THE COW URINE COCKTAIL TO COMPETE WITH COCA-COLA

Hindus plan cow urine drink to rival Western sodas
A hardline Hindu organisation, known for its opposition to "corrupting" Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow's urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.
The flavour is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism's revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
Many Hindus consider cow urine to have medicinal properties and it is often drunk in religious festivals.
The organisation, which aims to transform India's secular society and establish the supremacy of a Hindu majority, said it had not decided on a name or a price for the drink.
"Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes. All are curable by cow urine," Om Prakash, the head of the RSS Cow Protection Department, told Reuters by phone.
Prakash, who is based in Hardwar, one of four holy Hindu cities on the river Ganges where the world's largest religious gathering takes place, said the product will be sold nationwide but did not rule out international success.
"It is useful for the whole country and the world as well. It will be done through shops and through corporates," he said.
The Hindu group has campaigned against foreign imports such as Pepsi and Coca Cola in the past, which it sees as a corrupting influence and a tool of Western imperialism.
The RSS was temporarily banned after a Hindu mob tore down a mosque in 1992 which lead to bloody religious riots.
The Shiv Sena, a hardline Hindu political party also known for attacking what it sees as threats to Indian culture such as Valentine's Day, started a similar initiative last year to appeal to its powerbase in Mumbai.
To promote the food of the native Marathi culture, the Shiv Sena said it was "making a chain like McDonalds" to sell a popular local fried snack.

INDIAN ASBESTOS SPECIAL ASBESTOS ?

National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) is conducting a study at a cost of some 100,000 euro to look at the potential hazards of white asbestos (Chrystolite). This is now very ridiculous since the asbestos discussion was already started some 30 years ago in the US and Europe with the final result that asbestos is defined and worldwide recognized as a cancerogenic and even a single cristal e.g. in the lungs can provoke a cancer. The result was also that for enormeous cost buildings had to come down or had to be sanatized for millions of dollars because there roofs or insulating materials contained asbestos. All covers of brakes of cars had to be changed and assurance agencies are paying billions of dollars to people formerly exposed to asbestos.
But now India , having no money to keep there existing streets in order , provide electricity and water on a regular base to his population has to repeat this research. And this in a country where even for the weather forecast they rely more on the stipulations of western forecast than on the Indian, admitting that the sensors, equipment and software tools they are using are less adequate.
What is even more astonishing is that the Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association will contribute with some 32,000 euro to this investigation. That is as the tobacco industry would contribute to the investigation of the danger of smoking.
WHY not using the money to recapitulate the evaluation of the risk of the use of DDT to fight malaria and dengue instead of repeating measurements already performed years ago with less efficient measurment tools.