Got Milk?

I was just reading through bits of John Robbin's book, The Food Revolution, and here are some of the facts about milk:

• Countries with the highest consumption of dairy products:Finland, Sweden, United States, England


• Countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis:Finland, Sweden, United States, England

• Calcium intake in rural China:One-half that of people in the United States


• Bone Fracture rate in rural China:One-fifth that of people in the United States

• Foods that when eaten produce calcium loss through urinary excretion:animal protein,salt,coffee


• Amount of calcium lost in the urine of a woman after eating a hamburger:28 milligrams


• Amount of Calcium lost in the urine of a woman after drinking a cup of coffee:2 milligrams

• Antibiotics allowed in cow milk:80


• Antibiotics found in soy milk:None

• Average Americans estimate when asked what percentage of adults worldwide don't drink milk:1 percent


• Actual number of adults worldwide who don't drink milk:65 percent

So those are the health facts, what about how these milk cows are treated?

"Dairy cows have electric machines hooked up to their huge, swollen udders, causing cuts and injuries-and the resulting pus, blood, and scabs end up in that milk mustache. The stress caused by factory farm conditions leads to disease, lameness, and reproductive problems, so by age 4 or 5 they are slaughtered"

"Today there are 10 million dairy cows in the United States, and half are housed in some type of factory system. What's worse, increasing numbers of US dairy cows, particularly in the Midwest and northeast, are being placed in stalls where they are tied in one place, unable to move, for long periods of time."

What about the environment? How does the meat and dairy industry affect our planet?

"Raising animals for food requires more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States."

" Cattle-ranching is the number one cause of Amazonian deforestation. In Central America, two-thirds of the rain forests have been cleared, primarily to raise cattle"

"The meat industry causes more water pollution in the United States than all other industries combined."

That doesn't include everything in the article I attached the other day about how factory farming causes more than 50% of the greenhouse gases. To me, drinking milk makes no sense. Humans are the only species who drinks milk after infancy, and also the only species who drinks the milk of another species. When it comes to cows milk, I think it's best to leave it for who mother nature intended it, baby cows.