Archive for April, 2009

  By  Kollengode  S  Venkataraman  — Published in April 2009

Given the partisanship among the members of Congress, talking heads and punditocrats, we need to take it seriously when Democrats and Republicans agree on anything. That is what happened on February 24 when the talking heads started billowing their opinions on TV moments after Louisiana’s GOP Governor Bobby Jindal ended his response to President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress. These were the captions to news stories the next morning:  

New York Times: Governor Jindal, Rising G.O.P. Star, Plummets After Speech

Washington Post:Republicans, Democrats Criticize Jindal’s speech

Washington Post’s’ Media Notes: How bad was Jindal?

Los Angeles Times:  GOP not pleased with Jindal’s speech

AP’s Beth Fouhy: Republicans, Democrats criticize Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s speech on style and substance

Chris Mathew, a liberal, on MSNBC muttered “Oh God!” as Jindal strode into his microphone from his ornate governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge. A blogger on Wonkette.com gave an Indian twist in jest:  “Oh Ganesha!”

But among Jindal’s detractors were David Brooks of New York Times, Brit Hume of Fox, and Charles Krauthammer of Washington Post, all Conservatives. Only Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were defending Gov. Jindal.

As an Indian-American, I am not at all unhappy at the whacking Gov. Jindal received. He is a Brown University graduate (biology major), and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He got admission into Harvard med school, which he did not pursue. With this background, as governor, he signed a bill that allows teaching of the Biblical story of creation (according to which the universe is only 6000 years old) in science classes in schools in Louisiana.

In his GOP response to Obama’s address Gov. Jindal said this on the federal government spending the $140 million for volcano monitoring: “Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.” Commentators berated Jindal right away on how he would have responded if the money went for hurricane monitoring systems along the Louisiana Coast.

For a man of his upbringing and high quality education, Jindal is appallingly ignorant in his understanding of this vast nation’s metropolitan areas precariously tied to the vagaries of geography — earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, snow storms… …

After his state using all the resources of FEMA including the US military and the billions of federal money for Katrina relief, Jindal said this: “Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts…. …

“There’s a lesson in this experience: The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and the enterprising spirit of our citizens.” And then this doublespeak: “We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from across the nation for our ongoing recovery efforts. This spirit got Louisiana through the hurricanes, and this spirit will get our nation through the storms we face today.” 

Gov. Jindal believes that society can manage the rescue efforts for a Katrina-type hurricane with human and material resources entirely from volunteer efforts of citizenry alone. Does Jindal really believe New Orleans could have managed the social and material wreckage of Katrina without tax-payer funded FEMA coming to the rescue? If he does, he needs to grow up quite a bit before dreaming himself standing at the portals of the White House as a future occupant.

I, for one, am glad that not only he was berated by both the liberals and conservatives, but also ridiculed in late-night comedy shows. 

One hopes Jindal does not represent the mindset of the thousands of children of Indian immigrants born and raised in the US in cozy middle-class Indian homes. If he does, that should scare all of us. — END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman (Published in April 2009)

Many religious places of worship, including Hindu temples, consider it special to adorn their icons/deities and decorate their floats with coverings made of precious metals and gemstones, and use them on special occasions. The metal covering is called Kavacham in Sanskrit, meaning “sheath.”

Hindu Temples with modest resources have relatively less expensive silver kavachams (silver price is only small fraction of gold’s). However, for temples with better resources, the preference is the gold kavacham not only on their deities, but also for floats and even dwaja-sthambham (traditional flagstaff) in front of the temple.

Resourceful temples have used solid gold sheets. The well-known example is Amritsar’s Golden Temple. A much older sheathing with solid gold plates is at the Chidambaram temple, done during the Chola’s time a millennia ago. Traditional goldsmiths in India have been preserving for centuries the intricate artwork on metal carving/engraving.

Temples want inexpensive gold coverings:  With the gold price hovering around $950/oz, making kavachams with solid gold sheets is prohibitively expensive even for rich temples. So, simulated gold kavachams have become the staple. In making these “gold” kavacham, very thin foils of gold are worked onto the surface of less expensive copper kavacham.

Traditional Gold-Plating Techniques:  Making these “gold” kavacham uses mercury at high temperatures for working gold foils onto the copper substrate through amalgamation. Handling mercury at high temperatures gives out mercury vapors, a deadly poison with high toxicity when ingested into the body. See the health deadly effects of mercury poisoning at the end.  One four-step technique of making “gold” kavacham follows:

1.  Making a rigid kavacham using 1 to 2-mm thick copper plate. Copper is malleable for artisans to engrave intricate details such as ornaments, facial expressions, and sartorial details on the kavachams. It is also less expensive. Traditional artisans do an outstanding job in engraving most intricate details on metal kavachams. 

