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.
