Holy cow - or load of bull?
2004-11-09 12:34
New Delhi - A Hindu right-wing organisation claims waste emitted by cows have properties that can cure cancer and arthritis, it was reported on Tuesday.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP - World Hindu Council) has spent about half a million US dollars over the past eight years researching the medicinal properties of cow dung and cow urine, the Economic Times newspaper reported.
In Hindu religion the cow is a sacred animal and its slaughter or the sale of beef is banned in most Indian states. The VHP, along with other Hindu organisations, have special programmes devoted to the "protection" of the cow.
Brochures of the VHP's Govigyan Anusanchan Kendra (Cow Research Centre), based in the southern city of Nagpur, claims it is devoted to research and development on the role of cows.
The unit has sprawling cowsheds and several heads of cattle. Scientists and volunteers work on assorted projects devised by the organisation, including generating electricity by using cow dung.
The unit also produces distilled cow urine which is bottled and marketed under the brand name Ark. The solution has been patented in the United States. According to Sunil Mansighka, co-ordinator of the centre, it has properties that fight cancer and arthritis.
Three years ago, India's then Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government had commissioned a professor at one of India's premier management institutes to do a study on the positive effects of cow excreta.
Anil Gupta of the India institute of management, Ahmedabad, endorses that cow urine has some disease fighting properties.
"But that is true of the waste of most animals," he adds. "In India, it is more socially acceptable to touch or consume cow excreta than that of other animals." - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA