Scribd
Upload
32 views

Ethical Issues Around Milk Production in India: HARINI - VIT School of Law, Chennai

The article is a critical analysis on Milk adulteration in India and the ethical issues around it. The need for veganism is not to only save the animals but to save the humans' lives as well from the consumption of adulterated milk and its by-products.

Uploaded by

Harini Bala
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
32 views

Ethical Issues Around Milk Production in India: HARINI - VIT School of Law, Chennai

The article is a critical analysis on Milk adulteration in India and the ethical issues around it. The need for veganism is not to only save the animals but to save the humans' lives as well from the consumption of adulterated milk and its by-products.

Uploaded by

Harini Bala
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

ETHICAL ISSUES AROUND MILK

PRODUCTION IN INDIA
HARINI – VIT School of Law, Chennai

INTRODUCTION:
The whole of milk industry was into scams such as adding extra water than
required, adding chemicals that would add volume to the milk but would also ass
the lactose meter test. While this was all going on one side, people forget to protest
against how unethical the whole dairy industry has become. The reporter’s
presentation was mainly focused on the entire unethical process involved in milk
production, from scratch, and how cattle are being considered to be an object for
the greedy human being. This is not only in India, but it is done on a whole-global
base. Animals are being harmed in the name of ‘nutrition to human beings’.

WHY MILK FROM COWS?


First of all, female mammals produce milk to feed its babies, because the digestive
system of the baby would be growing and would not be efficient enough to digest
hard substances. This is the primary reason why mammals drink milk. Among all
other mammals on earth, human beings are the greediest that steal milk from other
creatures. We don’t just take milk from cows but also goat, buffalo etc., but his is
being done on a reasonably lower rate because there is no ‘market’ for these
‘products’ and thankfully there is no much focus on those poor beings. In 2017,
there was a threat in South India, that the cultural game, “jallikattu” was asked to
be banned since that harms the bulls. Few sensitive matters were brought to
limelight only after that massive issue, that milk containing A1 substance had
hazards to human bodies. The bulls that were trained and raised had high potential
of giving birth to its legacies through mating, but the drawback was to maintain
those bulls, the farmers often had no enough money, which was collected through
game shows like these. It is statistically proven that A1 milk is consumed more in
India due to the corporates that have implemented these secretly. A1 milk has more
hazards and are proven to be the main source for diabetes. The reason why A2
milk is not in the market is pathetic. Cows that produce A2 milk are Indian cows
and they do not produce as much and there is no much profit for the company.
These cows cannot react to the chemical formula that is being fed and often end up
dying and are not as strong. This is why in India we can find cows of Indian breed
roaming around on the roads eating heaps of plastic. Recently, 52 kilograms of
1
plastic was taken from a cow’s stomach and through an X-Ray it was found that
the cow had swallowed nails and other metal items in the dustbin. 1 This all proves
how greedy humans are and this leads to great doubt of how humans are not
benefitting the survival of other mammals and destroying the law of co-existence.

UNETHICAL ISSUES SURROUNDING DAIRY


INSUSTRY:
The petty scams once were initially exposed in India, particularly Tamil Nadu
started acting cautious when it came to consumption of milk and its by-products.
But at a later of period of time, it was brought to notice that not just that, there’s
many that is happening and that has to be brought to light. But still people seem to
not respond to the drastic changes. The main unethical issues are put in points
down below;

1.It is not a natural process:


It all seems to be merry from the outside. The life of a cow that is
owned by the dairy company is not as happy as you see on the advertisements,
playing around with butterflies in the grass fields. It is highly pathetic and
traumatizing, the real life of a dairy cow is grim. It is a well-known fact that for a
cow to produce milk it has to be pregnant and after the birth of the calf it produces
milk for its calf. This means that for a cow to produce milk, she is repeatedly
impregnated, separated from her newborn calves within just 24 hours of giving
birth, which causes trauma to the mother and is highly depressed. 2 Also it does not
stop here she is forced to produce more than 2,396 liters of milk each year.3
Also, just because they need liters of milk from the cow they are
being put in a shed, confined, not letting it to move, because if it does then the
weight gets reduced and it cannot produce excess milk. It is injected with a drug
‘oxytocin’ which is usually given to women with labor pain during their delivery,
in order to reduce their pain. This is repeatedly given to the cow so that even the
blood in it can give milk. Not only that, they use equipment that is attached to its
fore udder and teat which is extremely painful and heavy.

1
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/chennai-tn-veterinary-university-removes-52-kg-plastic-from-
cows-stomach-6080828/
2
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150428081801.htm
3
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/cows-milk-cruel-unhealthy-
product/

2
2.Life of the baby cows?

Since the baby is separated from the mother, the food that eats is a
special formula that is prepared by the dairy industry itself for that organism to
grow. That again is a chemical. Depending upon the gender of the baby, if it is a
male, it is considered to be ‘useless’ to the dairy industry and thrown to slaughter
houses for making of leather belts, leather jackets, leather shoes, leather purse
etc. if that baby is a female she is put to the same torture as her mother. Wait till
it attains 15 months or attains age and the cycle begins.
This just does not stop with India but also other strong economical countries
such as US and UK.

