Guest guest Posted October 20, 2000 Report Share Posted October 20, 2000 - "Jayapataka Swami (GBC)" <Jayapataka.Swami (AT) pamho (DOT) net> "ISCOWP (Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi - USA)" <ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net> Thursday, October 19, 2000 6:14 AM Don't wear dead animals on your feet > Here is an article you might find interesting. > > Yours in service, > > Jayapataka Swami > > ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- > > Letter PAMHO:3599769 (294 lines) > Sumithra Krishna (das) JPS (Chennai - IN) > 05-Oct-00 14:52 +0630 > Jayapataka Swami (GBC) [65655] (received: 05-Oct-00 06:02 -0400) > Tusti Mohan Krsna (das) JPS (JPS Off. MYR-IN) [15714] (received: > 06-Oct-00 06:11 +0900) > ulrika lembach <salikas > (sent: 05-Oct-00 10:28 +0200) > Answers To KC Questions (Jaya Pataka Swami) [1108] > Reference: Text PAMHO:3588579 by Jayapataka Swami (GBC) > Comment: Text 18392 by Jayapataka Swami (GBC) {107} > Don't wear dead animals on your feet > --------------------------- > This is an article from the website www.indya.com regarding leather goods. > > > Ys > > Sumithra Krishna das > > > > > Dear Guru Maharaj, > > > > > > PAMH+RO. AGTSP and to YDG. > > > > > > Is it sinful to use leather goods, e. g. shoes, > > bags, > > > etc, that I bought before knowing about Krsna > > > consciousness? > > > What is the exact reason why we shouldn't cook in > > pots > > > that have been used for cooking non-veg.? > > > > > > Hope this finds YDG in good health. > > > > > > Your fallen servant > > > Ulrika > > > > > Stop the slaughter > > indya.com presents an exclusive appearance by Maneka Gandhi(Union Minister) > > I often meet vegetarians who would "die" rather than eat meat. A closer look > shows a leather watch strap/bag/shoes. > > These are the excuses I then hear: > a) I am vegetarian due to health, not animal welfare reasons. > b) I buy my leather products from Khadi Gram Udyog because the animal died > naturally. > c) There is no alternative in India to leather. I can't go round in rubber > chappals or use cloth jholas. > d) The plastic alternatives are environmentally unfriendly because they come > from petrochemical products and are non biodegradable. > e) (This comes from the evolved environmentalists) I can't use cotton > because it's grown with chemical pesticides and fertilisers. > f) The animal was killed for its meat. Leather is only a by-product so there > is no harm in using it. > g) (I promise this is true) What nonsense - leather does not come from the > skin of animals. > h) I am helping poor people by buying leather products. > > I think all these myths should be dealt with. > > Myth: Leather is a by-product of the meat industry. > Reality: India is the largest leather manufacturer in the world. This > business running into lakhs of skins daily is not going to wait for > slaughterhouse skins alone. Leather is not an incidental product of rearing > of animals for meat. > > Although the skins and hides of sheep and goats are a small source of raw > material for tanners, cattle hide and calf skin account for most footwear > and leather goods. These are derived from millions of cattle slaughtered > annually, including dairy cattle. Speciality leather is made from deer, > alligators, lizards, sharks, snakes, crocodiles, and other exotic species, > which are killed solely for this purpose. > > In India very few people eat cattle meat. Many people exaggerate, for > political reasons, the amount of buffalo meat eaten by Muslims. But, all > studies show that Muslims eat mainly the same meat as Hindus - goat and > chicken meat. > > Cattle in India are slaughtered primarily for their skins and very often the > meat is thrown away. > Also people eat the meat that is locally available to them. The millions of > cattle that are jam-packed into trains and trucks to go to West Bengal and > Kerala to be slaughtered are only going for the leather industry, as 90 per > cent of them die from overcrowding and starvation during the journey and > their meat cannot be eaten. Even the vultures don't touch it! > > Myth: Leather comes from the skins of animals that have died of natural > causes. > Reality: This is a myth put out by the Khadi Gram Udyog. How can such a > large organisation with retail outlets in every state of India ensure a > steady supply of carcasses? Do they have people scouting all the villages > collecting the bodies of cattle and buffaloes that waste away after 20 > years? > > Besides, have you seen the skin of an old animal? Its hide is patched and > worn. There is no way you can produce uniform quality leather goods randomly > collecting the skins of such aged beasts. Mahatma Gandhi's Khadi Gram Udyog > has no business selling leather. > > An interview conducted with the main buyers of Khadi Gram Udyog revealed > that they gave the contract for their leather supply to contractors that > supplied leather for normal footwear in the leather industry. Which means > that there was no question of using or even differentiating between cattle > killed for leather and cattle that died naturally. > > All the leather in India comes from young cattle. This, in spite of a > Parliament law and state laws that forbid the killing of cattle under 14-16 > years (some states say 14, others 16). Calf leather is specifically > forbidden but leather sellers