Got Beer? Better Than Milk!

Two years ago, PETA got a rise out of everyone from dairy farmers to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) with its tongue-in-cheek advisory to college kids that milk is so bad, nutritionally speaking, that even beer is better for you! MADD was mad, despite the fact that we made it clear that we only used beer for comparison purposes because no one thinks of beer as a health food; as a substitute for cow’s milk, health experts recommend soy milk, juice, or even water.

Now, a new Harvard review of all the scientific evidence has topped off the debate with damning words about dairy products and a raised-glass salute to beer. The debate has spilled over onto school campuses once again.

Why the Fuss?
When PETA originally pulled its “Got Beer?” Campaign, the uproar from college students was deafening. Most felt that PETA was caving in to members of the older generation who doubted the students’ ability to understand the message behind the tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt. “How stupid do they think we are?” one student leader asked of the “Got Beer” Campaign detractors.

Now, with even more scientific evidence in the news linking dairy products to everything from diabetes to cancer, including osteoporosis, PETA has revived the campaign with an advertisement in campus papers, as well as with “Drink Responsibly, Don’t Drink Milk” bottle openers and drink cozies, which we distribute through our College Action Campaign. PETA continues to educate and to suggest to underage college students that they choose rice or soy milks, juice, or water as the most healthful alternative to cow secretions.

Dairy Consumption Also Hurts Animals
More than one-tenth of the average herd of cows is dead before the age of 2 from illness or injury inflicted down on the factory farm, while more die in transport and the rest are ground into cheap meats. Dairy cows are artificially impregnated (not a comfortable experience) and have their calves torn from them within days of birth—causing acute distress to both mother and calf—so that the milk they need can be sold in the supermarket. Many male calves are crammed into tiny veal crates, a type of confinement so cruel that it has been banned in the U.K.

Is Beer Healthful?
An August 13, 2002, Wall Street Journal article reports that beer “delivers protection against major ailments such as heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and dementia.” According to Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School’s Guide to Healthy Eating (2001), a book that reviews all the science and all the studies, moderate alcohol consumption “protects against heart disease and ischemic strokes, and mounting evidence [shows] that it protects against diabetes and gallstones.”

What About Cow’s Milk?
The same book devotes an entire chapter to reviewing the scientific evidence on dairy products and debunks the myth that they are necessary or even helpful, pointing out that the United States tops both the milk-consumption and bone-fracture charts and citing a Harvard study that showed that “women who drank two or more glasses of milk a day were at least twice as likely to break a hip or forearm.” Click here for a review of the science on dairy products and bone health. The authors note that as few as two glasses of milk per day have been shown to double a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer and that three-fourths of the world’s population does just fine on a diet free of cow mammary secretions. Click here for more information on dairy products and prostate cancer.

The dairy industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year to convince people to drink gallons of the white stuff, but PETA’s sentiments are with responsible health officials who warn that dairy products have four major drawbacks. Milk and cheese (1) are loaded with fat and cholesterol; (2) are frequently contaminated with pesticides, dioxins, and drugs; (3) are linked to obesity, heart disease, and certain cancers, including prostate cancer and breast cancer; and (4) may even cause osteoporosis, the very disease that the dairy industry loves to use as a selling point in its ads, because the excess protein in dairy products leaches calcium from the bones.

“The scientific evidence is conclusive: Beer in moderation is good for you, while even one glass of milk supports animal abuse and harms your health,” says PETA’s Director of Vegan Outreach Bruce Friedrich. “You can drink beer responsibly, but the same can’t be said of milk.”