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Sustainable
eNews |
July 2002 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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"Science War"
Chapter 3 - Milking the Cows...
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Under this title, IWMC is presenting a case of the abuse and misuse of
science by activists, to illustrate that their goals and the strategies
used to achieve them, are neither in the public interest, nor in
concurrence with scientific principles relevant to human health and well
being. We are not alone in this, as the American Medical Association, the
National Academy of Sciences, the US Forest Service, and the Scientific
Committee of the International Whaling Commission, have repeatedly
contradicted the pseudoscientific claims of animal rights and
eco-activists.
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People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wishes that everyone
would stop milking cows, breeding cows, or keeping them for any reason.
Since this wish has not been fulfilled in any country that has
traditionally used bovines, the organization has resorted to a number of
tactics that are intended to persuade cow keepers and their consumer
customers to give it up.
One such tactic has been use of the "yuck" factor; PETA claims
that milk is laden with antibiotics, blood and pus from chronic infections
in animals that they claim are milked until it hurts. What the consuming
public doesn't know is that USDA regulations make sure that milk is tested
at the farm (before it is allowed into the tank truck), and at the
processing plants for impurities and excess bacterial levels, and a farmer
whose product is unfit, is refused the right to sell that milk until the
herd product tests come back clean. Thus, neither unclean nor
medicine-laden milk will enter the mainstream of product being sold for
human  consumption. One who is unaware of the USDA oversight program would
never know that milk is safe, however, if that person should go to the PETA
website, which contains really gross and inaccurate descriptions of cows'
milk that reaches the table.
Another tactic PETA regularly uses has to do with claims that milk
drinking "causes" diabetes, heart conditions, fat children, and
even prostate cancer. A recent PETA billboard ad, showing the former New
York City mayor with a milk mustache and a "Got Prostate Cancer?"
caption, was pulled when Rudy threatened to sue the organization. Contrary
to the bogus junk science claims of the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine, there is no scientific evidence that even remotely
suggests that milk is bad for humans. Dr. Neil Barnard, a close associate
of PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk, is the head of PCRM. It has been obvious to
many for years, that the Physicians Committee is merely a poorly disguised
mouthpiece for PETA, masquerading under the white coat
"scientific" costume. The Physicians' Committee is composed of 5%
medical doctors, and the rest of the organization is lay persons with a
preference for veganism.
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