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Dubai

Indian tweets are mocking a report in the media that says cow urine is the cure for several types of cancer.

The report read: “Biotechnology scientists at Junagadh Agriculture University in Gujarat have succeeded in their first attempt to kill cancer cells using cow urine.

“...They claim that cow urine can cure most types of common cancers such as those of mouth, cervix, lungs, kidney, skin and breast.”

Calling it propaganda by the governing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), Indian tweeps took to the social media channel to slam the report.

@Tamizh_Muttley tweeted: “Academy is sold. Expect similar news from better institutes & names soon.... Giving false statements to satisfy government and own bigotry is just another logical step.”

@FeignShourie wrote: “Junagadh Agriculture University should change it’s name to Junagadh Gaumutra (cow urine) Propaganda Institute! Junagadh Agriculture University, Gujarat, is the origin of all diversions and propaganda such as gold in cow urine to cow urine treats almost all cancers!”

In India, the cow is considered a sacred animal by believers of the Hindu faith. However, the country saw a surge in cow-related vigilantism — a uniquely Indian phenomenon that began to flourish after the BJP government came into power.

It resulted in mob lynchings nationwide of members of the Muslim community in the name of protecting cows and condoned by the silence of those in power. Punishments for smuggling or slaughter of cattle were toughened after Narendra Modi came to power. In May 2017, the BJP moved to impose a ban on the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter at animal markets across India. #BeefBan became a popular hashtag that year.

Twitter user @youngroy25 posted: “Expect cows soon to be declared protected citizen, you never know which phoren [foreign] power might lay it’s hands on sparkling cow urine!”

@BatullT tweeted: “I expected this sooner. From being a thriving developing economy, we have reneged into an under developing backward looking laughing stock of the world under RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an Indian right-wing, Hindutva organisation), BJP led by Modi! #bjpfailsagain”

Cow vigilantism over the years has been condemned by many Indians. In 2017 as a sign of protest, some Indian women posed in cow masks as part of a photographic series that asked: “Is it safer to be a sacred animal in India than a woman?”

According to the media report: “The research team... achieved the results after a year of experiments.” A researcher was quoted saying: “This research was very risky because we directly experimented on cancer cells procured in a bottle. We found the exact quantity of cow urine required to kill particular number of cancer cells in a day.” This has not been verified by any other existing research and defies scientific logic, as they appeared to have presumed cancer cells to function in a manner similar to infectious diseases.

Tweep @GirishNaught wrote: “Cow urine can treat practically everything. As long as one has faith in it and votes for Modi.”

But, there were a few tweeps who focused on the realities of the announcement.

@jayantsjy tweeted: “Raw Cow urine is dangerous for health, it contains many toxins which can harm your health dangerously. Such tweets are not supposed to be taken seriously , these morons do this for their political gains.”

The report also quoted a researcher saying: “The next step is to experiment it on a rat. Once this is successful, we will create oral pills for different type of cancers. Chemotherapy kills healthy cells, too, while cow urine only kills infected cells.”

But, there were those who believed the possibility of the research results, hence retweeted and shared the news @ThePerpass wrote: “Well, if this is true then that is awesome, but they still haven’t even tested it on mice our Guinea pigs.”

@Nadeemripples tweeted: “If you have a serious study and research on your topic cow urine can cure cancer, put it in public domain, let suffering people get benefits out of your research, a material for Nobel prize.”

Tweep @deepsealioness highlighted that this report was inconsiderate to families with cancer patients. She wrote: “This is wrong. Families who have cancer patients in last stages are already cheated by so many charlatans. We don’t need to glamourise cow urine at the cost of grieving families. Each cancer is different, there is no fix, it’s all stupidity.”

This is not the first time that the health benefits of cow urine have been touted in India, but it has never been - to quote the tweep @jeenasingh: “Cow urine, cancer cure and scientist in a single sentence! We ARE living in interesting times indeed!”