Reality Check

DAIRY DIARY - SQUIRTS OF NOTMILK WISDOM - May 4, 1999

CANADIAN MILK HEARINGS - 4/26/99

ANTI MONSANTO ACTIVISTS JUST DON'T GET IT

On January 14th of this year, Canada turned down Monsanto's application for 
approval of the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH/rbST).

Last week (in anticipation of Monsanto's new application), the Canadian Senate 
held hearings as to why the ban should continue. Our thanks go to Brad Duplesia, 
a Canadian activist, who sent the ANTIDAIRY Coalition the transcripts from 
the April 26th hearing.

Among those who testified was William Von Meyer, Ph.D., a Wisconsin biochemist, 
and Michael Hansen, Ph.D. of Consumers Union. Both men were early voices 
of protest back in 1990 when most Americans (including myself) were unaware 
of the dangers of this powerful growth hormone.

THE TESTIMONY

Each scientist testified that genetically engineered milk contains increased 
amounts of IGF-I.

Each man presented incriminating scientific evidence demonstrating that IGF-I 
survives digestion and causes biological effects when ingested orally.

Each testified that IGF-I in genetically engineered milk is a danger to humans.

THE ACTIVISTS MISS THE POINT AND LOSE THE DEBATE

Towards the end of their testimony, Hansen and Von Meyer were faced with 
this question:

"If IGF-I is normally present in milk, why should an increase of 70% be considered 
dangerous?" Each man fumbled through his answer and, in doing so, solidified 
Monsanto's position.

THERE CAN BE JUST ONE CONCLUSION

If IGF-I in "wholesome milk" is safe, then we must assume that IGF-I in genetically 
engineered milk is also safe.

Then the opposite must also be true.

If IGF-I levels in genetically engineered milk are unsafe, then so too must 
be the IGF-I levels in "ORGANIC" milk.

Consumers Union, publisher of Consumers Report, still does not get it, and 
neither does Von Meyer:

While genetically engineered milk contains increased levels of IGF-I, ALL 
MILK FROM COWS NATURALLY CONTAINS IGF-I, and this is the issue that must 
be addressed.

DAIRY DIARY - SQUIRTS OF NOTMILK WISDOM - May 5, 1999

AMERICA'S HEALTH NETWORK?

Last night I was channel hopping and came upon the new 24-hour
cable health show from Florida: America's Health Network.

I paused in delighted recognition when I saw the
physician's name written on the screen:

Ira Shafran, MD

I had previously written about Dr. Shafran's miraculous
cure for Crohn's disease:



I first wrote that milk consumption was responsible for Crohn's.
A bacteria in milk called mycobacterium paratuberculosis is not
destroyed by pasteurization. This bacteria causes irritable bowel
syndrome which affects 6 million American. Irritable bowels often
progress to a diagnosis of Crohn's.

Dr. Shafran blames Crohn's on milk consumption. We have discussed
this. However, he made no mention of the milk connection during his
interview. Since this was a call-in show, I dialed the toll-free
number, told the producer about the milk connection and waited my turn.

I never made it on the air. This all occurred between 8:15
PM and 8:30 PM, EST.

Immediately following Dr. Shafran's departure, the
screen went black and white letters appeared.

GOT MILK!

I was stunned. The voice-over asked: "Do you
know that milk has nine essential nutrients?"

I yelled at my television: "And paratuberculosis."

THE COMMERCIAL CONTINUED

Animal crackers opened up their box, making their escape
while little girls drank large glasses of milk.

FDA'S LIE

Here is the evidence. This bacteria is not killed by
pasteurization, yet, FDA continues to misrepresent the truth.



Robert Cohen

Anti-Dairy Coalition 



DAIRY DIARY - SQUIRTS OF NOTMILK WISDOM - May 7, 1999

ASTHMA - WILL RESEARCHERS EVER SEE THE TRUTH?

NEW YORK TIMES - WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1999, Page B-1

"38% ASTHMA RATE FOUND IN HOMELESS CHILDREN"

A photo of a small African-American boy wearing an oxygen mask accompanies 
Three hundred lines of text.

One sentence is devoted to the probable cause:

"...exposure to factors like cockroach feces, dust mites, mold, dampness, 
rat and mouse urine and crowded living conditions."

Homeless people live in shelters and get free room and board. They get FREE 
cheese and milk which serves as the foundation of their diet.

ASTHMA RATES ARE SOARING

The article comments: "For reasons that remain unclear to researchers, the 
prevalence of asthma is rising..."