advertise it openly. Which calves die > naturally? > > Myth: The animals spend contented lives grazing in fields and are sent to > slaughter because they are old. > Reality: Leather is not taken from old cows but from cattle sent to > slaughter. Cattle are selectively bred and subjected to a range of cruel > procedures, including artificial insemination, artificial weaning and > feeding, dosing with antibiotics, castration, marking, and the separation of > cow and calf within a few days of birth. > > As a consequence of undergoing a vicious cycle of pregnancy and lactation, > dairy cows are especially susceptible to mastitis and lameness. Once they > are sick they are killed. Their male calves are murdered in millions each > year to provide tanneries with highly valued fine grain skin, used for shoe > uppers, jackets, gloves and wallets. > > Kidskin leather is from baby goats. However, the most prized skin used to > make soft suede is obtained from unborn calves, which means their mothers > are beaten to make them abort and the foetus is skinned and sold. > > The natural life expectancy of a cow is 20 years, yet beef cattle are killed > at one to three years and dairy cows at three to seven years due to disease > (36 per cent), poor yield (28 per cent) and the inability to calve (36 per > cent). They are killed to make more money for their owners from the sale of > their body parts including meat and leather. > > Myth: Unlike a wild fur-bearing animal, the meat (leather) producing animal > is killed humanely. > Reality: At the very least, transportation to the slaughterhouse causes > animals severe stress. Packed in cramped conditions, they may suffer heat > exhaustion, heart attacks, bruising, hunger, dehydration, and broken bones, > before reaching the slaughterhouses. > > The law says that only twelve cattle can be put into one train bogey. In > reality each train carries over 44 cattle squashed together in each bogey. > The law says that only four cattle can be put in a truck. Over 75 are often > thrown into one, their limbs and tails broken to make more room. > > Their noses are tied together and ten of them made to march hundreds of > miles. If one falls, its tailbones are broken and chillies put in its eyes > till it stands up again. If it dies, it is skinned on the spot. > > Once in the slaughterhouse they are killed in the most crude and cruel > manner. The knives are rusty and the workers callous and untrained. Butchers > need possess no formal qualification or training. In mechanised > slaughterhouses in Andhra Pradesh, boiling water is poured on the animal and > its skin stripped while it is still alive and hanging upside down. > > In Kerala, the head is smashed in with a hammer - often up to 20 blows being > given before the animal dies. Many of the butchers are children. > > Myth: Unlike plastic alternatives, leather products are > environment-friendly. > Reality: Tanneries not only emit unpleasant odours, they produce a host of > pollutants - including lead, zinc, formaldehyde, dyes, and cyanide based > chemicals. And added to the equation is the devastating environmental impact > of raising livestock. Animal slurry is probably the major cause of water > pollution: cattle, sheep and other ruminants are one of the main sources of > global warming. > > Methane and nitrogen in animal waste volatises to form ammonia - the single > greatest cause of acid rain; the felling of trees for livestock grazing, and > the amount of young shoots and grass eaten results in soil erosion. > > Farm animals compete with us for land, water, and fuel, and consume five to > ten times as much primary plant food as people. > > Turning animal hides into leather is an energy intensive and polluting > practice. The Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology states: "On > the basis of quantity of energy consumed per unit of product, the leather > manufacturing industry would be categorised with aluminium, paper, steel, > cement and petroleum manufacturing industries as a gross consumer of > energy." > > "Production of leather basically involves soaking (bean house), tanning, > dyeing, drying and finishing. Over 95 per cent leather production is chrome > tainted. The effluent that must be treated is primarily related to the bean > house and tanning operations. The most difficult to treat is the effluent > from the tanning process." > > All wastes containing chrome are considered hazardous. Many other pollutants > employed by the processing of leather are considered primary environment and > health risks. In terms of disposal, one would think that leather products > would be biodegradable. But the primary function for a tanning agent is to > stabilise the collagen or protein fibres so that they are no longer bio- > degradable. > > If that were not enough, leather production causes serious water pollution > as well. India has so far taken a loan of Rs. 2000 crores to try and clean > the Ganges of the effluents poured into it from Kanpur's leather industries. > No success so far. > > Myth: Leather is a major money earner for India. It is also a major > employer. > Reality: Don't think that you are doing social service for India by buying > leather. The leather manufacturers pay no taxes, as it is a small-scale > industry. The leather exporters who earn 1.5 billion dollars pay no taxes. > > In fact the government