Grass is greener

"Mad cows aside, why cat meat at all?" isthe question being posed by some today.The disease has managed to reopen thefamiliar debate on the advantages andthe wisdom of adopting vegetarianism.Mad cows seem to have instilled a fear insome flesh - eaters regarding the possibleoccurrence of brain damage caused bythe consumption of infected beef.Keepers of beef culture in the US are trying hard to allay unsubstantiated fearslike the one above arid encouragingAmerica's steak and hamburger loversto continue chomping away, But suchmorale boosting contrasts sharply with the mountains of statistics available onthe health care costs of meat-eating.

Heart disease, cancer and hypertension, apart from a host of other ailments, have been directly associated with flesh-eating habits. John A McDougall, the author of 'McDougall's Heart Medicine: Never Have a Heart Attack Again, says, "We have conic to accept cardiovascular disease as a natural consequence of living." From the point of view of the history of human diet, McDougall declares that "The American diet is the anomaly. But for many doctors, reaching out to the American public effectively would prove a formidable task, given the financial and propagandist power of the meatand cattle industry.