The highest asthma rates are found in New York City, where 23 percent of 
the students in the Hunts Point Section of the Bronx have been so diagnosed.

ARE THERE MORE COCKROACHES IN THE BRONX?

Of course not! However, the rates of poverty are extremely high among the 
inner city African-American population.

WHAT DO THE CHILDREN EAT?

In the name of "good nutrition," these kids are fed concentrated milk proteins. 
They receive free milk and cheese thanks to the United States Department 
of Agriculture. Last year ten billion pounds of free poison were fed to 
the children.

WHY DO DAIRY PRODUCTS CAUSE ASTHMA?

Eighty percent of milk protein is CASEIN, the same glue used to hold together 
wood in furniture. Casein is also the glue used to affix a label to a bottle 
of beer. Eat casein and you produce histamines. Histamines result in mucus. 
Mucus makes breathing difficult. Thousands of children die, primarily African-Americans. 
Many deaths are misdiagnosed, called congestive heart failure.

CONGESTION

Asthma results when the bronchioles of the lungs fill with glue. In the 
case of asthma, mucus.

I first wrote about asthma and the milk connection after reviewing the autopsy 
of a pizza-victim. With every organ acutely congested with mucus, unable 
to breathe, this African-American died and the undigested cheese remained 
in her stomach 15 hours after her meal. Fifteen hours! Her body worked 
overtime to produce histamines and mucus, congesting her lungs. She choked 
to death, unable to breathe.



HIGH ASTHMA RATES IN CHILDREN

The homeless adults also live in poverty. They are also exposed to the same 
environmental conditions as their kids. However, they do not go to school. 
They do not eat free breakfast, milk with cereal. They do not eat free lunch, 
macaroni and cheese or cheese sandwiches. They do not drink chocolate milk. 
They do not wear the cute milkstaches and their asthma rates are not as high 
as their children.

Robert Cohen

 




********** The Anti-Dairy Coalition Weekly Newsletter ***********
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THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
DISPELLING MYTHS

MILK IS NATURE'S PERFECT FOOD FOR HUMANS

Historically, the greatest myths are the most difficult to dislodge from 
the collective psyche. Those who dispel myths are first labeled as fanatics. 
Throughout history, custom has rejected truth and punished visionaries. 
Schoepenhouer wrote:

"All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is 
violently opposed. Finally it is accepted as self evident."

THE WORLD IS FLAT

In the year 1500, Christopher Columbus was thrown into chains for having 
proven to mankind that the world was not flat, thereby dispelling the greatest 
scientific and cultural myth of the second millennium. In between his third 
and fourth voyages to the New World, Columbus brought back a number of gifts 
to the Old World. Christopher Columbus had become a slave dealer, but his 
best known gift to Europe may very well have been disease called morbus gallicus, 
which infected millions. After much of Europe was overwhelmed, the affliction 
was renamed after a shepherd from Greek mythology who angered Apollo by not 
worshiping the gods. Apollo infected the air with noxious vapors and the 
shepherd broke out in ulcerous eruptions all over his body. The shepherd's 
name was Syphilis.

Many of Columbus's doubters went to their deathbeds still believing that 
the world was flat. To this day, there are still people who believe that 
same myth:

~http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/fe-scidi.htm 

THE SUN REVOLVES AROUND THE EARTH 

Galileo had turned his attention to a new frontier, the heavens, and in doing 
so, angered religious leaders. By placing lenses inside of a tube, Galileo's 
primitive telescope allowed him to discover four moons revolving around the 
planet Jupiter. His invention was destroyed and Galileo imprisoned. Man's 
laws gave this fanatic and visionary two choices: remain in prison or recant 
his discovery and previous testimony. Galileo had no choice but to exist 
in a world in which his truth became a threat to the men of his time. Dispelling 
myths has always been dangerous to one's health. Those who lead are often 
compared to Cervante's Don Quixote, who tilted at windmills.

TRUTH'S THREE STAGES

The NOTMILK.COM and ANTIDAIRYCOALITION.COM websites are dispellers of America's 
greatest myth. Those who strongly endorse drinking body fluids from cows 
are the ones who most adamantly attack the author of those sites.

Ridicule and sarcasm pepper some of the more creative letters posted to the 
two guestbooks. Among the more than 1,300 letters are death threats and 
anti-Semitic comments that would make Hitler proud. Schoepenhouer's formula 
applies to the ANTIDAIRY Coalition and the NOTMILK movement.

