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Tuesday, 22 July 2008

The dairy industry harms animals, humans and the environment.

Most of us like a nice bit of creamy chocolate or ice cream, but the reality of the dairy industry is far from pleasant – or natural. Cows produce milk for the same reason humans do: to nourish their babies. To keep producing milk, cows are forcibly impregnated through artificial insemination every year. The cow's babies are generally taken away within a day of being born (male calves are destined for veal crates) while females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers. Mother cows on dairy farms can often be seen searching and calling for their babies long after they have been taken away. The mother cow will be hooked up several times a day to machines that take the milk intended for her calf. Through genetic manipulation, powerful hormones, and intensive milking, she will produce about three times as much milk as she would naturally.

Cows are forcibly inseminated to ensure they are all pregnant at the same time and are regularly induced so their milking cycle stays in synch with the rest of the herd (seasonal calving). According to Animal Liberation NSW, dairy farmers in Victoria are currently inducing up to 100,000 premature births per annum and also dock their tails, despite their being no welfare justification for this.

Disease in dairy cows is rife, particularly mastitis (excruciatingly painful inflammation of the teats). Hooking them up to commercial milking machines causes them suffering including swelling, redness and damage to the teat canal while female calves are mutilated by having their horns and any ‘spare’ teats cut off without anaesthesia.

Male calves are either taken to slaughter at just five days of age, or raised for veal, where they are kept in tiny dark crates with no light and fed a liquid diet severely lacking in vitamins and minerals so they remain ‘tender’ and ‘pale’.

That chocolate bar, ice cream and cheese is also bad for humans. Osteoporosis, cancer, asthma, dementia, colic, diabetes, skin ailments, arthritis, ADD, autism, schizophrenia, E.Coli, migraine, high cholesterol are just some of the health disorders linked to consumption of dairy, and studies by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) show claims the that dairy necessary for calcium to produce strong bones is a myth propagated by the dairy industry.

As for the environment, it takes 4000 glasses of water to create one glass of milk; 200 dairy cows can produce as much nitrogen in their manure as a town of 10,000 people; small to medium dairies can generate 900-1800 litres of waste water daily while larger dairies can generate up to 4,500 litres in a single day; and a lactating cow excretes 73-81% nitrogen which can contaminate both surface and ground water.

But don’t despair! Giving up dairy doesn’t mean giving up treats! There’s plenty of delicious cruelty-free and healthy treats, from chocolate bars, biscuits, cakes, and even cupcakes. Check out www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au / for starters.

Sources: Animal Liberation NSW, PETA.

ACTION: Visit www.animal-lib.org.au/campaigns/dairy-campaign.htm for more information.

Comments (7) add comment

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written by katientess , 08 September, 2008

While passion for academic standards is one thing, passion for research is another entirely.

D Lam, I did a quick search of the literature and found several papers linking certain bovine milk proteins to neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. If you have access to databases you may like to do the same to see for yourself.

Cherrie is one of my favourite online and paper magazines. It is not an academic journal and has no obligation to footnote studies. The topic words should be sufficient for further research. The author has done a great job of summarising available information supporting his or her argument, provided sources used, and included several avenues for further research should readers be interested in learning more.

D Lam, I like your zeal for evidence, however I think it a little mis-guided. Perhaps, though, if your passion drives you to critique, you could do some research yourself and write your own evidence-based response. The apparent failings of another’s research does not justify acceptance and promotion of the status quo. In my personal opinion, our society’s passive acceptance of the “scientifically verified empirical evidence” from studies funded by the meat and dairy industries is a massive marketing success but a scientific tragedy.

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written by D Lam , 17 August, 2008

Dear Editor
I appreciate you posting my initial comment on the board. At the risk of offending more people, I am writing to defend my initial comment. What I am asking for debate in the way activist issues are raised by Cherrie. You don't have to hector or tell people that they'll die of a heart attack to get your views across. For academic purposes, it would be good if the online activist article footnoted the studies that it says support its point of view. It would (a) allow people to research further into the topic and (b) verify the statements in the article. The use of the word "studies" is vague. I will stand by my opinion that linking schizophrenia to milk drinking is insulting until I am shown the empirical evidence verified scientifically.

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written by marianna , 04 August, 2008

I think it's a shame that people accuse activist articles of being one-sided without stopping to question the barrage of ideology that is fed to us throughout our life from when we are kids from parents, teachers, media in the form of advertising primarily from industries whose messages are so blatantly compromised by their economic interests. If you hate bias, try doing the research for yourself. The Western world is geared towards a culture of selling sickness instead of encouraging preventative health measures. I think it's funny that people always equate 'milk' with cow's milk without thinking about it, yet put a preface before any other type of milk (soy milk, breast milk). If you wouldn't drink cat's milk, or rat's milk, or rabbit's milk, then why drink cow's milk? if you wouldn't like to be forcibly impregnated and strapped to a milking machine, then why pay for it to happen to someone else? I just don't understand how people are in such a hurry to defend cruelty with such a passion.

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written by Nicole Brown (ALNSW) , 04 August, 2008

In response to D Lam, has the closest you've ever come to dairy been your grocery shopping? Just as you are tired of one-sided activist articles, I am just as tired of the continual advertising and one-sided propaganda of the meat and dairy industries in the media, and at the places I do my shopping. What even makes it more infuriating (yet ridiculous), is the gullibility of people, such as yourself, who swallow their propaganda, not questioning how that meat ended on your plate, or that milk in your coffee.

If you actually read the article properly, it states that dairy is LINKED to those health issues, not the cause. By the way, how is it insulting to those who suffer from schizophrenia? I find it just as insulting that someone who is supposedly of reasonable intelligence has not done their own research and come to a logical and intellectual conclusion of their own, rather than simply accept an unquestioned practice learnt from her infancy.
Before you defend the dairy industry, it may be common sense to take the time out and do your own research. Perhaps visit a modern dairy farm before you pass judgement.

If gaining knowledge is an extreme, then I am an extremist. Rather be that than an ignorant such as you.

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written by a stephenson , 04 August, 2008

D Lam - mate - you need to educate yourself, check out http://www.thechinastudy.com/

read the book, then you will have an informed opinion, but never assume that what the media and industry sprout is best for you. If you continue to eat cheese and drink full cream milk, you will already be developing subtle health problems such as building up of plaque on your arteries...next stop heart disease, good luck with your by-pass.

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written by Lynda Stoner , 04 August, 2008

One sided? The dairy industry has sold its disease and pollution causing product without compunction for decades. It is only now through the use of the internet with its freedom of speech that the real other side is finally being heard and in particular the terrible cruelty of the dairy industry - Prof John Webster says of the dairy cow that she is the most abused of all farm animals - not to mention the damage caused to the environment. And for what... a product that on top of all that causes medical problems for humans - which is hardly surprising as we are the only species that suckles once we've been weaned - and we do it from another species. Of course that's going to cause health problems.

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written by D Lam , 03 August, 2008

This article is extreme. I find it very doubtful that milk makes someone schizophrenic. It's insulting to people who suffer from this illness.
I am tired of these one-sided activist articles. Really, if you want to be more effective with your point of view, you should have a person from the opposing camp defending or explaining their position. I will continue to eat cheese and drink full cream milk.

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