Icecream... or maybe that should be "I scream"

[dragon wench]

OK... I know that PETA is usually way out in Left Field, and I'm aware they are especially fond of publicity stunts.. but this is bizarre even for them...

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.

PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."

"We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child," said a spokesperson for Ben and Jerry's.

Read PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield:



Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President

[Tricky]

Well I prefer it straight from the teet anyway. And think of how many job openings this would create. So many hungry mouths to fill.

[Crenshinibon]

Wow.

I couldn't respond at first. Actually I still can't, but my significant other says that they should have cited their sources, in stating that a cow's milk is a hazard to a person's health.

Also, she stated that she believe that *if* this were to happen, there would be female milking plants, which would stir up the feminist groups and also a lot of unwanted pregnancies as like PETA stated, you need to be pregnant to produce milk.

[dragon wench]

@Tricky,
lol! I was wondering if somebody would comment like that

@ Crenshinibon,
yes indeed..I entirely agree.
Also, beyond the fact that PETA tends to be self-righteous, sanctimonious and intolerant.. what really annoys me about them is that there are many legitimate activist groups who try to raise awareness of factory farming.
Unfortunately, PETA's inane stunts only serve to discredit the work of people who are actually trying to improve conditions for animals..

[Crenshinibon]

Aye. They're essentially bringing those conditions to the humans, so nothing really changes in that sense.

Also, I'd be a tad uncomfortable knowing that I'm drinking someone's breast milk. Isn't it actually bitter or sour?

[Moonbiter]

ROTFLMAO! Yes, PETA.... I wonder if anyone of them actually realises how much stuff like this actually hurt their message? This is like three years ago when they wanted a global ban on using earthworms as fishing bait. It just gets better and better.... Oh, wait! There's Jessica Simpson telling the world she's gonna save all those baby seals, as long as she can get them into her SUV and back to her swimming pool!

[Tricky]

I don't think any more harm will come of it if it is human milk. Sometimes mothers produce too much milk on their own, for example if their newborn is stuck in intensive care and cannot receive anything other than iv. A little while ago I saw a woman on tv who had frozen her excess milk (apparently it doesn't just absorb back into the body if it isn't consumed), in case her baby would come back early. But the baby didn't and at a later point it wasn't needed any more. She wanted to know if it could be put to use. Unfortunately it had been kept in the freezer a little too long and it was rendered useless. The best advice she got was to make some pancakes. And she did. I watched her and her family eat them on TV. Normally you have to pay for that kind of ent.. uhh.. I mean, nothing.

Cow milk at least is not healthy though. Don't know about human milk. There used to be a Dutch commercial on TV that had the slogan 'Melk is goed voor elk' (Milk is good for everyone), but they have been prohibited from using it ever again. All I know about milk is a little about lactic acid. While the mitochondria in our muscles can burn the part that is generated in our own body just like carbohydrates (this has only fairly recently been discovered), the smaller/larger intestine only has a set amount of enzymes to break down the amount that is directly ingested. All the excess hurts the body, likely the liver, and can cause serious gas. Seriously.

[Claudius]

I think its lactose in milk not lactic acid? thats a sugar. (yes must be the pH of milk is slightly basic)

edit: oops got that wrong its slightly acidic...maybe there is some lactic acid in milk? Anyway I don' t get sick if I drink 2 glasses of milk a day.

Anyhwho!