Denial + Violent Opposition = Truth 

All truth must suffer the same indignity by skeptics who resist change, desiring 
to kill the messenger during their learning process.

HOW DO MYTHS CONTINUE?

The dairy industry recognizes that if mothers drink milk at home, then so 
will their children. Next year's advertising will target at-home moms. 
Just as their parents urged them to drink milk when they were youngsters, 
so will today's parents do the same to their kids. The dairy industry constantly 
markets and promotes their product with hundreds of millions of advertising 
dollars. 

THE EXPERT'S OPINIONS

Out of the mouths of babes often come pearls of wisdom; out of the mouths 
of those who we respect often come the vilest of lies and the most myopic 
conjectures leaving mankind far from the truth.

Here is a list of eight of my favorite bloopers, as told by people society 
believed and trusted. I reserved the number one myth and betrayal for the 
last.

1) "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Charles Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, advised President 
McKinley to close that office in 1899

-------------

2) "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"

President Rutherford B. Hayes after trying the first telephone in a hook-up 
between Washington and Philadelphia

-------------

3) "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes 
and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes 
and perhaps weigh only 1 1/2 tons."

POPULAR MECHANICS magazine, March, 1949

-------------

4) "The seat of the soul and the control of voluntary movement-in fact, of 
nervous functions in general, are to be sought in the heart. The brain is 
an organ of minor importance.

Aristotle, 400 B.C.

-------------

5) "Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released 
by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough 
emissions standards for man-made sources."

Ronald Reagan while campaigning for the presidency, 1980

-------------

6) "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead 
Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't inquire too closely 
into the case of the tenth."

Theodore Roosevelt, "The Winning of the West," 1896

-------------

7) "I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing 
an ability that is amazing and he seems to be gaining his victories without 
much bloodshed."

Gandhi, 1940
-------------

8) "Milk from cows given supplemental bovine somatotropin is the same as 
any other milk. So, there should be no doubt in the minds of consumers that 
the milk they drink is just as safe, nutritious and wholesome as it has always 
been. Every issue and every question about BST has been thoroughly and carefully 
studied by the federal government and several independent scientific institutions. 
Consumers can continue to enjoy milk and dairy foods with complete confidence.

"Unfortunately, a few fringe groups are using misleading statements and 
blatant falsehoods as part of a long-running campaign to scare consumers 
about a perfectly safe food. Their long-range goal is to prevent the benefits 
of biotechnology from reaching the public. Because dairy foods are an important, 
widely consumed source of nutrition, it is necessary to condemn these attacks 
on the safety of milk for what they are: baseless, manipulative and completely 
irresponsible.

"Even worse are attempts by some persons to use school children as pawns 
in their opposition to BST. Any suggestion that milk from BST-supplemented 
cows is unsafe for children to consume at school, or at home, is a potential 
threat to their health and well being. We should be reinforcing the message 
that all dairy foods, when consumed as part of a varied and balanced diet, 
are healthful - and not burden our children with unwarranted fears about 
food safety.

"Supermarkets and dairy processors can play an important role by assuring 
consumers of the safety of the milk supply, by providing the facts on BST 
to interested customers, or by referring them to credible health and nutrition 
authorities."

STATEMENT OF C. EVERETT KOOP, M.D.,
former Surgeon General of the United States, February 6, 1994

-------------

Our comments on Koop's statement can be found in the following 45 referenced 
columns:



Robert Cohen
Executive Director
ANTIDAIRY Coalition
201-871-5871
http://www.antidairycoalition.com
http://www.notmilk.com

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Anti-Dairy Coalition | NOT Milk

DAIRY DIARY - SQUIRTS OF NOTMILK WISDOM - May 12, 1999

SECOND OPINIONS

There are many opinions that have tried to alert the public to the
dangers of milk and dairy products. Benjamin Spock, M.D., announced
that cow's milk is inappropriate for children below the age of 1 because
children react negatively to bovine hormones. In the years preceding
his death, Dr. Spock created quite a controversy by criticizing milk.
After 50 years of telling parents that milk was a near perfect food,
Spock made a 180-degree turn. After Spock's analyses, the American
Academy of Pediatrics reexamined milk issues and withdrew their
endorsement of whole cow's milk for infants on the basis that iron in
milk cannot be properly absorbed. The final version of Dr. Spock's
best selling book recommends that no human eat milk and dairy products
from cows.

