I read an article online yesterday and it had me completely dumbfounded. Apparently the group PETA, which stands for People for the Equal Treatment of Animals, wrote a letter to Ben & Jerry's asking them to switch from using cow milk to breast milk (at this time you might see the humor in both the picture and the title). They made the claim that using the milk from dairy cows is not only dangerous to children (anemia, allergies, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease), but it is also harmful to the cows.
Via PETA,
"Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Because, like all mammals, cows only give milk during or after pregnancy, in order for humans to constantly milk them, they are forcefully impregnated every nine months. Many live in filthy conditions and are forced to give 10 times more milk than they would naturally. It's truly an awful life."
After reading the article, I was left with many questions which probably account for some of the reasons I am against this idea. Not to mention the fact that the idea of consuming large quantities of human breast milk does not sit well with my stomach. I question where we're supposed to be getting these large quantities of breast milk from. As they cited earlier, mammals only produce milk during pregnancy, so if the main problem is forcefully impregnating cows, how do you expect to get milk from women. Also, how do you convince women to donate their milk and not give it to their children? This idea also breaks down in their attempt to ask Ben & Jerry's to stop doing what they have been doing since 1963 and go in a completely different direction where there is practically no structure to support them. If anything, I could see Ben & Jerry's coming out with a new Vegan label, but even that seems doubtful. Don't get me wrong, I do not support the mistreatment of animals, but c'mon this idea seems highly unlikely. This is what Ben & Jerry's had to say in response:
"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"
What do you think?
To add to the humorous title and photo, I thought it only right to include a clip of Dave Chapelle's "Making the Band" parody.
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