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> White Poison: The Horrors of Milk > Shanti Rangwani, ColorLines > December 3, 2001 > > Got milk? If not, then thank your lucky stars. Because > if you do, medical research shows that you are likely to be plagued by > anemia, migraine, bloating, gas, indigestion, asthma, prostate cancer, and a > host of potentially fatal allergies -- especially if you are a person of > color. > > Ignoring this, the government declares that milk is > essential to good health, subsidizes the milk industry to the tune of > billions of dollars, and requires milk in its public school lunch programs. > And celebrity shills sporting milk mustaches tell us that milk is rich in > proteins, calcium, and vitamins -- and very > cool to boot. > > They forget to tell you about the dangers lurking in > that innocuous-looking glass of white. Once criticized only by naturopaths > and vegans, now the health effects of milk are being decried by many > mainstream doctors. The supposedly hip milk mustache is actually a creamy > layer of mucus, live bacteria, and pus. > > Former Chairman of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins > University, Frank Oski, M.D. even has a book called Don't Drink Your Milk > which blames every second health problem kids suffer on hormone-ridden > commercial milk. Sixty percent of ear infections in kids under six years of > age are milk-induced, and milk consumption is the number one cause of > iron-deficiency anemia in infants today according to the American > Association of Pediatrics. > > But milk is also a racial issue. Almost 90 percent of > African Americans and most Latinos, Asians, and Southern Europeans lack the > genes necessary to digest lactose, the primary sugar in milk. The milk > industry's response is classic: they have launched new campaigns arguing > that non-whites can digest > milk if they take in small sips during the day. There is a burgeoning > industry worth $450 million a year churning out products designed to > minimize lactose intolerance. > > Lactose intolerance is the most common "food allergy," > but to call it an allergy is to take a white-centric view that trivializes > the fact that most of the world's people are not biologically designed to > digest milk. > > Milk does no body good, but for the vast majority of > the world's people -- people of color -- it is a public health disaster. > > No other animal drinks cow's milk, not even calves once > they are weaned. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, the U.S.'s leading authority > on child care, spoke out against feeding "cow's glue" to children, saying it > can cause anemia, allergies, and diabetes and in the long term, will set > kids up for obesity and heart disease, the number one cause of death in this > country. > > Most of milk's much-vaunted protein is contained in > casein -- which is also a raw material for commercial glue. Undigested, it > simply sticks to the intestinal walls and blocks nutrient absorption. > > The mainstream media and the government ignore the > medical studies showing that milk is a serious health threat, in part > because people of color are the main victims. The institutionalization of > racism is highlighted by U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Eilene > Kennedy's statement on milk, > that the government's recommended food pyramid is intended for "the > majority of Americans. It doesn't communicate to all Americans." > > The USDA continues to require that school lunch > programs include milk with every meal, and recommend that we glug milk for > calcium, even though Harvard studies show an increase in osteoporosis and > bone-breakage in people who consume milk. It says we should drink milk to > prevent heart disease (and is echoed by Larry King) even though saturated > fat constitutes 55 percent of milk solids. > > The dairy lobby perpetrates lies to ensure its profits. > It benefits directly from the exaggerated support prices the government > shells out for this "health food." The government pays over a billion > dollars a year for surplus butter. A General Accounting Office (GAO) study > concluded that a reduction in the government price support system would have > netted consumers savings of $10.4 billion from 1986 to 2001. And the USDA > pays inflated prices to purchase dairy products for both the Women, Infants, > and Children (WIC) and federal school lunch programs -- milking the > taxpayers and actually > getting them to pay for poisoning 26 million school kids. > > The milk lobby has whipsawed its way into the highest > echelons of power. Staffers under Richard Nixon were indicted for accepting > $300,000 from the dairy lobby for making milk part of the school lunch > program. > > Dr. Robert Cohen of the Dairy Education Board, a > nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing the milk lobby, contends that > the dramatic 52 percent rise in asthma deaths among minority kids in New > York coincided with the surplus milk, cheese, and butter pumped into them > under the USDA's free school lunch and breakfast giveaway programs. The > incidence of asthma deaths may be even higher since asthma is not a > reportable disease, and asthma deaths are sometimes certified as > cardiovascular disease. > > There is also a direct link between milk consumption > and prostate cancer among African Americans, who have the highest incidence > of this disease in the world. A study in Cancer has shown that men who > reported drinking three or more glasses of whole milk daily had a higher > risk for prostate cancer than men who reported never drinking whole milk. > > The controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) -- banned > in most countries -- is pumped into U.S. milch cows to increase annual yield > (50,000 pounds of milk per cow today compared to 2,000 pounds in 1959). Milk > from cows treated with BGH is likely to contain pus from their udders since > the hormone leads to mastitis, or udder infection. BGH use results in a > tumor-promoting chemical (IGF-I) that has been implicated in an explosive > increase of cancer of the colon, smooth muscle, and breast. > > The antibiotics dairy farmers use to treat BGH-caused > infections in cows appear in their milk and greatly hasten human tolerance > to most antibiotics, a potentially life-threatening state of affairs. The > Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that 38 percent of milk > samples in 10 cities were contaminated with sulfa drugs and other > antibiotics. > > A fightback is beginning. Protesters picketed New York > City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's planned milk promotion campaign with a photo > of the mayor wearing a milk mustache over the caption, "Got Prostate > Cancer?" Giuliani (who, like his father, has prostate cancer) dropped the > campaign. And doctors from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine > (PCRM) persuaded Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams not to declare May > 11 as "Drink Chocolate Milk Day" by presenting evidence that milk is > harmful, especially to > people of color. > > The PCRM -- composed of some of the leading doctors in > the U.S. -- has campaigned extensively in the health and consumer press and > led a successful legal effort in 1999 to make dairy products optional in the > federal food guidelines. The campaign was supported by a number of prominent > civil rights organizations and leaders, including the Congressional Black > Caucus, the NAACP, Martin Luther King, III, Jesse Jackson, Jr., the National > Hispanic > Medical Association, and former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. > > The dairy lobby remains cozy with most medical > practitioners to perpetrate its "drink milk" propaganda. However, not one of > the 1,500 papers listed in Medicine that deal with milk points to its > goodness -- only to the pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk, > and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, > and autoimmune disorders milk consumption causes. > > The time has come for the milk industry to face the > kind of scrutiny that the tobacco companies face today. Meanwhile, discard > the moo juice. > > Shanti Rangwani is an allopathic doctor and a columnist > for the Times of India > ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
