Our October speaker was Robert Cohen of the Dairy Education Board (1-888-NOTMILK; http://www.notmilk.com). Below is a summary from Cohen's book, Milk: The Deadly Poison (317 pp. Argus, 1998). The book, and tape are available from RAVS.

In Chapter 10, "Analysis: What is in Milk," Cohen uses an interesting analogy borrowed from physics, whereby the spectrum of colors mix together to form white. The innocent-looking white substance is in reality a "bouillon of proteins and hormones and fat and cholesterol, viruses and bacteria, pesticides with vitamin D added," which "combine to affect its users in ways that can never be fully understood." Milk, which has been called "liquid meat," contains the same amino acids and proteins as meat. In addition, milk contains dozens of bioactive hormones and growth factors, including pituitary, hypothalamic, pancreatic, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, gastrointestinal, and gonadal hormones (the latter including the estrogens estradiol and estriol, progesterone, and testosterone). Of particular concern to Cohen is the presence in milk of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), a substance that, by coincidence, is identical in cows and humans. By Cohen's analysis, milk is a delivery system intended by nature to preserve hormones and other bioactive substances from being destroyed by stomach enzymes. Cows receiving rBGH (bovine growth hormone) produce even larger amounts of IGF-1 in their milk than untreated cows. What is the result to dairy consumers of being exposed to more IGF-1 than is naturally produced by their own bodies? The answer, according to Cohen, may be cancer. "You will not grow an extra finger and your earlobe will remain the same shape. . . . Most organs and appendages of your body are genetically coded with restrictions so that they do not alter their basic configurations. There are, for the most part, built-in genetically determined limits on growth not true of cancer. The last thing a human adult body needs is a powerful growth hormone instructing cells to grow. Got milk? Then you've got hormones. The hormones work." Cohen later devotes an entire chapter to the dairy-cancer link.

NEWS FLASH: On November 7th, 1999, Robert Cohen began a hunger strike which he pledged not to end until the FDA withdraws rBGH from the market. See his new website: http://www.hungerstrike.com.