It might be suggested that Dr. Robert Cohen picked a slightly alarmist title for his book, Milk, the Deadly Poison, published in 1997. The premise of the book is not so much that milk qua milk is bad for you (although it is noted that the consumption of milk into adulthood is a fairly unnatural thing, not known to prehistoric humans, and that equally unnatural is the drinking of milk produced by animals outside ones own species), but the main thrust of the book is on the more modern problem of hormones and antibiotics and other questionable chemicals being introduced into the milk supply in vastly increased amounts, primarily through the treatment of cows with such things, but as well through the introduction of some materials directly into the product.

Equally problematic, the author suggests, is the role of milk-producing corporations in getting government to fuel public desire for milk consumption. Cohen terrifies readers with tale after tale of the dairy industry's success in not only having its products promoted, but in lobbying and leveraging legislators to pass lax laws governing what exactly goes into the milk -- especially, he contends, following the Monsanto company's successful development of methods of massively increasing dairy productivity, resulting in a glutted milk market which could only maintain its profitability through continuously expanding the market. Dr. Cohen does give some consideration as well to the plight of the overworked, tender-nippled milk cow.

This book may come across as being a bit over the top, and it may not dissuade habitual milk drinkers from their daily dairy dosages. But if nothing else, it is surely food for thought.

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