FOOD FOR LIFE

Neal D. Barnard, M.D., author of "Food For Life" and director of
Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, made
stronger statements. Barnard believes that consumption of cow's milk is
totally inappropriate for humans. The scientific literature is filled
with evidences of the inadequacy of cow's milk for human nutrition.
According to Barnard:

"There is no nutritional requirement for dairy products, and there are
serious problems that can result from the proteins, sugar, fat and
contaminants in milk products."

FIT FOR LIFE

Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, authors of the best seller "Fit For Life,"
are strong opponents of milk consumption. They make a remarkable case
against dairy products and their comments on the dairy industry are
brilliantly presented. The Diamonds conclude:

"Dairy products are disease-producing. Pasteurization is a fraud
because dead food cannot support life. Everything that you have been
taught about calcium in milk is inaccurate and dishonest. Dairy
products are a major cause of osteoporosis."

Their book was on the New York Times best-seller list for two
consecutive years. If all of the readers of the Diamonds' book had
heeded the author's advice, we would have no dairy industry.

Robert Cohen

http://www.antidairycoalition.com   http://www.notmilk.com



DAIRY DIARY - SQUIRTS OF NOTMILK WISDOM - May 15, 1999

A DOCTOR'S LETTER TO HIS PATIENTS

Dr. Robert Kradjian is a man of great wit, intelligence, perspective and
passion. He is the author of the well respected and well read book
"Breast Cancer." Dr. Kradjian, now retired, was once Chief of Breast
Surgery at Seton Medical Center near San Francisco

WHAT ADVICE DOES A HEALER GIVE HIS PATIENTS?

"Doctor, should I drink milk?" you ask. What knowledge will he or she
base his or her response upon? Do doctors study about milk in medical
school? Do they consider the hormones or antibiotics, fat or
cholesterol, bovine proteins which trigger allergies? Most doctors
suggest that everybody should drink milk. Robert M. Kradjian, M.D., in
response to a patient's question, began to explore the milk and dairy
influence on our culture. His investigation and review of the
scientific literature resulted in a letter written to his patient.

WHAT DOES A REVIEW OF THE MEDICAL LITERATURE REVEAL?

DR. KRADJIAN WROTE:

"I believe that there are three reliable sources of information. The
first, and probably the best, is a study of nature. The second is to
study the history of our own species. Finally we need to look at the
world's scientific literature on the subject of milk.

Let's look at the scientific literature first. From 1988 to 1993 there
were over 2,700 articles dealing with milk recorded in the "Medicine"
archives. Fifteen hundred of these had milk as the main focus of the
article. There is no lack of scientific information on this subject. I
reviewed over 500 of the 1,500 articles, discarding articles that dealt
exclusively with animals, esoteric research and inconclusive studies.

A HORROR STORY

How would I summarize the articles? They were only slightly less than
horrifying. First of all, none of the authors spoke of cow's milk as an
excellent food, free of side effects and the "perfect food" as we have
been led to believe by the industry. The main focus of the published
reports seems to be on intestinal colic, intestinal irritation,
intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic reactions in infants and children
as well as infections such as salmonella.

More ominous is the fear of viral infection with bovine leukemia virus
or an AIDS-like virus as well as concern for childhood diabetes.
Contamination of milk by blood and white (pus) cells as well as a
variety of chemicals and insecticides was also discussed. Among
children, the problems were allergy, ear and tonsillar infections,
bedwetting, asthma, intestinal bleeding, colic and diabetes. In adults,
the problems seemed centered more around heart disease and arthritis,
allergy, sinusitis, and the more serious questions of leukemia, lymphoma
and cancer."

Dr. Kradjian's letter can be read in its entirety.


Robert Cohen
Join the ANTIDAIRY Coalition   Join the NOTMILK Generation


********** The Anti-Dairy Coalition Weekly Newsletter ***********
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JUST LIKE OLD TIMES - A POTENTIAL DEATH SENTENCE

OR:

THIS New York Times REPORTER STILL DOESN'T GET IT

JANE BRODY

On Tuesday, May 11, 1999, Jane Brody wrote a biographical column that
might very well become chapter one of her obituary. Brody is respected
by many, and rejected by those who have followed her endorsement of MILK
and DAIRY products.

see the NOTMILK Squirt

Brody was the first to censure Dr. Spock who advised that no human
should ever consume cow's milk. She waited until after his death to
write her New York Times editorial, courageously ridiculing his
vegetarian lifestyle when he no longer could respond.

