India: The Barren Coil

During a six-year U.S. Government mission in India, Illinois-born Dr. Frank W. Parker, 67, was appalled by the millions of sacred cows roaming the land, dangerously overgrazing the fields, eating food desperately needed for human consumption. Because of Hindu religious scruple, the cows can neither be slaughtered nor eaten. There are even old cows’ homes.

After his return to the U.S., Parker read about a new, inexpensive contraceptive device consisting of a pliable, doubleS plastic coil (TIME, July 31). “When I learned it worked on women,” says Parker, “I thought: why won’t it work on cows?” It does. After elaborate experiments at the Beltsville, Md., agricultural research center, India’s Food and Agricultural Ministry enthusiastically launched a pilot project in the northern province of Uttar Pradesh. Of the country’s 200 million cattle, some 75% are used as beasts of burden or as milk producers. The remaining 50 million are mostly scrawny, inferior and ownerless. Any cow can be fitted with the contraceptive for a few pennies, and Indian experts think that the program will prompt no public outcry.