Milk is a maternal lactating secretion, a short term nutrient for new-borns. Nothing more, nothing less. Invariably, the mother of any mammal will provide her milk for a short period of time immediately after birth. When the time comes for ‘weaning’, the young offspring is introduced to the proper food for that species of mammal. A familiar example is that of a puppy. The mother nurses the pup for just a few weeks and then rejects the young animal and teaches it to eat solid food. Nursing is provided by nature only for the very youngest of mammals. Of course, it is not possible for animals living in a natural state to continue with the drinking of milk after weaning.
If you care about animal welfare, don’t drink milk. Given the chance, cows nurture their young and form lifelong friendships with one another. But most cows raised for the dairy-products industry are intensively confined, and unable to fulfil basic functions, such as nursing their calves, even for a single day. Treated like milk-producing machines, they are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. Their udders often become painfull
and have frequent infections – prompting overuse of antibiotics.
If you care about your own health, don’t drink milk. Milk drinkers increase their chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancer, and many other ailments. Every glass of milk contains plentiful amounts of somatic cells – or as we know it – pus. The dairy industry knows that there is a problem with pus in milk – it even measures the “somatic cell count” in its quality control procedures. A UK study showed that people who suffered from irregular heartbeats, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems “showed marked and often complete improvements in their health after cutting milk from their diets.”
If you care about the environment, don’t drink milk. Large dairy farms have an enormously detrimental effect on the environment. Cow’s milk is an inefficient food source – like humans, cows expend the majority of their food intake simply leading their lives. It takes a great deal of grain and other foodstuffs cycled through cows to produce a small amount of milk. And not only is milk a waste of energy and water, the production of milk is also a disastrous source of water pollution. A dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day – equal to that of two dozen people, but with no toilets, sewers, or treatment plants.
If you care about your own health, animals, and the environment, being vegetarian is a great start – but in order to really make a difference, one must go vegan.
Milk: cruel, unhealthy, and bad for the environment. Say No to Milk! 