Incomprehensible to us is the reality that all life on this earth was created by Allah (SWT) to be inter-related to all other living creatures. It isn't surprising that pigs and cows have had enough - after forty years of intensive farming by humans who have violated every possible law of nature except their need to eat. Cows - vegetarian by nature - have been fed animal remains, space-age animal feed, drugs to enhance their growth and breeding, and pesticides (directly, through injection and their skins). All of this is enough to depress an anima's natural immune system.
We can witness the cost today of not heeding what we know is right. The British Soil Association noted as far back as 1996 that there have been no known outbreaks of BSE in animals born into certified organic herds or herds where full organic standards have been met since before 1985 and no animals have been brought in from outside. Perhaps if Britain had regarded this observation, it would not be experiencing its current crisis. With our high consumption of meat, the impact on our health of ignoring it has been manifold.
In the past, it was the warriors and rulers who ate meat; religious men and scholars were vegetarian. According to Islamic and Ayurvedic traditional medicine, the subtle energies of meat, if not directed towards activities that require strength, are said to make us earthbound as they stir up instinctive passions. This has been confirmed by Dr. Donald Lepore in his book The Ultimate Healing System. In appropriate amounts, meat can energize and strengthen. However, an excess of meat consumption creates accumulated matter, clogs blood vessels and organs, and causes putrefaction and infection. Eventually, muscles become slack and joints stiffen causing dehydration and heatstroke in athletes, fatal exacerbation of kidney and liver malfunctions, increased acidity of bodily fluids, premature aging, heart disease and cancer.
High protein intake causes an increase in the level of homocysteine, a by-product of protein synthesis, in our bodies. However, nothing happens without justifiable cause. Because of Europe's meat crisis, consumers have been forced to reevaluate. Allah's Mercy (SWT) is giving many a second chance. What affects one aspect of the eco-system eventually affects all aspects - like a chain reaction. The antibiotics and steroid hormones that are added to animal feed to prevent infection and increase animal weight quickly end up on our dinner tables, decreasing our responsiveness to antibiotic therapy when it is medically required.
Natural and synthetic sex hormones have been added to animal feed or implanted into cattle for the past thirty years. These hormones include androgens, progesterone and estrogen - all of which cause hormonal imbalances and lead to obesity, infertility, diabetes, dwarfism, gigantism, kidney disease, hypertension, precocious puberty, hypoglycemia, masculinization of females, feminization of males, and cancer. Between 1973 and 1981 in Puerto Rico, there was a dramatic incidence of premature puberty, breast growth in boys and girls, and ovarian cysts in children as young as eight months. When the children were taken off of fresh milk and meat from local sources, in all but 8% of the cases, the symptoms regressed. However, for that 8%, the damage was done.
Eleven year-old Damion Heersink of Alabama (U.S.) unknowingly ate a quarter-sized piece of under-cooked hamburger at a Boy Scout camp in 1992. As a result, Damion became contaminated with E-Coli, a virulent bacteria caused by fecal contamination of meat. E-Coli bacteria are activated by the grinding process that produces hamburgers. Damion was hospitalized him for a long time. He lost 30% of his lung tissue and the lining of his heart; his immune system was shattered, leaving him in constant risk of infection; his verbal ability was impaired; his kidney function was limited; and he will be susceptible to hypertension later in life.
Damion was fortunate to have a father who is a physician, and a family friend who specializes in E-Coli cases; otherwise, he would have died. After eating a fast-food cheeseburger, six year-old Californian Lauren Beth, wasn't so fortunate. She developed hemolytic ureic syndrome (HUS), a wasting disease that invades nearly every organ in the body and destroys the blood's clotting ability. She became one of the 10% of E-Coli victims who die from severe HUS, which kills an estimated 500 people annually.
In a study last year involving six European cities (Naples, Lausanne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels and Milan), there was an exploration into the sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women. The sources at risk in up to 63% of the cases of acute infection were mainly under-cooked lamb, beef or game. The risk factor increased in women who reported tasting meat while cooking. It is consumer rebellion that may lead to a real reform in the European Union's subsidies that encourage "factory farming." Between October 2000 and February 2001, beef prices have fallen by 40% in Germany, 35% in the Netherlands, and 25% in Italy. There has been less than a 5% decline in Britain.
The British Soil Association (promoters of organic farming) say that Britain's organic market has grown six-fold since 1990 - to more than 600 sterling pounds. Consumer demands now outstrip supply. The problem, however, with meat eating today is that it is excessive, which isn't as Allah (SWT) intended. Sick and over-medicated, cattle are suffering because of our excess. We need to raise our standards of caring for and nurturing the cows, buffalo, and sheep that provide us with halal meat.
Sura'tul An'am (6), Ayat 38, says, "And there is no animal that walks upon the earth nor a bird that flies with its two wings but (they are) like yourselves. We have not neglected anything in the Book; then, to their Lord shall they be gathered."
