India: Scientists slam proposed research on cow products

By Cheena Kapoor

NEW DELHI (AA) - Over 500 Indian scientists are waiting for the response to their letter protesting government plans to fund research into the alleged curative properties of cow dung, urine, and milk.

In a letter to the Science and Technology Ministry, the scientists blasted the proposal as “unscientific.” The scientists called the proposal "an attempt to solidify the special status of cows" -- seen as holy animals by millions of Hindus in India -- thus preemptively biasing the conclusions, and so are at odds with scientific principles of objectivity.

One of the scientists, Aniket Sule, told Anadolu Agency that the government should not insist to go ahead with the project as he pointed out that the lack of financial supports has derailed "several important research projects" in the country.

"The present financial year has been a difficult one for most of the scientific institutes in the country. Several important research projects are getting derailed due to lack of adequate funds from the government. Several young researchers are getting their monthly fellowships inordinately delayed. In such a dismal funding situation, DST [Department of Science and Technology] actively canvassing proposals under such a dubious scheme is even more infuriating,” said Sule, a teacher at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, who helped draft the letter.

While admitting that they have received the letter of scientists, the ministry spokesman K.G. Sharma told Anadolu Agency on Thursday that the ministry was reviewing the letter and rejected to comment on this stage.

The scientists in the letter on Feb. 20 condemned the government’s rhetoric in elevating status of "the indigenous cows". The research funding is proposed to support researches on the prime products obtained from Indian "indigenous cows," which can be used for medicinal and health purposes, and utility products like toothpaste, shampoo and mosquito repellent, and how these products can help fight diabetes and cancer.

“The way the [proposal] document is framed, it does not encourage fair comparison with other breeds of cows around the world or other bovine species within India. Thus, it seems the purpose of this scheme is to pour in money to aid the confirmation bias of the proponents of this scheme. To begin a project with such presumptions is prima facie unscientific. We regret to note that such a flawed document issued by the DST (Department of Science & Technology) along with several other bodies of the Government of India will severely undermine the credibility of the Indian scientific establishment," the letter said.

Cows are considered sacred in Hinduism. Some scientists and petitioners believe that the idea of the research is another effort of the Indian government, run by the Hindu-nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), to give a special status to the cows.

There have been previous attempts made by the ruling party to promote research on cow products. The government had also set up a committee to screen research proposals to scientifically validate “panchgavya", a mixture of cow milk, curd, ghee, dung, and urine held by Ayurveda – a traditional healing system – texts to have curative properties in 2017.

Last year, a BJP Member of Parliament Sadhvi Pragya was widely criticized by oncologists when she claimed that cow urine cured her breast cancer.

Hate Crime Watch, a collaborative database by the Indian organization FactChecker, documented 254 reported incidents of crimes targeting religious minorities between January 2009 and October 2018, in which at least 91 persons were killed and 579 were injured.

About 90% of these attacks were reported after BJP came to power in May 2014, and 66% occurred in BJP-run states across the country. Muslims were victims in 62% of the cases and Christians in 14%, according to the report.

From June 2017 to the end of 2019, 81 more attacks occurred, killing 43 people, and leaving 144 injured, according to local media reports.

“The present ‘call for proposals’ (CFP) is drafted unscientifically from start to finish. The document is full of statements prefaced by ‘it is believed’. Science cannot presume the validity of beliefs, however, commonly held. Validity has to be put to test, which is absent in the CFP. Scientific research on cow products cannot presume the efficacies presumed in the CFP," the letter added.

The community of scientists on Feb. 14 opened the letter for signing -- asking the government to withdraw the call for proposals and reformulate it to encourage an open inquiry -- and received 110 signatures within the first 72 hours.