Blow Your Horn

"'God resides in cow dung,' says Kesari Gumat, as he walks through his laboratory where researchers mix bovine excreta with medicinal herbs and monitor beakers of simmering cow urine.

The lab in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad is one of a growing number of research centres which have embraced the sacred status of cows in India and sought to push it to a new level.

Promoting the practical alongside the spiritual, they have developed a line of dung- and urine-based medicines which they say can cure a whole herd of ailments from bad breath to cancer.

'These formulas are not new,' Gumat said. 'They are contained in ancient Hindu holy texts. We are just making them with a scientific approach.'

The products have been applauded by Hindu nationalist groups, the largest of which, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), unveiled its own urine-based soft drink last year as a 'healthy' alternative to Coke and Pepsi.

'Gau Jal,' or 'cow water' was developed at the RSS Cow Protection Department, a research facility in the northern city of Haridwar on the banks of the holy river Ganges.

'This will end the market for carbonated fizzy drinks,' predicted the facility's bullish director Om Prakash."

-- Rupam Jain Nair, with news of the only product TMR thinks might be worth a try - for y'all - because I ain't one for taking no bullshit, even from AFP News.