From food debates to addiction, from insurance to unnecessary surgeries
Aubaid Ahmad Akhoon
In today’s public discourse, society appears trapped in a dangerous paradox. Foods that have nourished generations—such as eggs, milk, and meat—are dragged into sensational debates. Meanwhile, substances that clearly destroy lives continue to be accepted in legal, social, and commercial contexts. Cigarettes and alcohol, despite decades of clear medical evidence linking them to cancer, liver failure, mental illness, domestic violence, and road fatalities, remain normalized. They are taxed, advertised indirectly, and consumed openly, as if familiarity has reduced their danger.
This selective panic reveals a deeper crisis—not merely of food safety, but of ethical failure in public health governance. We fear contaminants in our nutrition but tolerate addiction as part of our culture. We debate protein on our plates while ignoring poisons in our lungs and bloodstream.
Cigarettes and Alcohol: The Accepted Killers
Cigarettes and alcohol are not misunderstood substances; they are among the most studied public health hazards in human history. Tobacco directly causes lung, oral, and throat cancers, while alcohol contributes to liver disease, cardiovascular problems, mental illness, domestic violence, and family breakdowns. Hospitals witness their consequences daily, yet shops selling these products face less scrutiny than street vendors selling eggs or milk.
This contradiction is not accidental—it is convenient. Addiction generates revenue. Disease fuels industries. Silence protects profits. Often, the real danger lies not in what we eat, but in what we repeatedly inhale and drink—accepted because it is profitable and familiar.
Eggs, Poultry, and the Forgotten Logic of Natural Nutrition
Kashmir once practiced organic living without even naming it. Domestic poultry was a household tradition. Chickens, ducks, and geese provided fresh eggs and meat free from artificial feed, hormones, and chemical accelerators. These foods were nutritious, affordable, and trustworthy.
Eggs remain one of the most complete natural foods, rich in protein, essential vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients that support brain health. Chicken, when consumed in moderation and prepared hygienically, supports metabolism, muscle repair, and heart health. Yet these foods face disproportionate suspicion, while cigarettes and alcohol escape moral outrage. This reversal reflects a society that has misplaced its health priorities.
Government Poultry and Food Regulation: Infrastructure Without Accountability
Despite having land, manpower, and dedicated departments for poultry and food safety, government performance often appears symbolic. Poultry farms exist but contribute minimally. Supplies surface during festivals, leaving markets dependent on external and often unregulated sources for the rest of the year.
Enforcement against unhygienic meat practices is reactive rather than preventive. Raids occur after public outrage, not through routine inspection. Shops reopen, practices resume, and consumers remain at risk. Public health cannot survive on sporadic actions; it demands continuous regulation and institutional seriousness.
Milk: From Nature’s Elixir to a Source of Anxiety
Milk, once the most trusted daily staple, now carries uncertainty. Adulteration, synthetic enhancers, and the absence of district-level testing facilities have eroded consumer confidence. Milk consumed by infants, patients, and the elderly cannot rely solely on market ethics.
Without clear testing centres, strict monitoring, and accountability, trust collapses. The absence of these safeguards turns nourishment into risk—and silence into complicity.
The Golden Card: Healthcare Access or Ethical Trap?
The Ayushman Bharat “Golden Card” was envisioned as a revolutionary initiative, offering up to ₹5 lakh in cashless treatment to vulnerable families and expanding access to secondary and tertiary healthcare. In principle, it is a lifeline. In practice, however, it has also opened doors to unethical medical conduct in certain cases.
There are growing concerns that under the cover of cashless insurance, unnecessary surgeries are being recommended where non-surgical treatment would suffice. Procedures become profitable, patients become statistics, and fear becomes a tool. When costs are covered by insurance, the ethical burden subtly shifts away from the patient, making exploitation easier.
Healthcare insurance must never incentivize unnecessary intervention. Surgery should be a last resort—not the most lucrative option. When healing becomes a transaction, trust in medicine erodes.
Medicine, Markets, and Moral Decline
This crisis extends beyond insurance. Poor prescription practices, often influenced by pharmaceutical incentives, deepen public suffering. Patients are overmedicated, overcharged, and under-informed. While food vendors are scrutinized, prescription practices frequently escape accountability.
The pattern is unmistakable:
Weak regulation
Selective outrage
Institutional silence
The Way Forward
Eggs, meat, and milk certainly require regulation, testing, and transparency. But cigarettes and alcohol must be rejected—not normalized. Medical practices need ethical audits, not blind trust. Health insurance demands oversight, not unchecked intervention. Government departments must aim for performance, not mere existence.
Public health cannot be built on hypocrisy.
Bottom Line
The gravest threats to health are not always hidden in food; they are embedded in systems that reward addiction, profit from disease, and tolerate unethical conduct. When society fears nutrition more than intoxication, questions farmers more than corporations, and debates food while ignoring ethics, it loses its moral compass.
Health is one of life’s greatest gifts. Protecting it requires courage—not selective panic, but genuine reform; not silence, but accountability; not profit, but conscience.