pays them incentives to export. The people who are > involved by the leather industry are mainly on the tanning side; they flay > the skins, soak them in chemicals, et al. > > Many of these people earn the lowest possible wages and die very young > because of the cyanide, chrome and other chemicals that they steep > themselves in. Compensation is not paid nor any precautions taken for their > safeties, as the leather manufacturers claim to be small scale themselves. > > Every time they fall sick, which is within months of this oppressive labour, > the government foots their major medical bills and the owner of the tannery > gets himself another poor person to exploit. The happy parts of the leather > trade-the actually making of shoes and garments-is all done by machine. > > Do the leather manufacturers pay for the forests that have been destroyed by > the cattle grazing on them? Do they pay for the water sources that have > dried up as a result of forest cover disappearing? No, they take an animal > that has fed on land that is called common land and denuded it. > > The Government's Ministry for Wasteland Development then pays money to NGOs > for these lands to be greened again. Do the leather manufacturers pay the > Ministry? No. They make the money and India pays the bill. Which means you > pay for the enormous wealth of the leather manufacturer. > > Many Western countries are increasingly turning to leather alternatives. > China, which used to be the largest leather exporter, is now the world's > largest synthetic leather exporter. Countries like Thailand are following > suit. Most European countries that used to produce leather have passed the > environmental burden to India and now merely either take the finished hide > or use synthetics. > > A look at the Internet listings for leather alternative throws up more than > 12,000 links for all sorts of non-cruelty, non-leather items. The > Compassionate Shopper regularly lists companies that sell non-leather shoes > for instance. > > Do you want to help India's environment and join its anti-cruelty team? > First make a list of all the leather items in your life: > Watch straps, shoes, wallets, jackets, belts, drums (tablas), bags, > briefcases, hats, furniture covers, pants and other garments, cricket balls, > footballs, jewellery cases, spectacle cases, key chains, bookbinding, > lampshades, toys, gloves. > > There are so many alternatives to each. Suede-like materials for garments > (both leather and suede are so silly to use in a hot country like India), > cloth wallets and bags. Canvas belts with brass buckles. Spalding > manufactures synthetic leather volleyballs, footballs and basketballs. > > Cotton or spandex can replace leather gloves; synthetic fibre skin on drums > is as good. Waxed cloth and faux leather for jackets. Plastic, jute, canvas > and EKKO-a new non-polluting combination of natural and synthetic rubber are > commonly available. > > The most widely purchased item is shoes. What are you looking for? Something > eye catching, water resistant, durable, allowing your feet to breathe? Who > says that these qualities can't be found in non-leather shoes? > > Vegetarian shoes not only outlast leather but also require less maintenance, > as they don't have to be polished. High quality non-leather is > water-resistant and also allows the feet to breathe. Nike, Adidas and Reebok > have animal free shoes. Chlorenol (called Hydrolite in Adidas and Durabuck > in Nike) is an innovative new material that stretches round the foot with > the same flexibility as leather. > > Some non-leather companies have introduced cork and hemp shoes with a > contoured cork footbed. Companies like Action Shoes and Bata say that they > have a vast line of non-leather shoes for men, women and children. Non > leather shoe shops like Rinaldis in Mumbai have the most beautiful shoes > possible. > > Anyone who wants to go into collaboration with a foreign non-leather company > will find himself rich. Especially now since the West is stopping leather > import from India. Anything China can do we can do better! > > Here are a few hints: > Some people complain that vinyl shoes squeak. Put a little mineral oil, hand > cream or any lubricant between the noisy surfaces. > Many patent leather shoes are in fact synthetic. Look for the man made > material label on it. Leatherette is not leather. It is high quality vinyl. > > Don't wear dead animals on your feet. If the cow is your sacred animal don't > let her be killed for your needs. The wearer is responsible for the killer > and ignorance is no defence. You are the person who makes the money for the > leather industry and destroys India's environment as well. > > Is your pair of shoes worth the Ganges River or the Himalayan hillsides or > your State forest sanctuary? All of them are contained in the leather that > you buy. Purchasing leather goods helps to make the rearing and killing of > over 600 million cattle, goats a year in the country a profitable business, > and maintains a demand that can be satisfied only by the taking of life. > > Make an effort to find non-leather items and ask each leather shop you know > to stock non-leather goods as well. You will see how quickly the message > spreads. > (Text PAMHO:3599769) ------ > > ------- End of Forwarded Message ------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.