England joined a very small club of countries that have
moved away, or are moving away, from paper notes to
plastic notes. The new five pound note though is now
deep in controversy, over the fact that the polymer has traces
of tallow, which is made from animal fat. This fact was confirmed
by the Bank of England in response to a tweet. The fact
that there are traces of animal fat in the notes has angered the
minority community in England. A minority group, consisting
of Hindus, Jains and members of other faiths, has started a signature
campaign to ask the government to replace the notes
with those that do not use animal fat in the polymer. But this
is not just restricted to the minority communities alone. It was
even upset a section of vegans and vegetarians in the country.
There was no malice in the move to introduce the notes, a
fact acknowledged by the groups. While the community has a
right to protest, it remains to be seen whether it makes sense
to withdraw these notes. Does handling these notes amount of
the same thing as eating meat? This is the question that needs
to be answered.
