Animal Writings

Why would they probably refuse dog's milk even if it tasted the same as cow's milk? Why would they likely be grossed out by ice cream made with human milk, even if it was delicious and far healthier and more humane than the same thing made from cow's milk?

Because they're used to cow's milk. They were born into a society in which it's a standard practice, and in which it's heavily promoted as a fun, healthful product.

If we had never drunk the substance that flows out of the mammary glands of cows, it would probably seem as foreign as pig's or cat's milk does right now. And drinking the mammary secretions of other species throughout one's life might seem downright bizarre. In fact, when you think about it in those terms, even if you drink milk and eat cheese, it does seem pretty weird.

Could people get used to drinking pig and cat milk — even human milk that was donated by volunteers? For better or worse, humans can get used to anything — especially if everyone else is doing it and it's encouraged. As much as we give lip service to individualism, people tend to go along with the flow and don't like to stick out.

So this desire for cow mammary products is quite arbitrary.

Immersed in a culture that has normalized and even championed ingesting cow's milk (which is euphamized as "dairy"), it may seem to the average consumer of the substance that it is a basic component of diet. No more so than pig's milk. Or locusts, for that matter. It may seem like quite a jolt to give it up. At first it may be; you get so used to something, you incorporate it so centrally into your lifestyle, it's hard to imagine walking away from it, much less actually doing so. Yet once you do, you'll probably look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. For most people, about three months after eliminating dairy from their diet, they rarely think about it. And when they do, it's only because it's so ubiquitous and so incessantly advertised. Most people in China never think about where they can get a glass of milk. If you grew up in a culture where cow's milk was never drunk, you'd never think about it, either. You certainly wouldn't miss it. Just like you don't miss pig's milk or eating intestines or insects. It's what you're used to.

These days it's easier than ever to drop dairy. Soy milk (in its twenty or so varieties) has come of age, and there's also rice milk and almond milk (hugely underrated in my opinion). Non-dairy ice cream is steadily improving, winning over skeptics one at a time. (And as I recently discovered and wrote about a couple of posts ago, vegan soft-serve can be out of this world.)

Dairy in many respects is crueler than beef. Dairy cows are forcibly impregnated each year of their short lives once they reach sexual maturity, and each of their offspring are separated from them shortly after birth and killed when between 20 weeks and five years old — with very few exceptions. Through decades, even centuries, of intensive breeding, and often with help from hormones, modern dairy cows are forced to pump out up to ten times as much milk as they ever would in the wild. This has a substantial impact on their well-being. The nutrients in milk are extracted from the cows' bodies, and it is difficult to take in enough nutrients to make up for the loss. That is why osteoporosis is common among young dairy cows. Painful udder infections are common (and are a source of the pus which is in virtually every glass of milk and every scoop of ice cream). Perhaps the saddest aspect of milk production is that the cows are still lactating — and possibly pregnant — when they make the long ride to the slaughterhouse, and when they're killed. As they hang on meathooks, they may be dripping milk while they're dripping blood. And since slaughterhouse line speeds are so rushed, and farmed animal welfare enforcement is almost non-existent, the animals may be fully aware and conscious — and struggling — as they bleed to death.

On top of all this, dairy products have repeatedly been linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer, as well as a rash of other serious diseases. And plenty of studies have shattered the industry-promoted myth that dairy makes your bones strong. In some studies, those who drank the most milk had higher rates of bone fractures. In country-by-country comparisons, there's no evidence that dairy consumption wards off osteoporosis or thinning bones. And yes, heredity has been ruled out. (Other lifestyle changes, such as limiting salt intake and getting exercise, do seem to help.)

So there are abundant ethical and health reasons to give up dairy. It's not that hard. The roadblocks are in your mind; the difficulties are exaggerated by fears and emotional ties to the product. There is a wealth of online sites that provide information and support for transitioning away from dairy. Once you get out of the habit of consuming a substance made specifically for nursing calves (and that contains some rather strange and probably dangerous compounds), you may find that you feel better. If you have chronic allergies, some may fade away. If you're stuffed up a lot, that may end. If you're prone to indigestion, that may clear up. No guarantees of course, and each case is different, but it's a nice side-benefit. More fundamentally, you may feel that a burden has been lifted; you no longer have to pretend that dairy products don't hurt cows, or make excuses like "We have to milk cows" or "We need to drink milk." Being honest with yourself and treating animals kindly brings peace of mind.

Anything we can get used to, we can get un-used to. Why not start this positive transition today? Then, help a friend or family member do the same. (If the two of you do it together, it's easier.)

Labels: cows, dairy, diet, psychology