The next is to giving a gold covering on the copper kavacham. Modern gold electroplating using cyanide baths, a known technology, is one option. This requires strict safety and industrial hygiene practices because of the use of deadly cyanides. But gold electroplating of the kavacham is difficult because of their unwieldy sizes and shapes. The other difficulty is the poor quality of the gold plating on uneven surfaces with intricate details.

So, temples contract the work to traditional metal smiths in India, who have preserved a centuries-old 3-step technique developed in the pre-industrial revolution era that uses mercury and high temperatures.

2.  They heat the copper kavacham pieces to around 200 deg C, and smear the copper surface with the liquid metallic mercury. At these temperatures mercury forms an amalgam with the copper surface. But it also releases deadly mercury vapors in the vicinity of the furnace.

3.   Separately, they make foils of pure gold, which is quite malleable.  The foils are only tens of microns thick (1 micron = 1/1000 millimeter).

4.  They then re-heat the amalgamated copper kavacham pieces obtained in step 2, and painstakingly work the thin gold foils on the heated mercury-rich copper surface. The gold foil forms an amalgam with mercury on the copper substrate and adheres to the copper base. During this high-temperature process, the mercury already on the surface again vaporizes.

Workers exposed to high amounts of mercury vapors:  The boiling point of mercury is relatively low, only 356 deg C. Therefore, at the working temperatures around 200 deg C , mercury vaporizes into air.

The concentration of mercury is the highest in the immediate vicinity of the heating furnace where the metal smiths work.  This cottage industry is totally unregulated in India and it is inevitable that workers ingest the mercury vapors through breathing, mouth and also through their skin.

In all likelihood, even in the finished kavacham pieces, the mercury concentration would be high on the surfaces of the kavacham. 

Mercury poisoning is deadly:  Mercury, once ingested, is not readily flushed out of the body. The website www.noamalgam.com lists the deadly incurable and progressively degenerative diseases caused by mercury poisoning. Mercury poisoning leads to premature death of people exposed to mercury vapors. That is the reason why it is banned in tooth filling and in thermometers. 

The safe exposure limits for mercury adapted by WHO is 0.46 microgram/day/kg of body weight. (Note: 1 microgram is 0.000001 of a gram).  Obviously working near the furnace will expose people to high levels of mercury, likely to be several hundreds, possibly even thousands of times above the safe working limit.   

The reason for the silence: Traditional metal smiths have preserved the technique for generations, keeping it within their families/clan. Since the technique is preserved within their families, the incomes also stay within their families. Since they are also the sole beneficiaries of this lucrative business, they do not complain.

The temples also keep quite because it gives them inexpensive “gold” kavachams, far less expensive than solid gold coverings. And the ordinary temple-goers rarely know the details of the kavacham-making techniques to understand the associated health risks.

Indian-Americans are better educated with higher degrees in health care, chemistry and engineering. Hence the purpose of this write-up is to raise the awareness of the serious health risks for workers making these gold kavachams.

Once people recognize the dangers of mercury poisoning, one hopes it would lead to some soul-searching among the decision makers on whether we need these mercury-laced “gold” kavachams at all. After all, will we ever let our children go anywhere near the kavacham making furnace?

Partial list of diseases caused by mercury poisoning: 

Addison’s disease, gastritis, allergies, hypogonadism, Alzheimer’s’ disease, hypothyroidism, Amylotrophic lateral sclerosis, infertility, ankylosing spondylitis, insomnia, anorexia nervosa, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, juvenile arthritis.

Asthma, learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, lupus, erythromatosus, autoimmune diseases, manic depression, bipolar disorder, multiple chemical sensitivities, borderline personality disorder, multiple sclerosis, bulimia, myasthenia gravis, candidacies, obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Chronic fatigue, panic attacks, colitis, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, pervasive developmental disorder, depression, psychosis, endocrine disorders, schizophrenia, fibromyalgia, sciatica, food allergies. — END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman (Published in April 2009)

America’s ascension in economic, military, and political strength comes out of its commitment to research in basic and applied sciences and using  the findings to make money through profitable technology, not worrying too much about whether the technologies are useful or even ethical.

In this endeavor, thousands of scientists and researchers have spent, and continue to spend, the most productive years of their careers to continuously improve our understandings of Nature’s mysteries. On  top of this heap of Seekers of Truth are those who receive global recognitions for their work. Needless to say, without the big heap, there is no peak.

That is why researchers from the American soil (both as native-born and as immigrants) have dominated Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine, and economics throughout the 20th century.

So, there was no need for a US president to declare in his inaugural speech the nation’s commitment to science. Yet, that is what President Obama did: “We will restore science to its rightful place…”

He was alluding that in the last twenty-five years dogma borne out of deeply held religious beliefs took precedence over science in national debates on applying newer insights in science and discoveries in technology to modern life.

Since science in its essence is value-neutral, it is necessary for people to raise questions on how we apply science to make a profit, or worse still, to cause pain and suffering on helpless people as in wars – by using sophisticated guided missiles, land mines, and chemical warfare, and damaging the environment with chemical defoliants.

