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HEALTH WATCH
Living The Vegan Way
PETA argues that avoiding dairy products has health
and environmental benefits
 It
promises to be a long battle But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA), an international animal-rights organisation, is bravely working
on a "Go Vegan" campaign in India all the same. No, you didn't
read that wrong. Veganism (as opposed to vegetarianism) involves avoiding
not just meat, fish and eggs, but also all dairy products-which means
no milk, cheese, paneer, curd or whey. PETA has forwarded advertisements
to 1,500 green groups in the country asking them to publish these in their
newsletters, and requesting them to take a policy stand on the issue.
It will also issue press ads soon. Veganism, the organisation argues,
has health, environmental and ethical benefits: protection of female animals
that are repeatedly impregnated to keep up the constant milk production,
for one. The important point for Indians, says Jason Baker, PETA's representative
in the country, is that "a low-fat vegan diet could actually reverse
heart disease. Besides, a large percentage of Indians are lactose intolerant
and anyway shouldn't be consuming milk and milk products for health reasons".
Dr Sunil Modi, senior cardiologist with Indraprastha Apollo Hospital,
Delhi, takes a more moderate stand: "Milk and milk products are the
only source of cholesterol in a vegetarian diet. It is not milk but milk
fat that is harmful. When the fat is removed, we should remember that
dairy products contain nutrients such as proteins that are good for the
body."
Where PETA risks antagonising members of the
meat-eating public is its criticism of non-vegetarians on moral grounds,
saying their food habits intrinsically involve "hurting another living
creature". But don't plants feel pain when they are destroyed for
consumption? PETA argues that plants don't have a central nervous system
so they don't feel pain and suffering. "And even if you and I did
not eat plants, other animals would, so the least cruel thing would be
to eat the plant directly," adds Baker. "Don't get me wrong,
I don't approve of animals in the wild eating other animals either, but
the billion chickens that were consumed in India last year are a greater
priority for me than the few animals that get eaten in the wild."
He then winds up the discussion by mailing a poster entitled "How
to Win An Argument with a Meat Eater". The jury is still out on this
one.
—Anna M.M. Vetticad
IN SMALL DOSES
 Can't
Break this Heart: Plastic hearts could well be the future. A 50-year-old
American who was expected to die within 30 days is recovering well after
he underwent the world's first transplant of a self-contained artificial
heart last month. The heart was developed by the US company Abiomed. The
device weighs around 1 kg and has a motor that drives plastic valves and
membranes. There are quite a few advantages: the body does not reject
the artificial transplant and so the patient does not have to take immune
suppression drugs. At $75,000 (Rs 35 lakh), the cost could, however, be
the cause of another heart attack.
 Car
Tombs: Parents be warned- leaving your child in the car can be a dangerous
decision in summer. A Thai Public Health Ministry study shows that 20
minutes in the sun can make the car hazardously hot. The interiors could
heat up to 51 degrees Celsius when the temperature outside is 34 degrees.
Children are more vulnerable because their body temperature increases
three-four times faster than an adult's in a closed place. This cost 120
children their lives in the US last year. Hopefully, such mishaps will
now be prevented.
 Limited
Brainpower: Managers take note: it really is better to do one thing
at a time. Brain scans published in the August issue of the journal Neuro
Image show that the brain has only a finite capacity to handle demanding
tasks. Eighteen volunteers had their brain scanned while doing one or
two demanding tasks such as listening to complex sentences and judging
them to be true or false and rotating 3-D figures mentally. The study,
considered "well-executed" by top scientists, shows that if
people try to do two tasks that require simultaneous attention, the brain
activity involved in both the tasks decreases. Neither gets the full power
required.
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