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PETA argues that drinking beer is healthier than milk and that the dairy industry is cruel to cows and calves.
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NORFOLK-BASED People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals this week plans to unveil its “Got Beer?” campaign on college campuses nationwide, in time for all those green-beer St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. PETA argues that drinking beer is healthier than milk and that the dairy industry is cruel to cows and calves. Mothers Against Drunk Driving sent a letter Friday asking PETA to pull the campaign for fear it will encourage underage drinking. Many college students are under the legal drinking age of 21. “We’re very concerned and appalled with it for the simple fact that underage drinking is the number one drug problem among American youths,” said Teresa Hardt, a spokeswoman for the Irving, Texas-based group, whose mission includes the prevention of underage drinking. The campaign also comes at a time when increased attention is being focused on binge drinking on campuses. “If PETA’s misguided purpose is to denounce the dairy industry, they certainly aren’t advancing their ball by advocating alcohol consumption by college students,” said David Botkins, spokesman for state Attorney General Mark L. Earley. |
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A spokesman said PETA will proceed with the campaign and that it does not promote underage or drunken driving. “College students are savvy,” said Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s vegetarian campaign coordinator. “Nobody’s going to put beer on their Cheerios or get drunk and drive as a result of our campaign.” PETA is using beer in its anti-milk campaign as a fun, titillating way to get attention, but the campaign makes it clear that juice, water, soda and soy milk are preferable to beer, Friedrich said. PETA contends that milk does not do a body good because it is full of fat and cholesterol, while beer contains neither. PETA’s main concern, however, is about what it says is the cruel treatment of milk cows and their calves on factory farms. “If you drink milk, you are supporting a product that is horrible for human health, catastrophic for the environment and a living nightmare for the animals involved,” Friedrich said. |
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PETA also is giving away beer bottle-shaped bottle openers that say, “Drink responsibly. Don’t drink milk.” and “Save a cow’s life.” Susan Ruland, a spokeswoman for the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” and milk mustache campaigns, called PETA’s parody “ridiculous on so many levels. It’s kind of amusing.” Cows produce more and better milk if they are treated well, so it would not make economic sense for dairy farmers to mistreat the animals, said Ruland, spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association in Washington, D.C. Ruland also noted that milk contains 30 percent of the calcium, 16 percent of the protein and 25 percent of the vitamin D recommended daily. “It’s just a very powerful nutrient package,” she said. “To suggest based on bad science that you avoid it is just irresponsible.” © 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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