of a June 2012 report, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, that concluded early life exposure to arsenic produces a wide range of cancers and other diseases.
Arsenic is known to affect thyroid activity, leading to increased levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This hormone is released from the pituitary gland. It stimulates the thyroid to capture iodine from the blood, which is needed to produce essential enzymes for the body’s health. However, a number of studies have shown that increased arsenic consumption disrupts the functioning of the thyroid. In a recent study, published in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, the scientists focused on arsenic in seafood.
38 healthy young men and women, between 20-40 in age, were selected to eat 150 gms of salmon, cod, or mussels, for 14 days. Another group ate 150 gms of potatoes. Before and after this eating regimen, the subjects had blood samples taken in order to measure arsenic, iodine and selenium – all chemicals indicative of thyroid activity. Included in the blood analysis were the enzymes that reflect the exact levels of thyroid activity.
After 14 days of seafood consumption, the subjects had a 20-60% rise in arsenic levels in their bodies. And the increased arsenic in the plasma did, in fact, cause hikes in thyroid activity as well as TSH levels.
Arsenic not only is a potent human carcinogen but it can set up children for other health problems in later life. The Environmental Protection Agency assumes there is actually no “safe” level of exposure to inorganic arsenic. WHO considers arsenic as one of the ten major public health concerns. It is ranked by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as one of more than 100 substances that are Group 1 carcinogens. Two forms of organic arsenic, called DMA and MMA, found in seafood, have also been labelled by the same agency as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
A study has been done, by Lorenzana, Yeow, Colman, Chappell & Choudhary, on what percent of inorganic arsenic exists in seafood round the world. This is their finding: “...the Data from the worldwide literature indicate the percent of inorganic arsenic in marine/estuarine finfish does not exceed 7.3% and in shellfish can reach 25% in organisms from uncontaminated areas. However, percentages can be much higher in organisms from contaminated areas and in seaweed. For freshwater finfish the average percent inorganic arsenic is generally 10%, but ranges up to nearly 30%."
Should you be worried about the fish, shellfish and seaweed you eat? You should. But in India neither the government nor the public ever worry. It has taken us thirty or more years to even develop a test for formalin which is used in all fish. We just eat and die. And life goes on.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
“We have guests for dinner. Wife, please make them delicious chicken curry with arsenic in it. No? Then let’s take them out to have tandoori chicken – with arsenic.”
These are not lines from the latest Bollywood murder mystery script. This is reality. Arsenic is that deadly element which has killed many a character in plays, movies and novels. What is hidden is the arsenic in our daily consumption.
Arsenic is of two kinds – organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic compounds are much more harmful for humans than the organic kind (which is also harmful). They react with the cells in the body, displace elements from the cells, and change the cells' function. For example, cells use phosphate for energy generation and signaling, but one form of arsenic, known as arsenate, can imitate and replace the phosphate in the cell. This impairs the ability of the cell to generate energy and communicate with other cells. It changes the functioning of 200 + enzymes. Which means that it becomes a deadly poison. The toxicity of arsenic has been described as far back as 1500 BC in the Ebers Papyrus.
Acute arsenic poisoning can lead to vomiting, abdominal pain, watery diarrhoea containing blood, cardiac problems, destruction of red blood cells, vertigo, delirium, shock, coma and death.
But it is the long-term exposure of low amounts of arsenic you should really worry about. (The rest of the world has banned arsenic as a chemical to prevent the insect infestation of wood used in building. However it is still used in India for wood preservation.) We are exposed to it through milk, apple juice and wine (the FDA found high levels of inorganic arsenic in 83 brands of wine). But most of all, it is present in the many types of meat that we consume, especially fish, shellfish and chicken. Low doses of arsenic cause far less severe symptoms. But that doesn’t mean that the body is not being slowly and systematically destroyed by chronic poisoning, even if the compound is weakly toxic. Arsenic is related to Vitamin A deficiency, heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, lung, bladder and skin cancers and kidney / liver disease. Long-term exposure to arsenic can lead to skin changes (darkening or discoloration, redness, swelling and skin bumps that resemble corns or warts). Whitish lines may appear in the fingernails. Both sensory and motor nerve defects can develop. Other problems are lactic acidosis. Arsenic blocks potassium going into the cells and low potassium increases the risk of experiencing a life-threatening heart rhythm problem, neurological disturbances, high blood pressure, central nervous system dysfunction, anaemia. Epidemiological studies have suggested a correlation between chronic consumption of arsenic and the incidence of Type 2-diabetes. Pregnant women who eat arsenic may have babies with low birth weight and size. Early signs are headaches, confusion and drowsiness.
You are eating it every time you eat chicken.
