rawmilkandrubberboots

I’m not writing this blog to debate the views of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), but I am going to talk briefly about their idea to replace dairy milk with HUMAN milk in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

I myself, and my fiancée, have worked extensively in an animal-filled environment: humane shelters, veterinary clinics, and dairy farms and I have the upmost respect for anyone who wants to convey their enthusiasm and passion for the proper treatment of animals.  But to go as far as to want to replace dairy cows with human beings solely for the purpose of producing milk?  I wouldn’t touch that proposal with a ten-foot pole!

Upon reading the letter from the VP of PETA I can help but this “honestly?  Did you lose a bet?”  There are some valid points she suggests, some of which I have talked about in previous blogs, and she talks about how horrible and cruel the dairy industry is and how dairy cows are just milk machines that are forced to be pregnant only to produce more milk. 

To solve this she suggests the American iconic creamery to ditch dairy and pick up humans?  Dairy cows (on average) produce 50kg of milk a day.  A woman can produce, literally, a drop in the bucket in comparison: 354mL/day if you they were milked every 4 hours for a 24 hour period.  It would require every woman of reproducing age in America to get pregnant and start lactating in order to fill the void left by dairy cattle to supplement Ben & Jerry’s production requirements.

I’m not going to get into the ethics and regulations of using a human-byproduct to feed to humans.  They don’t even let cows eat cow-byproduct (i.e. bonemeal, bloodmeal), so why would it be allowed for humans?!

Love animals yes, but what woman reading this would substitute themselves as a milk-making machine just so Black & White Betsy can move on to greener pastures?  Talk about brain-freeze!

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