3
In UK, Dairy is proving to be a vulnerable spot for the entire slaughter
racket. For at least six months of the year, she will often be confined inside dark
sheds. But a growing number of dairy farms in Britain use a “zero-grazing system”
in which cows spend their entire lives indoors, in increasingly intensive structures.

Although growth hormones are banned in the UK and  antibiotic use


is limited, a dairy cow can be given reproductive hormones and prescribed
antibiotics by a vet to ensure she is kept in a condition to produce an unnatural
amount of milk. Under normal circumstances, she would generally only have a
maximum of two liters of milk in her udder at any one time, but rapacious farmers
may force her to carry 20 liters or more. Her udder becomes so heavy that it makes
her lame and she often develops an agonizing infection called mastitis. The strain
this puts on her body means she is exhausted by the age of five.4

3. AFTERMATH OF MILK PRODUCTION:

The cow cannot produce milk in this manner throughout her


lifetime. In fact, she cannot have a natural lifetime also. Because of all this process
of compelled impregnating, the cow loses its energy and is completely exhausted.
It cannot retain its power and becomes weak, and this is where the dairy industry
plans to discard the cow and the money minded greed impregnates the cow once
again once last time and sells it to cow slaughtering unit, with the baby in its
womb.
The slaughter house, hangs the cow inverted; fully conscious, slits
its throat; fully conscious; it bleeds with the baby and finally dies to serve the
humans as “BEEF”. The main reason is that it weighs more with the baby in the
womb.

4.DESTROYS ENVIRONMENT:
Cows contribute to major emission of greenhouse gases especially
methane. Not only that, they also deplete the natural sources like water, when the
planet is running insufficient of it.5 To be statistically correct, according to the
WWF, there are approximately 270 million dairy cows worldwide – and the
average dairy cow uses about 4,954 gallons of water per day 6. Needless to say,
this heavily contributes to the depletion of natural resources. Cows also produce

4
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/30/dairy-scary-public-farming-calves-pens-alternatives
5
https://blog.wholesomeculture.com/here-are-the-3-worst-ethical-issues-of-the-dairy-industry/
6
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-dairy-industry-and-the-environment/

4
substantial amounts of greenhouse gas7, which has a considerable effect on global
warming. On top of that, dairy operations often degrade local water resources
through poor handling of fertilizers and manure8, which can lead to the destruction
of ecologically important areas like wetlands, forests, and prairies.

5. IT’S NOT TRUE:


We have been listening and hearing to our elders say that milk gives
calcium and is rich in protein. Well, that may be partially true but that is not the
ONLY source of all those protein and calcium 9. There is a reality check that this
article would want to provide, that milk has been statistically proven to have given
more fractures o regular consumers.10 It is also proven to have given people
ovarian cancers and prostate.
It is not just unethical but also unhealthy to consume milk. Milk can
undoubtedly be the source of protein and calcium, but that has to be out of natural
process and without the hands of the money-minded corporates in the name of
‘dairy industry’. The whole industry is manipulative saying that we get benefitted
out of it. Drink more milk to become as strong as a body-builder.

CONCLUSION:
The whole article was to give clarity to the consumers about why they
eat what they eat. The dairy industry has through the years developed the words of
our ancestors, that milk and its products make us strong and there is no other
alternate that comes on an equal footing as this. The industry has conveniently
changed what our ancestors wanted to deliver and now everybody is trapped
including those mammals. To an extent where even infants are being fed a
processed, manufactured completely unhealthy but claimed to be having all the
nutrient ingredients required at the back of the pack. Clearly it is about Nestle’s
CERELAC which is meant, and no species of mankind is left alone when it comes
to consumption of any by-product of milk.
Advertisements like, ‘Amul doodh pitha hai, India’, which means India
drinks Amul’s milk etc., which were strategies used to tempt people to get into
these unhealthy consumptions and make it a social standard. Importantly, ‘cheese’
was never a part of an Inidian meal, or neither was it even known to Indians if the
corporates weren’t there to introduce. 20 years fast forward, we see children and
the young adults and adolescents so addicted to it. Yes, the ‘well-aware’ generation

7
http://www.fao.org/3/k7930e/k7930e00.pdf
8
https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/dairy
9
https://www.livescience.com/49551-should-kids-drink-milk.html
10
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1149502

5
of all the generations is aware that cheese is unhealthy and not an Indian food and
are still pulling their tongue out and licking around the product.
Not only the sellers are making a fool out of consumers but also the
consumers are being the fools and puppets of the company’s play. There is a
concept that is necessary to be quoted in here, “caveat emptor” which is let the
buyer beware—a concept that is popularly argued in cases relating to sale of goods
act,1930. It is left to the consumer to choose wisely what goes inside the
beautifully wrapped gift of god, human body. In no way does the author wants to
stop people from drinking milk or consuming its by-products, it is at the end, the
choice of the consumer. In the changing era, the environment does change and so
should the mentality and dynamicity of the people in the society.

You might also like