Since the 1940s, chickens have been fed arsenic to promote growth and weight gain with lower feed. It means that you can feed the battery cage chicken less food and the chicken will grow just as big. This saves money for the poultry owner. The drug Roxarsone and Nitarsone makes the chickens grow bigger faster and gives their unhealthy and diseased grey battery cage skin an artificial pink colour to make them look healthy.
The makers of Roxarsone, Nitarsone and the American Food and Drug Administration justified and allowed its use on the grounds that the arsenic used was organic. However, they were proved wrong by a 2011 study at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future which analyzed hundreds of chicken breasts sold in grocery stores in 10 cities across the USA. The study showed that Roxarsone turned immediately into carcinogenic inorganic arsenic in chicken bodies. Further, when this chicken was killed and cooked, the levels of inorganic arsenic increased to dangerous levels. According to a 2006 Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 70 percent of the 8.7 million chickens, bred for the food supply, ate feed containing Roxarsone. Johns Hopkins immediately asked the FDA to protect public health by withdrawing its approvals of all arsenic-based drugs, and Congress to pass legislation to permanently ban all arsenic-based drugs from food animal production.
Some US poultries voluntarily removed it in broiler production in the US (no ban has been put). After growing concerns about cancer, Pfizer announced, in 2011, that they were not going to market it in the US any more. However the company continues to sell Roxarsone and Nitarsone abroad. While animal feed, with arsenic-containing compounds, was always banned in the 25 countries of Europe, UK, Japan. Many countries in Asia, Canada and Australia continue to allow it in animal feed.
Roxarsone and Nitarsone are used massively by Indian poultries. In fact, a simple search for arsenic based farm feed throws up 22,300 sellers and distributors across the country. You can look it up under poultry and animal feed, broiler feed, broiler growth promoter. One Roxarsone ad reads “Established in the year 2010, we are able to offer a wide range of products such as Poultry Feed Additive and Wood Preservative. We have a huge clientele based across the world. Some of our major clients are from the countries like Latin America, Middle East, South America, South/West Europe, South East Asia, Central America, Australia, Malaysia & Indian Local Market.”
More and more people are consuming chicken now, without realizing the presence of deadly arsenic inside it. As per the Global Agricultural Information Network, the consumption of processed chicken in India is rising at 15-20% per year. Statistics of the Indian Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries show that an estimated 238 crore chickens were slaughtered in 2016-17 in India.
A study conducted in Kolkata, by the West Bengal University of Fishery and Animal Sciences, showed the dangerously high level of arsenic in chicken, mutton and egg samples. The study covered poultry and other farms in eight villages in the Deganga block of North 24-Parganas. It showed that poultry products from the area contained five times more arsenic than the permissible levels. 60% of Kolkata’s chicken and egg supply came from North 24-Parganas. “We found that broiler chicken produced in the poultry farms had an arsenic content of 0.77 ppm and eggs had an average arsenic content of 0.38 ppm. Both are much higher than the permissible limit. The authorities need to crack down on the poultry farms immediately," said the senior researcher at WBUFAS.
It is not just chicken eaters who are at risk, but each one of us. Chicken faeces are commonly used as fertilizer on croplands. The bacteria present in chicken litter, and in the soil, converts the excreted organic arsenic into its inorganic form. Research from the University of Alberta, published in Science of the Total Environment, found that arsenic from the feed transferred easily from chicken bodies to poultry litter. Because poultry litter is commonly used to fertilize soil, it can lead to increased concentration of arsenic in plants grown in soil fertilized with chicken manure, generating public health issues (Rutherford et al., 2003). 70-90 percent of arsenic in poultry litter becomes water soluble, meaning, it can readily migrate through soils and into underlying groundwater. Poultry litter containing arsenic is also fed as a protein source to beef cattle. So, the legal practice of feeding arsenic to poultry can add to the arsenic contamination of other foods as well.
Arsenic use promotes antibiotic resistance. Infectious disease concerns are heightened by the fact that poultry producers routinely use feed additives that include both antibiotics and arsenic components. Doctors, and the entire medical fraternity, need to take a lead in this campaign demanding poultry raised without the use of arsenic. The FSSAI and the Drug Controller must withdraw its approval of arsenic feed additives as an unnecessary public health risk. Europe shows us it is possible to raise poultry without arsenic.
The only possible method for control is to ban farm feeds and other products with arsenic. This should cover not just the hugely popular Roxarsone and Nitarsone but Arsanilic Acid, Carbarsone and other related compounds. Ensuring compliance to such a ban is possible through stringent monitoring standards, by regularly testing chicken meat and eggs and inspecting pharmaceutical factories. There cannot be negotiation on how much, or which kind, of arsenic humans can consume, when we need not consume arsenic at all.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org