Animal rights group asks ‘U’ students, ‘Got beer?’
By JAMES JAHNKE
The State News
As if college students needed one more excuse to head to the bar.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started urging college students this month to give up glasses of
milk in favor of mugs of brew.
But some milk producers and experts still say milk does a body good.
The animal rights organization has launched a campaign to protect dairy cattle by encouraging its target
demographic — college students — to replace milk with beer. PETA also suggested replacing milk with
juices, soy milk or soda.
“It’s very tongue-in-cheek,” said Sean Gifford, a vegetarian campaign coordinator with PETA. “Obviously,
nobody’s going to crack open a Bud and pour it on their breakfast cereal because PETA said so. We’re urging
people to drink responsibly.”
Dennis Martell, an MSU health educator, called PETA’s campaign “a dangerous, arbitrary statement.”
“It’s so off-the-wall that I don’t even know what to say,” Martell said. “Alcohol has severe effects on the
immune system, which many people don’t realize, as well as on the liver. Obviously, they haven’t considered
the negative effects that alcohol can have on the body if sustained use like milk is used.”
PETA claims milk may cause diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and male breasts because of the growth
hormone rGBH. The organization also notes that beer is fat-free, cholesterol-free and hormone-free.
Walt Wosje, general manager of the Michigan Milk Producers Association, defended milk as a vital
component of healthy living.
“Milk is part of a recommended diet. I haven’t seen beer on any nutrition plans,” Wosje said. “Milk is the
absolute best way to get niacin, vitamins, calcium and other nutrients into the body.”
Wosje said no cases of farmers mistreating dairy cows have ever come to the attention of the association.
“These claims are ridiculous,” Wosje said. “It’s in the farmer’s best interest to keep his cows healthy.”
Gifford said the physical tolls milking has on dairy cows are the greatest problem with the dairy industry.
Milking machines, designed to save time and labor, actually shock, cut and cause other injuries to the udders
of the cows, PETA said on its campaign Web site, MilkSucks.com.
In addition, the bodies of dairy cows become so worn out from producing abnormal amounts of milk that they
can barely stand before being sent off to slaughter, Gifford said.
PETA also charges that dairy cows are continuously impregnated to maintain their levels of milk production.
Female offspring of the dairy cows are relegated to a life of milk production while male calves are raised for
veal, according to Gifford.
“Metaphorically, there is a little piece of veal in every glass of milk you drink,” Gifford said. “People have to
decide whether they are going to drink a beverage that directly leads to animal suffering or drink something
that’s better for them and doesn’t harm animals.
“There is no responsible way to steal milk from a cow. A cow’s milk belongs to calves just as a human’s milk
belongs to a human. We’re the only species in the world that actually steals milk from another species.”
However, Bob Kreft, herd manager of MSU Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research, said milking machines
actually feel good to a cow. MSU has 190 cows on campus that are milked twice a day.
An average cow at MSU gives birth about every 13 months, which Kreft said isn’t abnormal. Gestation
periods for cows are about the same as humans, roughly nine months.
Kreft added that “cow comfort” has recently become a hot topic among dairy farmers because cows produce
more milk when they are comfortable. MSU uses mattresses filled with shredded rubber to increase the
comfort level of its cows and water beds for cows are now available.
“We have our animal science students put their finger inside a milking machine so that they can experience for
themselves how it feels,” Kreft said.
James Jahnke, a State News intern, can be reached at jahnkeja@msu.edu.
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