It is natural for people – officials of organized religions, including religious believers, and even unaffiliated citizens — to be uncomfortable when new findings in science and technologies challenge our deeply held beliefs. That is precisely what scientific discoveries are supposed to do: Challenge our beliefs on the basis of improved understanding of Nature. 

But when such discomforts get organized through selective opposition on the basis of religious/political dogma, it carries less moral weight.  

As a matter of fact, throughout history in the Western world,
almost every new scientific discovery was opposed by its religious orthodoxy of that era. Galileo’s assertion in 16th century that earth revolved around sun (originally suggested by Copernicus) was so disturbing to the Vatican’s orthodoxy that he was excommunicated. Only in 20th century, the Vatican decided to correct itself. 

Similarly, the church opposed initially anesthesia, blood transfusion, organ transplants, in vitro fertilization, and now embryonic stem cell research, supposedly on ethical grounds, but actually dosed heavily on dogma. The church also denies the findings of evolutionary biology.

As expected, President Obama in early March issued an executive order ending the President George W. Bush’s ban on embryonic stem cell research.  Embryonic stem cell research has the potential for finding cures for several chronic and denerative diseases that currently need expensive life-long medications and treatment or no treatment at all.

Often, losing the argument, the religious orthodoxy embraced science.  Where it did not embrace, its opposition eventually became irrelevant, as in the case of use of contraceptives. I wonder why religious orthodoxies has no stand on the use of Viagra by senile men.

Given this atmosphere, it was refreshing to hear President Obama declare, “We will restore science to its rightful place… …”

The second phrase that stood out was when President Obama
talked about faith.  This is what he said:  “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers……”  

President Obama included nonbelievers among the people of faith, who believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing, merciful God who occasionally unleashes his wrath on man. As an agnostic, but practicing Hindu, I was fascinated not by Obama including Hindus, but by Obama including nonbelievers.

In the abstract, one can argue that a dogmatic nonbelief itself is a belief. For now, I set aside this verbal gymnastics. 

In the last twenty-five years in the US, an impression is created subliminally in political and social discourse that nonbelievers, though not evil, are amoral, not guided by any morality. But as we have seen repeatedly, evil and the absence of moral and ethical compass are equal-opportunity human traits. Throughout history, more violence and evil were let loose by believers among themselves and towards others as well.

And often, leaders of organized faiths in all religions have displayed total lack of ethics and morality that they preach for others. As a matter of empirical observation, many nonbelievers and even atheists lead very ethical lives. And many theists live diabolically given to debauchery.

For many in the West and Indians as well, it is incomprehensible that you can have religions without the need for God as the fulcrum. Two such religions are very old, at least five centuries years before Christ. Both these faiths have very sophisticated works on its doctrines, ethics, and even dogma. And both are born in India.

One is Buddhism, founded by Gautama Siddhartha in the fifth century BC, after his decades-long search for answers to human misery. Gautama Buddha’s teachings are so sophisticated that he completely bypasses the need for God, neither denying nor affirming the idea of God. Buddhism’s early works on the 8-way path does not invoke God, does not plead for God’s mercy, and does not supplicate God for not unleashing his wrath.

The Buddha’s central message is: Life is difficult, transient, and full of pain. Sarvam duhkham sarvam anityam.  But the Buddha was not a pessimist. Far from it. He offeres a way out giving a general path out of misery that one needs to travel by oneself, something he traversed himself.

Jainism, consolidated in the 6th century BC by Vardhaman Mahaveera, the 24th Tirthankara* in the Jain tradition, is atheistic in its essence. Its idea in karma is simply this: “Hey Guy, You find yourself in the ditch mostly because of your own actions. Now you need to get out of the ditch. Many others have done it. You can do it too. While others can be your inspiration, only you can get yourself out. The effort has to be yours.”

Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism all believe in Karma. Buddhism and Jainism, however, without the need for invoking and believing in the idea of God, show people a way out of misery with their own self-effort. 

Even within the Hindu fold, non-belief is never condemned. As a matter of fact, non-belief is a well-accepted idea within the Hindu fold.  Sankhya, one of the six schools (Shad-darshanas, or Six Views) in the Hindu tradition, for example, is atheistic. 

If you associate people’s morality and with their faith in God, how do you explain this?: The atheistic Jainism is totally committed to nonviolence not only toward other human beings, but also towards all other living beings. Even Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was influenced by his Gujarati upbringing, which is a melding of Jainism and Hinduism.

And in many parts of India, even today, Jain charities are well known in hospice care, and running hospitals and educational institutions.

Ido not know how many US presidents have come out so openly
embracing nonbelievers.  But in an environment where religious and political establishments were demonizing nonbelievers in their rhetoric, it was refreshing to hear President Obama’s nuanced approach to belief.

*Tirthankara in Sanskrit means “He who has crossed over the ocean of samsara or Life”, and Vardhamana Mahavira is the 24th Tirthankara. — END

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