Our Hen House

Book Review: “Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth About Cow’s Milk and Your Health”

Posted on 29. Jun, 2011 by Jennifer Parrucci in Reading the Animal, The Visiting Animal

Our Hen House’s Jennifer Parrucci is back with yet another review, this one focusing on milk and all its ick factors.

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I admit it. For most of my life, I had a love affair with dairy. Every birthday had to include a Carvel ice cream cake. Cookies just weren’t the same if they weren’t accompanied by a tall glass of milk. Pizza? Extra cheese, please. If asked, I would certainly have said that milk was healthy and necessary for strong bones, information that I had gotten from celebrities with milk mustaches, as well as from health teachers in school. Americans have been told for years that “milk does a body good.” Well, it turns out that none of it is true, and, thankfully, I finally realized that several years ago when I saw the light and went vegan.

If Mom only knew...

Since you read the Our Hen House blog, you are probably already at least somewhat aware of the hideous cruelties inherent in milk production. And, of course, in addition to the animal rights issues, milk can wreak absolute havoc on our health. If you need proof, you need to read Joseph Keon’s eye-opening new book, Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth About Cow’s Milk and Your Health, which busts through the misconceptions surrounding dairy, and lays bare its dangerous effects on the human body.

Keon starts by addressing the source of the myths about dairy’s healthfulness. The first problem is that the nutritional guidelines provided to Americans (including school children) about what they should be eating, are made up by government agencies that have been corrupted by special interest lobbies. But government isn’t the only problem. The corporate-owned media discourages stories that might go against their advertisers, deterring reporters from exposing the negative aspects of animal agriculture. If that weren’t enough, some states even have so-called “food disparagement laws” that prevent people from criticizing certain perishable food commodities. Remember when Oprah was sued by the cattle industry for telling the truth about mad cow disease?

Whitewash goes on to explain how our taxes are also used to strengthen the dairy industry. As a person who objects to milk on ethical grounds, that one really gets my rescued goat! The United States government subsidizes the milk industry with up to $2.5 billion in tax breaks every year. All the surplus milk from that subsidized production ends up as a required carton of milk that is given to every child participating in the national school lunch program. With the government, media, and schools all telling us that it is important to consume dairy products for good health, how could one not be misinformed? Perhaps if Whitewash were required reading by students, faculty, and parents, things would be looking up. But alas, this information is all kept under wraps, to say the least.

In addition to the brainwashing, there is also the unfortunate problem of addiction. Research has shown that cow’s milk contains components identical to narcotic opiates. These compounds are thought to function as a way to get calves to become addicted to milk so that they will drink enough to double their birth weight in 47 days. The presence of this addictive compound in milk points to what should be an obvious fact: Cow’s milk is made for calves, not humans.

That this is so is also abundantly clear from the detrimental effects of dairy on human health. Keon spends over 100 pages chronicling the myriad of health problems that can be linked to dairy consumption, including everything from acne and headaches, to diabetes, learning disorders and autism. Perhaps the most shocking is osteoporosis. Yes, osteoporosis. While most people think that preventing osteoporosis is the very reason they should be drinking milk, and while the government and the dairy industry continue to claim that milk contains calcium that builds strong bones, there is compelling evidence that shows quite the opposite effect. Keon references The China Study author Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s extensive research, which shows that the higher the meat and dairy consumption in a population, the higher the rate of osteoporosis. Campbell says,  “The correlation between animal protein [intake] and fracture rates in different societies is as strong as that between lung cancer and smoking.”

What kind of cruelty lurks in this container?

Although Keon focuses on the health reasons to jettison dairy, I was happy to see that he also highlighted the ethical and environmental reasons for doing so. The average dairy cow does not live her life grazing in pastures on rolling hills, but in a factory farm where she is continually impregnated and has her calves taken away from her so that her milk can be harvested by machines and sold to consumers instead of nourishing her baby. Her calf is either subjected to her mother’s same cruel fate of becoming a dairy cow, or if the calf is a boy, he is imprisoned in a veal crate and slaughtered while still a baby.

In addition to heartbreak and physical pain for the cows, factory farms also cause substantial environmental damage. Land is cleared to grow corn and soy to feed dairy cows. These cows produce an enormous amount of manure and methane gas that leeches into the water supply and is responsible a staggering percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. It was refreshing to see Keon going there, especially when this truly inconvenient truth is so rarely approached.

After reading about all the negative aspects of dairy, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would want to continue consuming it. For those who want to go dairy-free, Keon provides an informative and accessible chapter on how to get your calcium and other nutritional needs from plant-based sources, which, I can testify, is both easy and scrumptious. The book also includes a long list of other useful resources to explore – making Whitewash an even more important tool for animal advocates who want to reach our milk-guzzling friends and family. As we continue to arm ourselves with more and more facts about why animal products are cruel, unsustainable, and unhealthy, we will effectively be breeding new vegans. And that’s a hobby I very much enjoy.

While I personally gave up dairy for ethical reasons, I have experienced significant health benefits from doing so. The intestinal issues I had been suffering from for almost 10 years suddenly went away, my skin grew clearer and my eyes brighter. I no longer have any question that giving up dairy is essential for the animals, the environment and our health. And as I’m well aware, there is a delicious alternative to every kind of dairy product you can imagine. Nowadays, I’d take some vegan soft serve (Lula’s Sweet Apothecary is my fave) over pus-laden dairy any day.

In a clear and convincing manner, Whitewash outlines all the reasons to dump dairy. My suggestion? Read the book, and have a gallon or three of vegan soy ice cream waiting for you in the freezer for when you’re done. Something tells me you won’t be craving milk anymore.