JANE BRODY HAS BREAST CANCER

Brody's 5/11/99 column chronicles her battle against breast cancer.
First came the surgery, a lumpectomy. That invasive procedure was
followed by six weeks of radiation. Her choice of words for the present
and future treatment is curious.

"I have now begun the third and, in a way, the most exciting phase: five
years of daily treatment with the drug tamoxifen."

LIVE BY THE PEN, DIE BY THE PEN

Tamoxifen has become a death sentence for many women. Brody has
previously written about this wonder drug, supporting its use as a
preventative measure for women not yet diagnosed with breast cancer. We
wonder why she so easily dismisses the fact that thousands of women who
take tamoxifen later develop uterine or endometrial cancer.

TAMOXIFEN

Tamoxifen was originally developed to counteract the strong growth
proliferation initiated by the most powerful growth hormone in the human
body, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I).

REBOUND EFFECT

Many hay fever sufferers understand the predicament of inhaling nose
sprays. Use it too often and there is a rebound effect. What once
works to relieve symptoms, ends up making the original problem worse.
Tamoxifen works in much the same way. Tamoxifen users are warned not to
continue its use for more than 18 months. Jane is excited that she is
going to use it for five years. Sure, Jane. You should live so long!

WHAT HAS BRODY MISSED?

IGF-I is the only hormone in nature that is identical between two
species of animal. Human IGF-I and bovine IGF-I are identical. Both
have 70 amino acids in the same exact gene sequence. For years, Brody
has misled her female readers by endorsing the one substance outside of
the human body containing enormous and inappropriate quantities of this
powerful growth hormone.

HOW MANY WOMEN WILL DIE OF BREAST CANCER?

Is it wise to take daily doses of this hormone? IGF-I has been
identified as the key factor in the growth and proliferation of every
breast cancer.

HOW COMMON IS BREAST CANCER? THE MISSING LINK

On November 8, 1994, the New York Times published a story (written by
Gina Kolata) which revealed:

Although 1 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 50 are diagnosed
with breast cancer, autopsy studies reveal that 39 percent of women in
that age group have breast cancer.

Cancerous tumors are the ones that have somehow thrown off the usually
tight genetic controls on unwanted growth.

OUR APPEAL TO JANE BRODY

IGF-I in MILK is the key factor in breast cancer's growth. By promoting
milk and dairy products you increase the odds of increased levels of
breast cancer in our society. A NOTMILK diet might very well save your
life, Jane, and the lives of thousands of your readers.

GOT MILK?

Every time you take a bite of cheese or treat yourself to a bowl of ice
cream, you eat a powerful growth hormone. Yogurt is loaded with IGF-I,
as is cream cheese and sour cream. MILK is a DEADLY POISON for you, Ms.
Brody.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD BREAST CANCER?

We know from Gina Kolata's brilliant article that breast cancer is VERY
common. It always starts with one cell. In three months, that one cell
divides and becomes two cells. Three months later, it's a four cell
mass, continuing to grow and double every three months. After your
first year, the breast cancer was only sixteen cells in size. Somewhere
along your breast cancer timeline, your body might very well have
controlled that breast cancer.

While thirty-nine percent of women between the ages of 40 and 50 have
breast cancer, only one-percent in that age group are clinically
diagnosed. Our immune systems have tight genetic controls. We stop it
from growing. Nobody knows how this process occurs.

HOWEVER...

It takes eight to ten years for a breast cancer to grow into a one
million-cell tumor. This is traditionally the smallest lump a woman can
feel in her breast. After that, the growth is rapid.
Every three months it continues to double.

IGF-I fuels that growth.

JANE BRODY IS ANGRY

Jane Brody's telephone voice does not leave the most pleasant of
messages. Is it the breast cancer that delivers such an irascible and
acrimonious missive, or is this "plain Jane" talking?

I called the New York Times at 212-556-1234 and reached Brody's voice
mail. Here is a part of her message:

"If you have sent me something, do not leave a message calling my
attention to it. That will only result in my throwing out the material
without looking at it."

What a lovely attitude you have, Jane.

You know what? We're going to send you a copy of this column, because
it might just save your life and we really do care. You know what else?
We're going to follow the mailing up with a phone call in order to call
your attention to our life-saving package.

THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE IS FOR CANCER

Don't drink the milk, Jane. You end your column by giving the toll-free
number of the National Cancer Institute hot line, 1-800-4-CANCER. We
suggest you call our toll-free number:

1-888-NOT-MILK

Robert Cohen
Executive Director

ANTIDAIRY Coalition

NOT Milk

****************************************************

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