Just as ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, has created all things, HE has prepared a natural way for HIS creatures to follow. Man, the highest level of HIS creation, has sometimes felt above such constraints and has pursued his own whims and desires. This has resulted in some advances and some declines in the quality of life and prosperity. In a recent column in the Arab News, titled A Catastrophe, Abdullah Bajubeer, addressed one of these instances. In his column, Bajubeer states that, as a young student he learned there were two groups of mammals, carnivores and herbivores. The carnivores were meat eaters. Lions are an example of a carnivore. The herbivores were plant eaters. Cows, sheep and goats are examples of herbivores.

When the natural state is altered, changes occur which are not always for the best. As Bajubeer continues, man, lusting with greed, decided that mixing animal protein with cattle feed would speed up the development of the cattle and result in quicker maturity and greater weight gain. This was more profitable than waiting for the normal growth cycle. In addition, it eliminated some of the waste produced by the meat industry.

As we now know, the result of this is BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease. This can be passed on to humans consuming the meat of affected cows and is called CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease.

A recent article by Clare Pedrick discussed some of the factors about this disease. In humans, the disease "eats away at the victims' brain, causing dementia, loss of limb control and finally death".

BSE was first discovered in Britain in 1986. Since that time, over 180,000 affected cattle have been discovered and over 90 people have died of the disease. BSE has since been discovered in most of the other nations of the European Union (EU).

The threat of BSE comes not only from infected cattle, but also from contaminated meat and bone meal (MBM), used as feed. The problem is not limited to the herds in the EU. Countries that have imported cattle or feed from the EU are also at risk. In fact, Britain continued to export feed after it was banned in the UK and some importing countries re-exported the feed to others. The article suggests that very few countries are safe from the problem, with the developing countries at greater risk because they do not have the systems and facilities to detect and deal with the problem. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) suggests that MBM should be banned. The only exceptions it places are on MBM from Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, who have not imported MBM or cattle from the affected nations.

The threat may go beyond the beef itself, reaching ingredients such as gelatin, which is derived from the hooves and hides of cattle. As an ingredient, gelatin is found in many food products and pharmaceuticals.

Many countries have now banned imports of beef and feed from the affected nations and this is having a major impact on the economics of the affected beef industries.

Studies are underway to determine if BSE can be transmitted to humans through milk consumption.

In the US, there have yet to be any cases of BSE discovered and precautions are being taken in limiting or banning imports of beef and MBM from affected countries.

GOD has endowed man with the ability to think and reason. That is a gift, which must be used wisely and not abused for short term or personal gains. It is not always easy to remember this, especially in a fast paced society where we sometimes lose sight of our purpose. When the farmers of yesteryear raised their herds, they took care of each and every animal. They grazed their animals in the best pastures and they cared for each and every animal as they would their own children. Even at slaughter time, they slaughtered with gentleness and caring and did so with the conscious knowledge they were doing so to provide food for the community. In our day of mass production, providing food has become a business or a job, which we come to in the morning and return from in the evening, with everything in between being a blur. We need to reflect on what we do and why we are doing it, and recognize there is a higher authority WHO has established certain limits that we should not overstep.